Out of the Closet...I'm PRO-CHOICE(S)

Hope that title kind of got you. Please, let me explain. Much bothers me about the world we live in...especially in our nation these days. Here are some of the choices we face:

*Are you a Trump supporter or a Trump hater?
*Do you support the 2nd Amendment or are you for gun control?
*Do you support Colin Kaepernick and the kneelers or do you support our troops and love our country and its anthem?
*Do you believe Black Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter?
*Do you support Gay rights or do you believe homosexuality is a sin?

Let's face it, you and I both know I could go on and on and on ad infinitum...ad nausium. We're posed with choices, but usually only two to choose from. Both seem to be the most extreme versions of any argument. In fact, that's what our nation has become...a nation of two choices juxtaposed at two very opposite extremes. We find solace in asking, "Which extreme do you identify with? Are you one of us or one of them. Can we be friends or not?"

Seriously? Is that the best we can do? Step up to the culture counter (not the counter-culture...but, maybe more on that later) and choose? We only have two choices to choose from...two extremes diametrically opposed to one another? Oh, and you have to choose one of these. It will define you. Your choice will assign you to a ethical/political/moral camp and define who you can associate with henceforth. We've limited most things to simply two extreme choices because that's about as many as we can handle, and anyway, it's so much easier than actually thinking things through and actually having dialogue with people who happen to think differently than we do.

Here's my take: IT'S MENTAL AND SPIRITUAL SLOTH. It's indicative of the rational laziness of our generation and our society. I wish I could say the the Church is different, but it's not. We, too, have allowed Fox or CNN or whoever to do most of our thinking for us. What a pathetic state of affairs.

Let me illustrate. My answers to each of the questions highlighted above are a resounding YES. You read it right...EMPHATICALLY YES!

But, how can that be? Those choices cancel out each other. You can't be both. That's not possible. Of course it is.

* I support the things President Trump is trying to do to protect our borders, cut our taxes, protect religious liberty and, most of all, I respect the office of the President as duly elected by the voters of this nation. And, to anyone who is ignorant enough to say, "He's not my president", pick one...either you're a citizen of these United States or he's not your president. You can't have it both ways. That's the AMERICAN WAY.
* At the same time I also hate the dignity that has been has been removed from the office of the presidency, think someone should shut down his twitter account and I wish he would act presidential. And did I mention his misogyny? Look it up... It's pretty embarrassing.

* I strongly support the 2nd Amendment and the right to own guns. I also believe that common sense dictates we do something, if possible, to make it harder for the mentally ill to get them in their hands and for semi-automatic guns to be made into fully automatic. Yes, that calls for legislation that the NRA doesn't like. I know, if you ever buck the NRA you're a liberal...or maybe just someone who can think for themselves. What does that make me?

* I love our troops, our veterans and our country. Does that mean that I believe all is well and that all Americans are treated equally despite the color of their skin? Of course not! The percentage of black Americans incarcerated in America is unsupportable. Do I agree with the tactics Mr. Kaepernick has chosen to draw attention to that fact? No. But, what drove him to take a stand and do something? His Christian faith. Maybe you missed that fact. Maybe you don't like it. That tatted up guy?! Yes, that guy who's all tatted up...with scripture verses. His tactics, I disdain. His cause, count me in.

* I believe all lives matter. Seriously? When did we get to the point where we have to pick a color to depict which lives matter most? Has it really come to this. May God have mercy on us.

* I absolutely believe every person has rights. Don't you? Seriously, I'm talking to you. Don't you? Jesus was pretty straightforward when he talked about God's love for people. I believe you and I will never lock eyes with another human being on this earth for whom Jesus did not die and who God does not love. Oh, and like God I hate sin. It's choosing less than God's best. Somehow, God manages to hate sin and love sinners. Jesus exemplified it. And God's greatest goal for my life is to make me more like Jesus.

MY POINT? God has given us great minds and great hearts and His inerrant Word... so, why do we ditch all that for some over-simplified extremes that don't require thought, don't require reflection, don't require even a simple "What would Jesus do?"

There was a time of civility in America. There was a time of discourse. There was a time when hatred and division were reserved for the extremists. But, apparently, we have become a nation of extremists...even those of us who haven't realized it yet.

So, here's my answer to the question "Are you THIS or THAT? You've gotta choose one. So, which are you?" My answer is I refuse to choose. I refute and rebut your THIS or THAT. There is only one simple choice in my life...and that is to be a FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST. After that, it's never as simple again. He calls us to live holy and love without limits, to be more concerned with those that are most unlike us than those who are carbon copies of ourselves and care for the "least of these" rather than the "best of these".

Therefore, I just demand more choices. Sometimes things are simple. Sometimes they come in black and white and are easy.  But, mostly, they're more complex. Jesus didn't come to make life simple. In fact, He came to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. To move us out of our preset comfort zones where we just fall in lock-step with the masses. It requires more of us. It requires us to have the mind of Christ and to use it accordingly.

*Slow down.
*Engage your brain. (This may be a new experience for some.) 
*Determine to be more aligned with following Christ than any movement or person or party. 
*Apply the Word of God liberally (Yep, I used the "L" word.)
*Listen more than you speak. 
*And, above all, demand more than two choices. It will revolutionize your life.