YOU have to wonder if truth matters to anyone anymore.
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Amazingly, we are seeing more and more people driven by their own ideological obsession.
What is driving this?
Take, for example, the comments of Israel Folau (in their entirety).
He stated something that Christian teaching has stated for 2000 years.
But the objection against this is that it, supposedly, does not allow for “inclusion and diversity”!
But one look at that phrase tells us that, if someone’s view contradicts the prevalent ideology, then they are not ‘included’ and their ‘diverse’ opinion is not accepted.
I don’t know about you, but that smacks of the most illogical nonsense imaginable.
In other words, if you do not follow our way, it’s the highway.
This reminds me so much of kids playing in the playground.
The bullies pick on the kids who won’t fight back and will push them around or beat them up until they do the bullies’ bidding.
Many world religions also have similar teachings to those stated by Folau.
Why are they not all facing the same censure and condemnation?
Well, the bullies understand that they probably wouldn’t win that fight.
What is truly underlying the attacks on Israel Folau is an ideology of control.
This is a very dangerous road and it will all end very badly for our society.
Your freedom to say things with which others might not agree is immediately threatened.
Is this the sort of society you want?
What if one of your kids grows up with a particular view that you disagree with?
Are you going to say ‘yes’ to his prosecution?
We are not talking here about actions of physical violence or words threatening lives, we are talking here about beliefs and world views.
The western universities were meant to be seed beds of ideas that could be judged by all, based on their merit.
But if certain ideas are not tolerated and speech is shut down, we will all be the poorer for it.
Another worry is that if people are silenced, the rise of extremism is encouraged.
Extremism can be one result of oppression against people who are being silenced, and they react in the extreme because they have not been permitted the airing of their opinions.
Jesus taught that grace, mercy, love and forgiveness was the charter of His people, but Jesus also taught of God’s moral standards and it was He who warned of the dangers of hell, not Israel Folau.
Let’s be done with the silly caricatures of hell as traditionally known.
Jesus spoke of hell in terms of the Jerusalem rubbish dump which was utterly putrid and which burned constantly.
Jesus first came preaching the motto of “repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).
Repent means to have a change of both your mind and heart in how you are living before God.
One cannot cherry pick the sentiments of Jesus to suit oneself.
If Jesus truly is who He claimed to be, then people need to take very seriously all that He said.
I invite you to read what Jesus says here in John 12:42-50.
David McAllan
Echuca Community Church