Dear visionaries,
Stan chides us for our attitudes toward the government schools. He said “my father and my grandfather have preached to me that Christian people do these things without expecting consideration in return. It is simply the way life should be.” I actually agree with this completely, as far as it goes, and would simply want to extend the principle. “Christian people do these things without the threat of coercion and without expecting consideration in return. It is simply the way life should be.” I am grateful that Stan spent all that time decorating trees, donating time, etc. I have done the same kind of thing, to the tune of countless hours. But I wonder how he would have felt about all that donated time if the government had told his grandfather and father that if they did not “donate” their time, the government would repossess their house. I have given to kids much more than has been forcibly extracted from me “for the kids.” And with all my limitations, I have enough horse sense to know the difference between the two.
And on the subject of public nudity, Steven apparently thinks that we Christians didn’t know that breasts were in the Bible. And that they are, in a position of high honor. And this is precisely the point — honor. One verse he didn’t cite was Hebrews 13:4. “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled . . .” A Christian honors the marriage bed, but not by setting it up in the city square. In the same way, every true Christian man honors women, and this honor begins with the practical honor he shows to his mother, sisters, wife, and daughters. Behind every topless woman this last summer stood a contemptible father who had refused (for many years) to honor his daughter the way Scripture requires. Despite the many attempts to represent us Christians as narrow-lipped prudish types–tiny-of-soul, haters-of-breasts–we are actually trying to honor our women in the midst of an ocean of surrounding leers.
Of course, you could say, given relativism, what could be wrong with a little visual groping? And that is exactly right. But if you go this route, don’t pretend that you honor anything or anyone.
“Apologetics in the Void” are repostings from an on-going electronic discussion and debate I had some time ago with members of our local community, whose names I have changed. The list serve is called Vision 20/20, and hence the name “visionaries.” Reading just these posts probably feels like listening to one half of a phone conversation, but I don’t feel at liberty to publish what others have written. But I have been editing these posts (lightly) with intelligibility in mind.