HAS A LINE FINALLY BEEN DRAWN IN THE SAND?

As we draw ever closer to what feels to be some sort of climactic confrontation Christian leaders are coming together to lead their flocks in a war for the truth. This setting aside of doctrinal difference to work towards the good of all is a strong indication of the change occurring across all societal lines. Everything is becoming less gray. We are being presented with clear choices. We will either support the forces of goodness and truth or we will perish with the forces of evil. The lies spoken by our political "leaders" are becoming more transparent, at least to those searching for truth, with every passing day.

The signers of the "Manhattan Declaration", an excerpt of which is posted below, have drawn a very clear line in the sand. Like Travis at the Alamo they are asking us to cross over the line and fight with them; and perhaps die. Do we have the courage? Do we have the resolve?

The battle lines are being drawn. Will you take your place on the wall, standing shoulder to shoulder in defense of truth? Or will you surrender and hope that your captors treat you well?

Die in freedom or live in shackles. You are going to have to choose.

"As Christians, we take seriously the Biblical admonition to respect and obey those in authority. We believe in law and in the rule of law. We recognize the duty to comply with laws whether we happen to like them or not, unless the laws are gravely unjust or require those subject to them to do something unjust or otherwise immoral. The biblical purpose of law is to preserve order and serve justice and the common good; yet laws that are unjust—and especially laws that purport to compel citizens to do what is unjust—undermine the common good, rather than serve it.

Going back to the earliest days of the church, Christians have refused to compromise their proclamation of the gospel. In Acts 4, Peter and John were ordered to stop preaching. Their answer was, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Through the centuries, Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is not only permitted, but sometimes required. There is no more eloquent defense of the rights and duties of religious conscience than the one offered by Martin Luther King, Jr., in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Writing from an explicitly Christian perspective, and citing Christian writers such as Augustine and Aquinas, King taught that just laws elevate and ennoble human beings because they are rooted in the moral law whose ultimate source is God Himself. Unjust laws degrade human beings. Inasmuch as they can claim no authority beyond sheer human will, they lack any power to bind in conscience. King’s willingness to go to jail, rather than comply with legal injustice, was exemplary and inspiring.

Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s."

First Things