Extreme vs. Obedient

So my husband and I went on a date a few days ago (which was sooo wonderful!!). We went to the move theater and saw a movie called "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." If you have not yet seen this movie, I cannot recommend it enough, especially as a God-fearing people, because it has incredible implications for the direction that our society, and world as a whole, is going. The movie is a documentary about the tension within the Academia world of Science between those who believe in Intelligent Design vs. those who believe in Darwinism. The tension is not only real, but quite hostile, as those who believe in Darwinism tend to think quite little of their Intelligent Design counterparts, to say the least. There was name calling and personal attacks, not to mention blacklisting for career positions and slandering of character.
There was one part in particular that really stood out to me. One of the Darwinist Scientists was talking about his vision for the future world, saying that the scientific community would like to see science and technology becoming more and more the prevailing guidance and "religion" (as he called it) would be less and less important in a person's life. That decisions would be based upon science and technology more and more, and less and less based on religious beliefs. Where now, they see religion as a "main dish" in a person's life, they would like to see it reduced to a weekend "side dish," a simple Sunday gathering that would be nice for a morning, and then everyone could return to normal life afterwards.
Not only is this scary, but it is already happening. And one of the biggest problems now is that the Church is allowing it to happen. What happen to men and women of integrity who speak the truth boldly, with no fear of natural consequences? What happen to leadership fearing God and not man?
I recently came across a story out of the University of Toledo in Ohio that shocked and greatly disappointed me. You can find the links here. The gist of the story is this:
There was an opinion column published by the University newspaper editor talking about the great injustices being done to the homosexual community, talking about their civil rights were being violated, comparing the injustices of the homosexual community to that against African-Americans or handicaps. A university administrator, and African-American woman, responded to the opinion column with her own opinions on the matter, stating that she strongly disagreed with the comparison of the homosexual community to the African-American or handicapped communities. She cited her own Scriptural beliefs about God's divine order of things and then the natural consequences that come from choices that we make, either in obedience or disobedience to God's divine order.
This university administrator was subsequently suspended from her job by the university president, who cited that her beliefs did not line up with the values of the university. In an official statement, it was said, "Those beliefs are better suited for Sunday morning services only."
Do you see what is happening, friends? Do you see the direction we are headed as a people. My great fear (if it could be called fear) is that the Church in the West will come under great persecution before it decides to wake up and take a stand. The world calls us judgmental and closed-minded because we choose not to embrace the sins of the flesh. I hate my own sin because it breaks the heart of my God. I will no more love the sin in others. But while I will not embrace the sins of the flesh, I will embrace the people, as they were created in the same image of God as I was. It is not a matter of being hateful people, it is a matter of being discerning, hating the actions while loving the people whom God created. That is our great challenge. But we must become a people devoted to standing on the principles of God, speaking truth no matter the consequences, so that the actions of this university administrator would not be seen as extreme, but would be a concerted message from believers across the nation and around the world.
I was at a gathering of believers not too long ago where someone referred to me as the "extreme among them," (presumably because of our calling to serve overseas). That humored me at first, but then made me quite sad. Why would I be thought the extreme, when I am only being obedient? Is true obedience extreme? It should not be! It should be the norm, so that it not a select few who are carrying on the work, but the overwhelming majority who are all doing their share. I assure you that I am as broken as they come, but as God is putting back together the great mess that I created of my life, He is working. There is nothing extreme about that. Well, maybe it is. Maybe it is time for the Church as a whole get radically extreme, lest we will be considered an insignificant "side dish."