Mt 6:7-15 Why Not Get On Board?

Mt 6:7-15  Why Not Get On Board?

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Jesus said to his disciples:  “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them.  Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  This is how you are to pray:  ‘Our Father who art in heaven…”

I was recently told by a college student that I needed to get on board with issues such as abortion and gay-marriage.  I politely told the student that to get on board would mean to toss over board everyone and everything I knew, trusted and believed in.  I’m not exaggerating.  How could I reconcile Sacred Scripture with abortion or gay-marriage?  If God created life, is it not always a good thing, a very good thing?  If God conceived of life, could He have not separated it from sex?  Did He have to join man and woman together like listening and speaking go together?  Thank God He did!  Thank God something so beautiful was joined together with something so scary.  Otherwise, would we ever have children?  Would we ever listen to anyone?

Why in the world would I jump ship and get on board the Titanic and sink?  Why would I aim for a glacier when I can navigate an entire ocean?  Why in the world would I jump from a floating log to a slick, neat, catchy, speedy, and stylish but sinking ship?  I know.  I remember.  The Titanic (and all on board) represented the finest of the finest, the re-finest of the re-finest, the best of the best, the mightiest of the mightiest, a marvel of human invention.  But none the less, it ended up being an expensive museum piece at the bottom of the ocean.  Do you remember?

And what happened to the strongest ship, that not even God could sink (remember), could easily happen to the strongest nation that not even under God we can speak!  

To get on board with these issues would mean to be naive again; to trust in opportunists; to turn a blind eye; to be close minded; that is, intolerant of the beliefs and opinions of the vast majority of people on our planet, living and dead, present and past.  It would require that I remove world history from my thoughts.  You see, gay marriage is like no other issue.  There isn’t a single time in human history when gay-marriage was accepted.  There isn’t a single place in human history where gay-marriage was acknowledged.  There isn’t a single religion (not even a tribal religion) in the world that blessed gay-marriage.  This isn’t ‘Catholic bigotry’ or ‘Christian bigotry’.  This is a human reality.  This isn’t an issue that needed ‘time’ to be understood.  It has been understood.  Now, it’s been completely misunderstood.

Babbling like Pagans.  Pagans don’t pray, they babble.  I know.  They speak to me like they pray to God: “You need to get on board right now.”  They speak to me not as experts but as actors:  “I used to play a doctor on TV” …so that makes you qualified to speak to me?  Why does Hollywood raise money for politicians?  Shouldn’t they stick to acting like the Church sticks to humanity?  Shouldn’t they stick to the stage like the Church sticks to the poor and needy?  The Church doesn’t play God…Now playing!!!  The Church prays to God...Now praying!!! 

Maybe that’s the reason why there is such a big difference in opinion between those who go to Church every Sunday and those who never go to Church on Sunday.  Maybe that’s the reason why the "most liberal" tend to be the most atheist and the "most conservative" tend to be the most theist.  

Why won’t I get on board?  Because those who share with me their latest quip or their latest pet project almost never share with me the objective facts.  They will never mention a word from The Word.  They won’t dare go down History Lane.  They won’t dare touch a fact.  And these are the facts:  We have more Amendments to protect our freedoms than ever before.  We have more Laws written in our books regarding equal rights than ever before.  We spend more money on education than ever before.  And what are the results?  Take a look.  Is this what we can expect when we protect a particular class of individuals:  Arrogance, vulgarity, profanity, entitlement, insults and outright threats?   We go from one extreme to the other.  Only recently have actors and actresses spoken with such eloquence and drama with regards to the beauty of marriage; that is gay-marriage, while most hoped we forgot how they once bashed marriage as an institution all together.  Why the change of heart?  The ACLU will protect individual liberties but not religious liberties.  They will go the extra ten miles to protect one atheist student but will not go the extra mile to protect a single Catholic school or university.   Why the change of principles?  In creating a paradise for our children we have created a living hell for their parents and bus drivers.  Why the change in roles?  And yet, with ‘all our progress’, we have more kids killing kids; more kids on meds; more parents on meds; more immaturity than ever before. 

The institutions we once protected, supported, and defended have become victims to babble...or Babel...or Babylon. 

All because some don’t pray.