I never cease to be amazed at how quickly and easily Christians panic. I tend to do it, too, at times. Yesterday an e-mail came to my home account from a well-known evangelical ministry telling its followers to, well, panic over a piece of legislation in the Texas Congress. The bill up for debate was a hate crimes law that broadened the definition of a "hate crime" and could make it easier to arrest people for harassing a person of color, race, gender, or sexual orientation. The fear of this evangelical ministry is that the passage of this bill would make it easy for pastors and evangelism-minded believers to be arrested for sharing their faith. That a pastor who spoke out against homosexuality, for example, could be arrested for preaching hate and could be arrested and charged with a hate crime is a homosexual happened to be in church that Sunday and was offended.
The whole "hate crimes" agenda has spiraled out of control, in my opinion. But the panic among evangelicals has also spiraled out of control. We fear EVERYTHING. And we panic at the first sign of potential persecution. This, I do not understand. It amazes me. After all, the God we serve calls us to trust, not fear. Jesus called us to follow Him even to death, if He wills. But we want to pick up our couch and not our cross. We preach trust in our pulpits and practice panic in our homes.
The bill up for debate easily passed the Texas Senate yesterday and will now move to the House. I don't know if the governor, a conservative, will veto it if it passes the House. But this panic is uncalled for, in my opinion. Believers can voice our view of issues. But to fear and panic? That does not honor the sovereign God we proclaim.
Be God's!
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