Do We Take Faith for Granted?

Accept what Is,

let go of what was

and have faith in what will be.

What is religious persecution?  Many of us older folks have a pretty good grasp of it from learning world history in school.  If they taught unbiased world history now days, many young people would probably also know something about it.  We change history to fit whatever agenda is popular for the day, however.  

After a battle, the victor gets to write the history of it.  It is one reason why children, anywhere but in the southern U.S., have no clue what the Civil War was really about, and the atrocities that were visited upon the south by the north.  One hundred and fifty years later the south is finally rising from the ashes, due to northern immigration, but Mississippi remains the poorest state in the Union.  But still the majority has faith that what they are taught is the untainted truth, and politicians don't lie, and your doctor isn't "practicing" medicine.  It makes one wonder if our faith might be best left in a future context; "in what will be."

So, historical accuracy, the failing of our educational system, and my rambling all set aside, what do we really know about religious persecution?  And what does any of this have to do with faith?  Well, Wikipedia says this:

Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group of individuals as a response to their religious beliefs or affiliations or lack thereof.

As I interpret this definition, atheists that constantly create legal issues and problems for Christians, and other faiths, are perpetrators of religious persecution.  By the same token, religions that make problems for atheists, not involved in religious persecution, would be guilty of the same persecution due to the atheist's "lack thereof."  I would be very interested to know if the atheists that visit these problems upon people of religious faith, understand they are participating in religious persecution of a group of people.  My interest would be in knowing how their sense of morality excuses their actions as being more righteous than that of a theist.

I have been fairly forgiving in the preceding paragraph for two reasons.  I have never heard of atheist groups causing problems for any other faith than Christianity, and I have never heard of any faith causing atheists issues unless the atheist cast the first stone.  It just seems like the League of the Perpetually Offended only has one religious target - Christianity.

The group, Open Doors, has been empowering persecuted Christians throughout the world for over sixty years.  They define Christian persecution this way:

Christian persecution is any hostility experienced from the world as a result of one's identification as a Christian.  From verbal harassment to hostile feelings, attitudes and actions, Christians in areas with severe religious restrictions pay a heavy price for their faith.

Think about this group, Open Doors, for a moment.  Prior to sixty years ago, Christian persecution was so bad they felt it necessary to create a group that is still actively empowering persecuted Christians to this day.  How much do you know about ongoing Christian persecution?  I knew very little until the recent Middle East unpleasantness, and then I researched this post.  I took my faith for granted.  I took it for granted until Islamic heretics in ISIS put children to death for not renouncing their Christian faith.  I took it for granted when Muslims were put to death by the same heretics for not renouncing their sect of Islam to follow radical Islam's heretical interpretation of the Qur'an.  When man blasphemes the word of God to fulfill their own sick agenda for power, we are truly entering the end of days.

Do you take your faith for granted? As yourself this question, "Could you give up your life for your faith?"  This is the question posed by historian Tim Stanley in his article of the same name that appeared in The Catholic Herald on December 9, 2014.  In the article he relates a story:

A family of missionaries are captured by the Communists in Africa, and the Reds say to the father: “If you deny the existence of God, we’ll let your wife and daughter go.” The father is about to renounce Jesus when his little girl takes his hand. “Don’t do it, Daddy,” she says. “Let’s die together as a family. We'll be lost in this life but saved in the next.”

 Accept what is, let go of what was and have faith in what will be.  One must never take faith for granted.  You can accept Christ without forsaking the rest of the world.  By the same token, one must not accept faith in lieu of a "God helps those that help themselves" philosophy.  There are those that say, "Well, God will help me."  Then they sit back and wait for that "help" to arrive.  But the mere term "helping" someone presupposes the person of need is working toward a goal and needs a leg up.  If you're just sitting there on your lazy ass waiting, what you're really saying is, "God, do for me!"  

If I were God, I'd answer, "Hold your breath.  I'll get back to you"

Just because I'm here for you all of the time,

doesn't mean you can take me for granted.

Another way of looking at faith is the "parachute" principle.  I have faith my parachute was packed correctly.  Do you really?  I think God will respect you more if you double check it, then check your buddy's as well, then have them recheck yours.  There is a thin line between bravery and stupidity.  I think that's kind of like faith.  God wants you to have faith that he gave you the intelligence and sense to learn how to pack a chute, and check it, prior to jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft.  I believe God is always on the lookout for ways to balance life and death.  Stupid people make this easy by taking faith for granted.  

Look at it from another direction.  George packs your chute in the hanger, it's George's job.  You like George, and trust him, with your life.  George got his "pink slip" this morning, and his wife just filed for divorce and took the kids.  Still trust George with your life?  Ignorance is bliss, right?  What you don't know can't hurt you?  What could go wrong?  How is your faith holding up now?  If you didn't have to take on the responsibility for your faith, faith would be tantamount to a crap shoot; having faith that you can do nothing for yourself and still make it through life.  "God, do for me!"  It sounds a bit demanding; saying volumes without uttering a word.

I'd rather ask God to help me make it through.  Grant me the strength to better myself.  Help me up when I fall, and help me stay the course.  

I was like this in the military.  I was always being put in for this award or that, and I was always runner up, because I didn't suck up.  I finally told everyone to stop putting me in for awards.  It meant more to me if they just gave me a pat on the back and said, good job, keep up the good work.  Everyone seems to get caught up in bragging rights, the benefits that are due them.  I just wanted to do the job.  I don't want God to do for me, as I don't consider myself greedy in the least, but I wouldn't mind a pat on the back occasionally, just to let me know I'm on the right path.  I am blessed that God does this daily.  Every morning I wake up and am treated to more proof.  I have faith that, through my efforts today, I will wake up tomorrow and enjoy more of God's miracle of life.  

I accept what is, have let go of what was, and I have faith, though honest effort, in what will be.  

This is faith.  I pray I never take it for granted.  

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country.  He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country." 

-- Gen. George S. Patton

My view on faith and religious persecution; I don't plan on ever being put in the position, by some religious heretic, some insane sociopath, to make a choice about my religion or my faith.  I will either make the other poor dumb bastard die, or I will die trying.  They can persecute me to death.  I have much faith that their efforts will go unrewarded.  But, to deny Christ?  I don't know, it would seem we Christians deny Him enough already by taking our faith in Him for granted.  I guess when it comes to someone dictating faith, religion, or my freedom, I would also choose to live free, or die trying.

I might be lost to this life, but I will be saved in the next.  I have faith.

Note from Pastor Tony, the founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance, as well as the author and editor of "The Path," the Congregation's official blogsite:  

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion.  It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other.  An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so.

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion and debate in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth.  After over twenty years as a military intelligence analyst, planner, and briefer, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human.  God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.
  

Frank Anthony Villari, Pastor