11.12.2008

Does anyone know how...

An anonymous commenter has been leaving repeated comments on my abortion post. For a while I humored them. While I radically disagree with their point of view, I do respect their opinion. While they used their christian "right to admonish" by throwing in holier-than-thou attacks on me (in their words "you should be very ashamed of yourselves"), my little sister in Dallas and my dad in Cheyenne both came to my defense. Now, I must make a point here, both my dad and Sarah were McCain supporters. Well, here is how it went.

Anon: It was the Evangelical vote that put Obama over the top. So, thank you Casey family for helping usher in darker times.
As Christians you should be very ashamed of yourselves, as all Christians who chose "change" over Christ's teaching.
Love one another, yes. But God would have us stand on what He taught rather than sooth over people's feelings.
Obama is not going to change this country for the better, no matter how much you "believe" in him.
If the Evangelicals (the ones who say they are and the ones who are) would vote into office Godly men, yes abortion could be ENDED! IF we voted in Godly men our schools could once again teach Christ and the next generation would love, instead of hate.
But, as you can see, your pocket book won out, just like so many of those who say they love Jesus.

Sarah: Who are YOU to judge Mr.Casey's faith? Who are YOU to judge how Christian he is? From what I understand through everything I have studied in the Bible, we are NOT to judge. I am pleading that you spend some time catching up on 1Peter.
Why should he and other Christians who voted for president-elect Obama be "ashamed of themselves"? It is judgmental and unkind things, like you have posted yourself, that hurt our greater mission as bridge builders to help bring the community to a relationship with Christ. Christianity is INCLUSIVE and not exclusive....God loves everyone no matter who they choose to vote for and Mr.Casey DOES love God. Infact he helped lead me to God and I will be forever grateful. So please prayerfully consider what to post before you hurt the greater mission Jesus set us out to accomplish. Thank you.

Anon: AS a Christian brother and you as a sister, I have the right to admonish you for going agianst ALL that God teaches.
Reaching out is just fine, but acting like the sinner, to win them over is not. Jesus did not act like the people he reached out to, he told them they were wrong,(the people he drove out of the temple ring a bell?)
The people we are reaching for want love and support, but as much as they want that, the need to know right and wrong.
I do not appologize for stating the truth.
There is a big difference between judging someone, and showing them they are doing something wrong.

Sarah: When you said: "As Christians you should be very ashamed of yourselves, as all Christians who chose "change" over Christ's teaching. " AND "as you can see, your pocket book won out, just like so many of those who say they love Jesus."
You crossed the line from your own spiritual discernment to being judgmental. Keep in mind while I am not an Obama supporter I did not for a second judge or question Mr. Casey's Christianity. Marlin did not question Mr. Casey's faith either.
The definition of "admonish"- to counsel or warn in a good-natured manner.
That was not a warning or a reminder...nor was it in a good nature.
We as Christians should NEVER play the "holier than thou" card which you did when you QUESTIONED Mr. Casey's faith. As Christians we must stop trying to out-Christian each other. Christians have NO ROOM to act or feel superior.

Dad: Dear anon person: As the father of the author of this blog, allow me to share some reactions to your writings. While I know nothing about your life experiences, I know that Nic has experienced some of life's happenings that no one should ever deserve. Have you, sir, spent the night trying to sleep in a hospital chair praying that your wife and unborn child make it to see sunlight of another day? That was a conscious choice they made in taking that risk rather than taking the baby to insure the mother lived. And it was a significant risk they took. To imply that Nic does not understand the role of fighting abortion is very personal to him. With some humor, that decision then to protect life also is the source of daily discipline he has to administer. Additionally, if one grandmother of his had chosen to have the result of a rape aborted, then he nor I would be present. Abortion in (as you put it)the Casey family is an oft-considered/talked about issue. I respectfully agree with Sarah about the attitude of your admonishment seemingly slightly harsher than necessary. Nowhere do I see that the assignment of "shame" that you indicate Nic and his like-thinkers should have as necessary. Personally, I think you were wishing that all Christians, regardless of how they view life or whatever circumstances they have experienced, thought and reacted and voted identical to yourself. Sorry, Christians, like individuals in regular society, are not designed to be cookie cutter images of each other, or like one particular person. My next point is your use of "ALL" in refering to what God teaches. Frankly, that made me belch some bad gas. It also reminded me of the fact that Jesus didn't act out that kind of attitude with individuals. Respectfully, as we were raising our kids, we allowed them to come to different solutions, different processes, and encouraged them to think through tough questions without them being expected to replicate our exact thinking. They have each successfully learned that process (images of Is. 1:16)and the freedom to arrive at their choices. That means that his mom and I also entrusted God to reprimand, mold, protect, and guide each of them in their decisions. It seems that God has a historical past of being far more trustworthy in delivering guidance than any of us parents. My same thinking applies to this election. Alot of people I know and have incredible confidence voted opposite of me. In fact, our family (kids and us) split our votes with 2 couples on each side of the ticket. I also know each of their reasons, and NONE of them represent blind duplicate populist voting patterns. That alone earns my respect. Specifically, I know and respect Nic's faith. He has experienced more in a few years of marriage in making difficult decisions than most of us encounter in an entire lifetime. Perhaps each of us would be better to experience a desire to understand and walk a mile in their shoes first than to simply wag a pointed finger and go tsk, tsk. Sir anon, I wish you well. Probably, your value of a pro-life stance and mine match extremely close. However, "love one another" sometimes is painful and never is it automatically implanted that it would be convenient---if with a fellow Christian.

Anon: My point with this subject is that Christians who voted for this man that claims to be a Christian, did not look at the truth of the matter. They did not search out what what best for all concerned.
I may not think exactly like you or the Casey family, but as "Christains" we should be like minded. Knowing that this man is going to sign into law the "Freedom of Choice Act" the minute he gets in office was enough to make ANY person who believes shiver and weep. By voting this man into office, you have initaily signed the death warrent to millions more who don't have voices.
I commend Nic and his wife for keeping their son. He is a beautiful image of God. But sir, how many are now going to die because the Christain right did not get off their behinds and defeat this man?
That is where I was going with this post.
Yes, Nic is very capable to vote like he wants to, but when it brings this kind of horror, I say shame, shame, shame.
The people of Jeremiah's time didn't like his message either, but God sent it anyway.
I love my brothers and sisters, but can say very seriously that they did not do God's will when it came to voting for that person.

Now at this point, Sarah sent me a myspace message apologizing for fighting with this person on my blog. Personally, I found it amusing. (Call me shallow, but enjoy seeing the know-it-all personalities confronted.) But after three comments (filled with spite that I find damaging to the message of the gospels) I had enough. So, I told Sarah I would delete any future comments from Anonymous and left a final comment.

Me: Mr/Ms Anonymous, if I have any shame, I am ashamed that there are thousands of Christians (like yourself) preaching a message of fire, brimstone, condemnation, and wrath - a message that chases away those who may be desperately searching for God (and possibly searching for an alternative to abortion).
The "abortion is murder" message (while true) has never convinced anyone out of an abortion. Lovingly offering alternatives has. Your ban-abortion crusade, while noble, accomplishes nothing. It does nothing but turn hearts cold against the true hope we have in Christ.
While I appreciate (and commend) Christians who ardently oppose abortion. I believe there is a better way. We will more effectively save one child at at time than trying (and failing) to save them all.
But you can keep preaching shame if you want. We'll see how well that works for you.


But of course, Anonymous has to have the last word (I thought I was being nice). How dare there be any autonomy with in the body of Christ. How dare anyone disagree with her. Naturally (keeping my promise to Sarah) I deleted that comment. Anonymous posted yet another comment "Sad, Nic... Sad." I deleted that one as well. But, now (in their eyes) not only am I a pagan for voting for Obama, but now I have comitted the evil sin of censorship. She left on final comment (and by final, I promise I WILL delete any more comments regardless of content) : "Nic, I thought you believed in freedom of expresion? I guess not."

Get your own blog. How's that for freedom of expression.



Now that the exchange is over, I have a dilemma. In the first comment I deleted, Anonymous posted her belief that a message of love misrepresents the gospel and that the gospel message is one of fire and brimstone (according to John 3:16). I wholeheartedly believe that is the worst possible interpretation of that passage, and that she fails to understand that "gospel" means "good news" and not "go to Hell." It's probably a good thing that I deleted that comment, but part of me wishes I hadn't, just so others can see how gloriously wrong that point of view is.

I didn't permanently delete the comment (like I usually do). Does anyone know if it is possible to undelete a non-permanently deleted comment?

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:34 AM

    Impossible quests: Me, high-jumbing 6 ft. You, ever reaching 6 ft in height. Unwise quests: me, trying to become anorexic, you, changing someone's mind by running into a brick wall. Wise quests: me, limit smart-mouth tatics, you, install a "delete" numerical counter on your blog (next to the satire counter and the give-me-a-free-laugh counter)
    Leave the comments in the graveyard of despair, refuse to reward blatant desperatness, take away the 15 minutes of I-want-to-be-a-blog-commentator already recieved, enjoy the high road of knowing you have prevented lack of reasoning and responsible dialogue ever having a voice, and finally, refuse to let any additional crap to reside on your blog that redirects the blog from whatever theme (usually quiet varied) you desire. That is called protective integrity (as well as becoming a peace-maker even if it reduces your fun-factor of slashing and burning stupid remarks)

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  2. Anonymous7:36 AM

    self editing: "quite" is to be substituted for "quiet". It seems that quiet for your blog is a misnomer and I stand corrected.

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  3. Anonymous3:41 PM

    Ok, I do humbly, apologize for my bad behavior.
    But Nic, seriously, tell me how you can share the good news of "the Savior" if they don't believe there is anything to be saved from?
    If you don't need a Savior, then what does it matter?
    IF you believe that Christ died for your sins, then why is it so hard to tell others that they are sinners and need a savior.

    If we as HIS sheep don't stick to the facts that there are right and wrong, like the Bible says, then who is?

    Abortion is wrong, under any circumstance.
    Homosexual behavior is wrong.
    Sexual perversion is wrong.

    Obama champions these causes and you and many "christians" championed his election.

    There is something terribly wrong with that.
    Nic, you stand on the wrong side of the issue, no matter how you look at it.
    Please Nic, come back to the sheep fold.

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  4. If a person is genuinely seeking answers, desperately needing hope, you (anonymous) and I both know that God is that answer. We both know that living by God's rules are the best possible way to live.

    The question isn't that I have one truth and you have another. We both believe in the same God, same salvation, same gospel. The difference is how we present that truth.

    So, this person comes to you and you tell them they're a sinner and they're going to hell. They come to me and I tell them that God will forgive them of their sins, no matter how horrible they are. We are both speaking truth. However, which of us do you think that person would be willing to listen to share faith or hope or the good news?

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  5. Satan uses politics to cause division within the body of Christ. Satan delights when other Christians question others Christianity. Why? So when the non-believer overhears those wars of words they will lose hope. OUR JOB AS CHRISTIANS IS TO SHARE HOPE!

    John 3:16
    For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

    That is a message of hope!! We send ourselves to heaven or hell, we choose Christ or not. Freedom at it's best.

    Nic, I commend you for being a gentlemen through out this "anonymous" drama and seeing the bigger picture. I wish more Christians saw the bigger picture than just stewing over what democracy has brought us: a leader the people chose.

    Sure, I wish my guy won but how can I be mad? America voted and I would rather live in a country where the democratic process is law, than to live in a country of religious legalisms and not getting a choice or voicing my opinion. God bless America!!

    It's time for the disappointed to move on and remember that God is our commander in Chief, God is our Heavenly Father and Creator... which in my eyes is much more meaningful and long term than a 4 - 8 year presidency in this little blip of time called eternity.

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