CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

October 10, 2004

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR:

Our congregation                                                   Our nation, military and leaders

Our college students                                              Various friends, relatives and co-workers

David and Leon in the Navy                                  Yevette’s mother

Keith is traveling to Europe today

CONGRATULATIONS to the Mearns at the birth of Jaycee Noel on Monday, Oct. 4 at 12:18 pm.  She weighed 7 lbs. And 3 oz., was 20 inches long and has blue eyes and brown hair.  Bryce and Heather are doing fine. 

EVENTS:

Oct. 30 - Hobo Party at the Cruthirds

WHY ARE THEY SO ANGRY?

“In your anger do not sin.  Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:26-27).

I was recently asked why a certain political party was so angry.  Though I had heard of their anger, I really hadn’t thought about it until this question was asked.  Now it is one thing to be passionate about one’s beliefs and convictions.  And it is perfectly acceptable to be angry when godly values are questioned and ridiculed.  But it is another thing to be just down right angry and show it in how one speaks.  Several reasons come to my mind for this anger.

One is the secularism that so dominates major institutions in this country including politics, the news media, business, law, and academia.  This secularism encourages the idea of removing all Judeo-Christian ideas from the public square.  It is seen in one person suing to have “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance and suing the President for using God’s name in his inauguration speech.  It is seen in the growing use of abusive and foul language, not just out of Hollywood but in many areas.  Why such attacks?  Several reasons.  There is the idea of doing things my way and without any moral standards to interfere.  It is committing sinful acts and justifying them by saying it is not sinful.  It is winning at any cost and doing anything to win including lying, cheating, bribing, and breaking various laws.  What we see here are people who are hardening their hearts to the truth.  Of course, they no longer believe in absolute truth or in telling the truth.  We have all heard it said that campaign promises are made to be broken.  I think that is a sad state of affairs, yet we go along with it.  Some would say that the above is a battle between worldviews – and they would be correct.  Which worldview will influence society and who will be in control?  Both the secular and Christian worldviews have a history and neither should boast about their leadership abilities.  Power can corrupt anyone if one allows it.  Humble, selfless people are difficult to find in political realms and when one does find such a person, he will be ridiculed anyway. 

Secularism wants no ethics but its own.  Several in the Bible wrote that man thinks he knows what is best but it leads to death.  What does a society do when it rejects God?  Consider what happened in France in 2003.  During a lengthy heat wave, over eleven thousand French citizens died.  Now we have heat waves in this country and some people die, but not that many!  What is the difference?  We have a tremendous respect for life, the life of all, elderly and unborn.  Secularism sees over population as a danger and does not respect life.  We see abortion and euthanasia as prominent themes in its platform.  They look at it selfishly though they speak of compassion.  They get angry when their selfish choices are questioned.  They only seek what is best for the self, not anyone else.

A second reason for the anger comes from being questioned about their ethics.  Maybe guilt is involved in this.  While not widely reported, there is a psychology idea of post-abortion syndrome.  Women who have had abortions years earlier most likely will at sometime go into a state of depression because they realize that they have eliminated a life, a close and personal life.  So guilt comes and with that anger.  Those who chose to continue to support abortion become angrier to overcome their sense of guilt.  Rather than coming to grips with what they have done, they hide it in anger.

Another reason for the anger we see today is that some just want to be in control or have the fame and position of power.  It might be that some of the famous simply rub elbows with the powerful, are respected, and since their friends are no longer in a position of power, they are angry at those who took their place.  One example of this is a recent event that occurred in New York.  A number of famous Hollywood “stars” and comedians gather at a political event.  They were abusive in their speech, crude, and angry toward a candidate they do not agree with.  Their humor was directed at his character, speech and family.  An opposing candidate and a number of other members of his party were in the audience.  He was asked to step up and say something, which he did.  He said that these Hollywood folks represented the values and traditions of America.  Yet this same candidate complains about those who criticize him mildly.  There is a lot that could be said about Hollywood but one of the things that cannot be said is that it represents the values and ethics of America.  So the anger is directed at those values because they are not shared by the elite. 

There are other reasons for the anger.  Some of it is personal.  They just do not like the current President.  Others see it as getting even for how the former President was treated.  Then the elite should be seen as such, who know better than the “common” folk how things should be done and what should be believed.  When questioned, they become angry because they have the education, the experience, and the ideas that will bring about a better society.  What they do not seem to understand is that many of those ideas have been tried, most in the 20^th Century, and have been horrible failures. 

As Christians, what should our response be to all of this?  First, we must remain calm.  We understand that God rules and He raises up and brings down rulers (see Daniel 2:21).  God is in control no matter who is President.  Two we should never react in kind to the anger that is being displayed.  As tempting as it is, it is not the Christian way.  Pray for those in positions of leadership (1 Timothy 2:1-2).  Pray for those we disagree with.  Pray for our enemies, though I do not consider fellow Americans enemies.  Three, live our lives in such a radical way that it reflects Jesus Christ.  That will bring criticism and persecution but so be it.  We will humbly serve.  Four, seek to repent from personal sins and national sins.  Ezra, Nehemiah and Daniel all prayed a national prayer of repentance.  Whether individually or corporately, we should pray that God will forgive the sins of our nation. 

                                                                                                       George B. Mearns