Vince Deagler

is anyone else out there just a bit troubled by our politically correct culture run amuck?  it seems like we have abandoned common sense.  now don’t get me wrong, i am not in favor of intentionally offending people.  but i thought we embraced diversity, made allowance for the opinions of others, practiced tolerance.  apparently i was wrong.  here are a few examples that puzzle me at the moment.  president elect obama has invited pastor rick warren to do the invocation at his inauguration.  seems reasonable.  but again to think this would be a grave mistake.  apparently he is not entitled to an opinion…at least not one that differs from the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community.  they are in an uproar about this choice.  and this is not what bothers me.  what bothers me is they do not even represent his position accurately.  hey, if your gonna disagree, at least know what you are disagreeing with.  you see rick warren is accused of comparing homosexuality with incest and pedophilia.  i have heard the quotes and he has done no such thing.  what he has done is comment on the legalization of gay marriage in CA and been an advocate for prop 8 here in CA which sought to define marriage as a union of 1 man and 1 woman.  by the way it passed with a 52% majority but as expected is tied up in the courts.  well, at the heart of the issue is the definition of marriage.  marriage has had an historical meaning.  the lgbt community wants to change that meaning to include gay marriage.  on what basis?  to them marriage is a fundamental right.  well if we decide it is a fundamental right, please explain on what basis we could legally deny group marriage, underage marriage, marriage between close relatives, or any other arrangement you could conjure up?  that’s a legitimate question, one i have often heard asked, but never answered.  that is not comparing gay marriage to pedophilia or incest, but it is showing thelegal dilemma and probable outcome of redefining marriage based on the wishes of a special interest group.  pastor warren bases his opinions on his understanding of scripture and common sense.  he has every right to express his views.  the group who is always crying for tolerance (the lgbt community) seems to be pretty intolerant to me.  i don’t get it, i am not a fan of our new president, but i think he is at least trying to do some of the stuff he campaigned on.  maybe the people who voted him into office ought to follow their leader and practice what they preach.  if your gonna campaign for tolerance…then start practicing it. 

and what’s with all the controversy around christmas?  last time i checked the reason we have this “holiday season” is because its christmas…we just don’t want to call it that.  (i know about hanukkah and kwanzaa but they are not why this is a holiday season in the usa)  does anyone really feel threatened by a nativity scene or the words merry christmas?  if so, how do they function?  again where is the tolerance.  if you don’t celebrate christmas, fine.  i don’t celebrate the holidays of other cultures, but i don’t deny them that opportunity or protest it.  maybe we all ought to lighten up.  and as far as i can tell that is what christmas is all about.  you see jesus came into a world where 2 things were true.  the vast majority of mankind had no comprehension of who god was or what he had to offer.  they had disconnected from him so long ago that he wasn’t even a distant memory.  and then there were the jewish people who had completely missed the point of the old testament scriptures.  the leaders of judaism had taken the law and twisted it out of shape to something god never intended.  that is always the danger of interpretation, human error is a very real possibility.  by the time jesus came the only real practitioners of judaism were the pharisees.  the sadducees had sold out to rome and the common man couldn’t live up to the demands the pharisees imposed on them.  beyond that, the law was not meant to be some kind of moral step ladder that would allow an individual to earn god’s favor.  it was meant to be a mirror in which man could see his moral deficiency, his inability to live up to gods standards, and in so doing point him to the savior.  a savior that we celebrate at christmas time, who 1000’s of years of prophecy told us was on his way.  as a savior he did for us what we could not do for ourselves.  he died to pay the price of sin, he rose from the dead demonstrating his power over death.  he offers us life if we will simply admit our need for him and surrender our life to his control.  and the most amazing thing is this life is offered to all from the very best of us to the the very worst of us.  the message of christmas is a message of reconciliation.  so, if you want to say happy holidays…be my guest.  if you want to rant and rave about there is no god…fine, you’re allowed.  if you want to get worked up about rick warren, go for it.  but a word of advise…maybe stop and think about what your about to say or do, how it may be perceived by others, how it will make you appear to others.  maybe consider the old golden rule…do unto others as you would have others do unto you.  hey, we could keep on getting worked up about everything, but i have better things to do…i hope you do to.  blessings.  vince