{"id":1356,"date":"2014-12-15T21:29:39","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T21:29:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/?p=1356"},"modified":"2014-12-15T21:44:53","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T21:44:53","slug":"god-coming-out-of-the-closet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/2014\/12\/god-coming-out-of-the-closet.html","title":{"rendered":"God — Coming Out of the Closet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some unknown, \u00a0unnamed, presumably existent person, long ago, said that we should never talk about sex, religion, and politics. Aside from this eliminating pretty much everything interesting worth discussing — including the weather since, with the growing mantra of “Global Change,”\u00a0the weather is now\u00a0political (and religious, actually) — this pithy little saying isn’t followed by anyone.<\/p>\n

\"God<\/a>
God has not always been exiled from public places. God Creating Adam, detail from the Sistine Chapel painting by Michelangelo.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If it were, I wouldn’t know more details than I ever wanted to know about same sex . . . \u00a0sex.<\/p>\n

But I am\u00a0blitzed by news about\u00a0sex — hetero, homo, and trans — and who’s having it, when, where, and how, complete with photos. So are\u00a0young children, in sex education classes.<\/p>\n

I get politics in my movies, fed to me by\u00a0pallid dialogue and watery\u00a0plots, and religion — do I ever get religion! Scientism, atheism, vampires, zombies, a fascination for dystopia,\u00a0spiritual awareness, the power of now and the purpose of then, holistic energy, the universal cosmic consciousness, tapping into my inner child at a business seminar — religion (we call it “spirituality” now) surrounds and abounds.<\/p>\n

The No God Zone<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The only thing, or Person, we’re not allowed to discuss is God — who, to me, sort of embodies the concept of religion and spirituality.<\/p>\n

But no, we’re told — God is a private thing. We need to keep Him that way. Our belief in God is highly personal and should never spill out into the public arena, unless, of course, it’s a photo op of the president emerging from church.<\/p>\n

\"Tea<\/a>
The things we believe in are the topics we address when we eat, when we sit, when we walk, when we live. Detail from Tea for Two, original oil painting by Steve Henderson.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While I agree, wholeheartedly, that one’s belief in God is highly personal (as is one’s sexual activity, incidentally), God simply cannot be relegated to a small, closed room — like a closet;\u00a0or worse, stuffed between the pages of a hymnal and left until next week. Those who\u00a0believe in Him are not a minority on this planet, and part of believing is following \u00a0His teaching — whether that teaching is in the New Testament, the Old Testament, or the Koran.<\/p>\n

If we are reading the material that we believe He has provided for us and trying to apply it to our life, the word “God” is going to slip out at some point, and if not God, then something He said — so why does He factor so little in our daily conversation, corporate media, and individual lives?<\/p>\n

“These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts,”<\/em> Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says.<\/p>\n

“Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the\u00a0road, when you lie down and\u00a0when you get up.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Talk about them. Not just in the synagogue, not just at church.<\/p>\n

Talk About God<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave\u00a0himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God,”<\/em> Paul puts the words into action in Ephesians 5:1-2, the same chapter\u00a0where he encourages, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Now while that latter may seem strange behavior in the employee break room, it’s not so odd when you think of it as letting our “conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”<\/em> (Colossians 4:6)<\/p>\n

What do we think of the immigration issue? Abortion? Genetic modification of foods and its consequential denouement, trans-humanism? Sexuality? Genderism? The Palestine\/Israeli conflict? Missing planes from Malasia?<\/p>\n

There’s not a single item on the news that we approach — or can<\/em> approach — without doing so from our belief system, and if our belief system includes God, then He’s going to factor into our conversation somehow, hopefully, beyond, “Jesus Saves!” or “It’s a God Thing, you know.”<\/p>\n

We Apply What We Read, Hear, and Think<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

If we have just recently read, and are meditating upon Matthew 5:7 — “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy,”<\/em> we may stop and question international policy decisions.<\/p>\n

Luke 6:38 — “A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you,”<\/em> may make us wonder, how does this teaching align with a society that encourages, and rewards, usury?<\/p>\n

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit,”<\/em> (Luke 6:43) gives perspective on speakers and leaders, and their ability — or inability — to impart\u00a0the truth.<\/p>\n

Of course, if we don’t know what’s in the book that tells us about God, and who He is, and what He says, then we won’t be impacted in our daily lives by what’s written there. We will repeat, or rephrase, what we hear and absorb most, and if that is from TV, newspapers, radio, magazines, movies, and video games, then it’s probably not going to reflect anything about God, because the corporate media does not effusively include Him within the conversation.<\/p>\n

Corporate media chatter\u00a0is replete with politics, sex, and 21st century spirituality, but not God.<\/p>\n

“Talking about God in this personal way is not politically correct, but it is of interest to the silent majority of which I am determined to no longer belong,” a reader commented on a recent article of mine,\u00a0Grasping the Goodness of God<\/a>, the teaser to which was published in a newspaper.<\/p>\n

That’s the problem with God — He’s not politically correct. But neither then should we be, because political correction — the control of our speech and thought by a silent elite — does not lead to speech, but to silence; not to dialogue, but to acquiescence; not to knowledge, but to convention.<\/p>\n

It’s time to invite God back into the conversation.<\/p>\n

Thank You<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for joining me at Commonsense Christianity where I write about believing in God as an ordinary person, and incorporating Him into an ordinary life.<\/p>\n

Posts complementing this one are<\/p>\n

Are We Being Manipulated? Let’s Just Say “No”<\/a><\/p>\n

Stay Alert: Burnt Toast Is the Least of Our Concerns<\/a><\/p>\n

Questioning Convention: It’s Part of Growth<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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