Disclaimer: The sharing is pure from my personal view; therefore, please don’t take it to be absolute. Thanks.
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As the presidential and senator election intensifies, telephone survey of voters’ intention is also multiplying. Recently, a call came in to survey my wife about whom she shall be voting in this coming election. My wife told them, “I haven’t decided yet”. I don’t blame her as I myself am in the same boat. If you look at recent newspapers and internet, you will find that instead of addressing ideas of improving current economy, health care and other big problems, schemes of attacking personal character overshadow the purpose of election – to elect persons who have the moral integrity and true hearts to serve the community and the country. When everything is so cloudy and whomever you elect is not going to be ideal, it is really, really, difficult for one to decide. Last Friday night in our small group gathering, the subject of who will you be choosing came up and we talked briefly. My idea was we should be choosing the less evil one of the two (兩害取其輕) since we have no alternatives. May God give us His wisdom in this decision process!
Each day, we need to make many decisions. Because each decision would carry consequence accordingly, how does a person conclude in order for him to make that decision is always intriguing me. I always like to learn from others why they decide on certain things. For example, why one choose that kind of car, or that house, or that store for shopping, etc. Particularly, of interest to me is why he or she choose that religion. For myself, my decision to be a Christian is a combination of personal “subjective experience (主觀的經歷)” and “objective evidence (客觀的證據)” from the Bible. It was a years-long process before I came to that decision. So, before that decision I was an undecided one too.
When prophet Elijah was on Mount Camel, he appealed to the undecided Israelites, by telling them: “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”, But the people said nothing. 你們心持兩意要到幾時呢‧若耶和華是 神，就當順從耶和華‧若巴力是神，就當順從巴力‧眾民一言不答‧(1 Kings 18:21)
The waver of the Israelites is because they couldn’t realize the fact that the LORD is God. They have been worshiping Baal for so many years, as king Ahab instituted. Not until the prophet Elijah called fire from the heaven to burn up the wet logs on the altar, they finally realize that Baal is a false God. This subjective experience from God’s miracle delivered by prophet Elijah, however, couldn’t sustain their faith in God long when Ahab and Jezebel (Ahab’s queen) started to fight back. Even prophet Elijah ran for his life too. Therefore, there is another very important element to become a “decided one” following God. It is the faith in God’s words and I called it “objective evidence”. When our belief is not rooted in God’s words, all our subjective experiences may crumble if tests and trials come.
Therefore, my friends, if God is true then follow Him. It may take you some time to come to that decision but please don’t wait. The sooner you reach that decision, the better you will enjoy the blessings from the Lord. May you become a decided one soon!
Reflection on Chunming’s article “Appeal to the Undecided”.
History has shown the the fall of a nation did not happen overnight. It decadence came in stages.
1. The first stage is the denial of the existence of God.
2. The second stage is idol worshiping and sexual promiscuity.
3. The final stage of the decay is homosexuality.
American is well over stage 1 and stage 2. We are at the third stage. As our president, first ever, declared openly that same sex marriage should be socially acceptable, we are formally entering into the third–and final–stage of the cultural decay which will ultimately lead to the fall of a nation.
Interesting to know as it may seem, the three stages were clearly mentioned in the Bible and they are punctuated by a patently phrase “God Gave Them Over任憑.”
Who is the less of the evils? It is something for us to think about in light of Paul’s letter to the Romans.
Romans 1:20-28
Ro 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Ro 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Ro 1:22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
—Secularism, Atheism—
Ro 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Ro 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
Ro 1:25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen.
—Sexual Promiscuity and Idolatry—
Ro 1:26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
Ro 1:27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Ro 1:28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the
—Homosexuality—
knowledge of God, he (God) gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.