Offensive Christians

I’ve been in the blogsphere tonight and it seems that a lot of folks are spun up about the AFA’s concern over an OHMIGOD ad series on TV Land. I’ll link to one blog that sums up the argument. People seem to think that their ethics (or “out ethics” Tom Cruise’s case) are on par with God’s. They pick and chose from the moral imperatives the Creator has provided us and only select those that don’t offend them.By what basis do they do this? Why is their version of morality accurate and mine (based on a normative application of biblical law) not acceptable? Can they dictate morality and values on others? Why can’t the AFA try to bring some decorum back into the way we refer to our maker and redeemer?

God tells us to respect him and not to take his name in vain. God is independent of his creation and all else is created by Him. He is the primary cause which gives meaning to life. My ethics (in orthodoxy - belief) don’t always match up to my behavior (my orthopraxy) because I’m a sinner. I know I’m a sinner because when I do things that hurt others (God says this is bad) I can’t always make it right even by my own standards.

I also know I’m a sinner because God set up the rules for behavior and He didn’t rank the sins. He just said “Don’t sin. Don’t miss the mark.” We all do miss the mark and we all do sin. Even the most depraved individual is made in the image of God and has a sense of their sinning. God set up the law and He knows we can’t keep it because we turned away from Him as a people when Adam sinned in the garden. We carry that sin nature inside us. God made a way back to him through the awesome, terrible sacrifice of his Son, Jesus. He set up the rules and then paid the price so that you could be set free from the condemnation of Law.

God tells us not to take his name in vain. He makes the rules - He’s God we’re not. The creator sets the parameters for his creation and sets consequences for breaking them. He gets to do that - We don’t.

If the AFA is in line with God breathed scripture (which I believe it is) then we need to listen to them and stop this sin. If the AFA is making it’s own ethical stand based on their supposed ability to do this then we need to search the given law to see if they’re in consonance with the Law-Giver’s positions. Once we get the basis for morality straight its just working on following God’s plan as opposed to figuring our own plan out.

I say an offensive Christian should support the AFA and explain that God expects us to respect Him and not debase His holy name. He makes the rules and He gets to because He made everything else too! He also made a path back to him through the gift of his Son; why don’t you go on the offense and tell somebody about it?

OC