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Happy Easter: Take Time To Reflect, But Also To Resolve
A Christian cross is seen at a Greek Catholic Mar Sarkis monastery in Maaloula, Syria, Thursday, March 3, 2016. Its historic churches pillaged by jihadis and buildings riddled with shrapnel, this ancient Christian town north of Damascus still bears the scars of fierce fighting that devastated it two years ago. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
Today is Easter Sunday, and in light of the holiday millions of Americans will be celebrating, reflecting, renewing their faith, and thinking about their place in their church and the world.
Easter is a time for all of those things. For Christians it is the celebration of the Risen Lord, his death and resurrection the core and guiding component of the faith. Death to pay for the sins of mankind, and each individual person. Resurrection and ascension to Heaven just all Christians will one day return to God.
But this is not all on our minds today in America. The Presidential primary is still a singular focus for many Americans. It is not trivial, even though it is passing. It is not immaterial, even though it is not eternal. Christians are part of the world and the affairs of the world are important not only to each person’s daily life, not just to the future that is handed down to America’s children, but to the continuing practice of faith in America, as well as what happens to and for Christians around the world and particularly in the Middle East.
In Georgia, protecting that faith has made the state an enemy of the forces of the left, who perversely view themselves as the forces of good. Their core and guiding component of faith are the foggy and poorly named “tolerance” and “multiculturalism.” These are pseudo-philosophical but primarily political articles of faith that they nevertheless pursue as zealots. We have all been over the arguments a thousand times at RedState. There is no question that a person in America should be permitted to abide by their faith and convictions, and that protection of that right is not only necessary but the need is dire. And with that seriousness comes the ardor of the left in their self-righteous fury, doing what they can to deny business and trade to the state to artificially use the power of their stunningly tight grip on American commerce to withhold freedom and protection from citizens of faith in the state.
The same is happening to North Carolina. Here the question is one of privacy, security and safety, but the left has decided that their need to pursue their articles of faith outweighs not only those concerns but the will of the people as enacted by the state legislature. Unofficial capital of the leftist states of America San Francisco has exerted pressure along with the boycotters and others who would deny North Carolina’s people the right to governance, eliciting an excellent response from a great Christian leader, Rev. Franklin Graham. We have much written about it here at RedState (and other associated websites), but what it boils down to is that North Carolina residents don’t think a man should use a woman’s bathroom, and that is not suitably “progressive” for the fanatic left. As in Georgia, they are using the power of their nefarious and outsize influence on corporate America to exact revenge.
These are just two recent examples. There are so many more. We have blasphemy on television for Easter week. A Muslim man was stabbed to death for wishing Christians Happy Easter in Scotland, sparking minimal outrage here in political correctness land. And of course, the ongoing and sinister denial of the horror of Christian genocide in the Middle East, even after a stunning and very late-in-the-game admission by Secretary Kerry.
The simple truth is that the forces of the secular progressive left conspire. They are conspiring against Christianity. Anyone who knows a leftist knows this is true. Whatever protest they make to the contrary, it takes only a few minutes of conversation with any of them, even those who claim to be Christian, to show their utter contempt for Christian faith and values. But it is not just Christianity. As we see in North Carolina they battle against good sense, privacy concerns, or anything that smacks of people who have “traditional” views on any topic. Be progressive or be the enemy. Those are the options they offer to everyone who is not a Muslim refugee or an illegal immigrant, which groups are given a pass on the grounds of the oldest reasoning: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
So yes, today is a day to celebrate. To rejoice that He is risen. To lift your voice in praise, to lower your head in prayer, to seek again forgiveness and give thanks for your many blessings. And it is the secular holiday too, for eating candy and finding eggs and having a big family dinner.
But it is, as we also say, a day to reflect. But not just on your own place in the world and your own relationship with your faith. Today, this year, take time to reflect on America and where we stand. And what you’re going to do about it. Whether at the ballot box, or with a donation, or by adding your voice in local government, or even participating in social media to steer the conversation and let people know how many like-minded Americans there are really are out there.
Rejoice. Renew. Reflect. And then resolve.
Happy Easter.
The post Happy Easter: Take Time To Reflect, But Also To Resolve appeared first on RedState.
Source: http://www.redstate.com/absentee/2016/03/27/happy-easter-take-time-reflect-also-resolve/
