John 15:9-17 The Door Swings Both Ways

Feast of St. Matthias

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Jesus said to his disciples:  “As the Father loves me, so I also love you.  Remain in my love.  …I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete.  This is my commandment:  love one another as I have loved you.”

Today is the feast day of St. Matthias.  I wonder how he reacted when he was chosen.  Did he celebrate, like a politician, with arms raised in victory?  I doubt it.  He must have known better.  He knew what this meant:  sleepless nights, endless nights and most likely a short life, a painful life and certain death (martyrdom).   

There were no surprises for him in what to expect.  The surprise was that he accepted it. 

It’s always worth standing up for what is right, good and holy.  Even to spend some time in prison for Christ is an honor.  To die for him…well, it’s worth a worthy friendship:  “There’s no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

The door swings both ways.  That’s what someone recently said to me.  They were referring to the fact that even Christians discriminate against non-Christians, or that even Christians deny non-Christians certain things.  They’re right and very wrong.   And let’s not just talk about Christians.  Let’s also talk about God.  Couldn’t we say the same thing about God?  Don’t good people suffer like bad people?  Don’t people die for good reasons and for bad reasons?  The door swings both ways, right?  So, where is God in all of this?  I guess the answer is found in what happens next.  Does the door stay wide open for you or does it swing back hard…and hit you from behind?

The New York Times claims to print “All the news that’s fit to print.”  Well, apparently the multiple murder trial of abortionist Dr. Gosnell was news that was not worth printing; at least not until The Times was called to task over it.  Why the silence?  I will tell you why:  Because there coverage would conflict with their interest.  The New York Times wants you to believe they are reporters and not indoctrinators.  But they are vehemently Pro-Choice, Anti-Catholic and extremely liberal.  And yet they have the audacity to claim to print all the news that’s fit to print.  How bogus!  On the other hand, Catholic newspapers discriminate.  In other words, they select.  They don’t print all the news that’s fit to print.  They print news that is Catholic related.  They make no secret about that.  Yes, the door swings both ways.  That’s true.  But some people get hit from behind.  The New York Times would like you to believe they are all about reporting news.  They swung the door wide open and got hit hard from behind!

Dr. Gosnell was a licensed medical doctor who owned his very own clinic in Philadelphia.  The abortion lobby has been pressing local, state and federal governments to get their hands off their clinics!  They claim they don’t need regulations (that they can regulate themselves); that government regulations make it harder for women to have safe and painless abortions.  Well, they swung the door wide open and got hit from behind.  It turns out Dr. Gosnell was not only operating a filthy clinic, he was routinely murdering full term babies.  Yesterday, a jury convicted him of three counts of first degree murder.  To make matters even more hideous, Dr. Gosnell reportedly laughed and joked to staff while he snipped a baby’s spine [See article:  Warning, very graphic].   Are we to believe that he is the only one that does this?

As a senator, Mr. Obama voted three times against the born alive bill.  As the Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Ridge refused to have government inspectors inspect abortion clinics, claiming it could infringe on a woman’s right to an abortion.  It is clear the door has not only hit the New York Times from behind but also the abortion lobby (especially the disgracefully silent Planned Parenthood abortion mill industry) as well.  

When it comes to the Church, the Catholic Church’s doors remain wide open.  It promotes life, all life, all forms of life, and all types of life:  good and bad.  It doesn’t claim to make any distinctions between a child born and a child unborn.  It doesn’t claim to make any distinctions between a “deformed” child and a “normal” child.  It doesn’t even claim to make any distinction between a loved child and an unloved child; for an unloved child can easily be loved by another.  It does however make one distinction:  it distinguishes the mother (and father) from the child.

In Ireland, law makers are currently debating a bill that would allow abortions in certain cases.  This new piece of legislation comes after a pregnant woman was wrongfully denied a morally acceptable "abortion" by medical staff.  She died soon afterwards.  Now the anti-Catholic government blames her death on Catholicism and its morals.  But we see with these hypocrites that their door hits them from behind.  Again, in the Gosnell trial, a pregnant woman died during an abortion.  She wasn’t the first.  In fact, an expert witness claims these types of deaths occur.  One expert shockingly said, “People die, you know.”   So the door that hit the media and the abortion mills now hits women from behind as well:  “People die, you know.”   

Now Christians have never claimed that Christianity is safe and painless.  Instead, it has been brutally honest and claimed just the opposite.  Child birth and motherhood are dangerous, but both are worthwhile.      

Freedom of speech and women’s rights are doors that routinely hit people from behind.  We now know that three teens were kidnapped and held hostage for ten years by an individual who would bind them and rape them.  And yet, this type of behavior is a billion dollar industry.  You know that, right?  It’s what the pornographic industry routinely portrays and often with underage looking eighteen-year-olds!  They know their business well:  the younger, the better.  Now aren’t they feeding predators?  Or are we to believe that this type of imagery does not feed (and maybe even create) a few sick minds?  Where is the anger over violent pornography from feminists?  Does it make it any better that it is consensual?  Hardly!  If anything, it makes it even more horrible! 

And yet it is called “art”, and they are called “actors” and “actresses.”  The whole business is called “freedom of expression.”  How polished!  How logical!  This door has swung so far wide that when it hits us, it really hits us…and hits us hard and everywhere:  in our society, in our way of life, in our way of thinking, in our marriages, children and families.  Why are people so shocked?  Did they think they (and their children) wouldn’t get hit one day? 

The door swings both ways, but only hits us one way.    Americans think of themselves as the most open (door) society in the world.  Come on in, our doors are wide open.  Here, you can be different.  You can do whatever makes you happy.  You can be yourself. 

And then they get hit from behind. 

Christians, on the other hand, say walk through the narrow gate.  Be holy.  Love one another as Christ has loved you.  Be another Christ.  No false advertisements.  No hidden doors. 

We shouldn’t be shocked when we teach (or legalize) bad things and our children start doing them.  We should be shocked when we teach good things and our kids start rejecting them!   

The door may swing both ways, but we still only get hit one way:  from behind.