On Being Brave

 

I am at a crossroads. Again. Live long enough and you find you have a healthy collection of such moments.

I've always been able to quietly walk away from situations, individuals, or groups that I recognize as incompatible or with whom I feel I do not belong, particularly and especially because of my unconventional faith. 

Firstly, I question not staying on the chance that by remaining I might be a quiet example or plant a small seed. I think about how Christ was judged and vilified for what the self-righteous who deemed as consorting with sinners. But He didn't break bread with the social outcasts to be one of them. His goal was to minister to them to give them an option to choose a higher state of being. Such a commitment requires a certain amount of leadership though.

Acknowledging that, I sink as I own up to my abysmal history of being heard. I am not a leader, persuader or, in the new vernacular, an influencer, nor have I ever had debate skills. If what I believe is akin to a tiny tinkling bell that gets easily overwhelmed by the noise, I lean towards doing as Christ told His disciples, when you enter a town that refuses to hear, turn and shake the dust off your feet and walk away. I have found sometimes that is the best choice. For me, anyway. In some cases I've had to flee to the safety of loving some people from a distance.

There seems to be a very fine line to discern when choosing when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em.

Thus my current conundrum is: 

It is clear for me that open war has been declared against all and everything that Christianity stands for, so do I speak up, stand and defend, even if I know I will be smacked down and dismissed with a currently popular derogatory label? Or do I just walk away? I certainly have done so on multiple occasions, albeit leaving with no grudge or resentment but instead offering a silent prayer that eyes and hearts will be opened. I usually concede that if my voice was not the one that could be heard that the one whose voice would be should be. 

Or... when I start to overthink I wonder if am I just being a coward? Will I be held accountable for not defending Christ regardless the hot spot it puts me in?

Perhaps that is the biggest question for me at this stage of our current societal decline - determining when to speak and when to remain silent. 

War on Christianity is not new and has most certainly been ongoing for more than 2000 years and many brave, outspoken Christians have died for standing up. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, for example, a Lutheran minister, for his stand against Hitler, was imprisoned for several years and then hanged just days before the Allies took down the Third Reich and freed the prisoners in the concentration death camps in Germany. 

But, of late, in this new era of anything-goes-lawlessness, it seems all the stops have been pulled unlike ever before. Anything and everything that is deemed as being based on Christian life standards have now not only been abandoned, these long proven boundaries are now declared to be anti-social on a global scale and are being summarily outlawed. 

How long before we reach the place where speaking in defense of Christian values will land one in prison? Wait. It's already happening actually. All over the world. Canada. Australia. Perhaps you were unaware that in the UK, street preachers are often arrested for daring to speak out against homosexuality? It's referred to as the crime of committing  'hate speech'.  And, of course, the definition of hate speech is conveniently left fluid and can be reinterpreted to suit the current cultural trends. 

When the day comes that a word or phrase can be designated as a weapon to silence God's people, when/how do we, who continue to hold to God's standards, react? Do we stand and fight, even to death? Or do we fall back and keep our heads down hoping we can survive until normal is restored - by someone else? 

Or do we work under the radar? Do you know how many Christians were rescued covertly from Afghanistan, at great risk, by privately funded groups, after the current administration abandoned them to assured death? Thousands. This is recent history, by the way, not some side note from a long ago war recorded in a short paragraph in a history book. 

Perhaps the answer I seek isn't either/or but rather, if you trust the still small voice and strain to listen for the tinkling bell, you will know what to do when the time comes. And then choose to do it bravely, even if you find yourself on the receiving end of a noose or firing squad. 

As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said just before he was hanged, 

"This is the end - for me the beginning of life."

For Him,

Meema

Recommended Reading:

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

5100 Christians Rescued