A
Lesson in Priorities for Christians
GrassTopsUSA Guest Commentary
By Janet Folger
05-13-08What
matters most? Sometimes it's hard to tell. But there's nothing like a
crisis to put things into perspective. For example, while it may not be
evident in everyday life, you can see people's priorities put in order
when the house is burning down. If their priorities are right, they're
going to wake their spouse and grab their children before reaching for
that expensive appliance.
Priorities. You can see them in proper perspective when people are on
their deathbeds. God, who may have been pushed aside for decades,
suddenly tops the list again. Family, the ones who surround you at such
a time, will always trump the work you left at the office. We need to
learn how to prioritize.
And we need to prioritize when it comes to our policies and our
politics. Take a bunch of "evangelical Christians" who, according to
Sunday's Seattle Times, claim to be pro-life Christians and for Obama.
No matter how slick the slogans or how "cool" the candidate, you can't
be both.
Look, to be a Christian means you have to follow Christ. What did Christ
say? "If you love me, you'll keep my commandments." And what were some
of those commandments? God prioritized them for us, and "Thou shalt not
kill" made the top 10. It wasn't "change" or "diversity" or "tolerance"
or "government programs" that made the list; it was the protection of
human life.
Our Founding Fathers did the same thing. In the Declaration of
Independence, our nation's birth certificate, they explained that we are
endowed by our Creator with the 1) unalienable right to life, 2) liberty
and 3) the pursuit of happiness. Life got first billing because it makes
every other right possible.
I was once asked by former Ohio House Speaker Vern Riffe why "the life
issue" mattered so much to me. He listed a bunch of other issues like
health care and education and wondered why I spent so much of my time
lobbying and speaking for just one "single issue." I explained, while I
care about many issues, life is a prerequisite to every single one. What
good is health care if you're dead?
Know how to prioritize.
Joel Richardson, co-editor of "Why we Left Islam: Former Muslims Speak
Out," was on my
Faith2Action radio program yesterday and brought up the importance
of prioritizing on other issues, as well. Because Americans have placed
"tolerance" as our No. 1 value, it has pushed other American values like
"human freedoms" and "human rights" to a secondary rank. That's the only
way a philosophy that is anti-American, anti-freedom and anti-human
rights is welcomed with open arms into schools, universities, churches,
prisons and neighborhoods across America.
On the program, one "government school graduate" called in suggesting
that we should be nicer and not speak of the "kill the Christians and
Jews" goals of the Quran as "evil."
To clarify in a way he could understand, Richardson took us back to the
1930s and wondered if someone could criticize the Nazi philosophy
without being accused of speaking against Germany or offending the
people of the day. We all now recognize that if you really loved your
country and its people, you would have spoken out against this great
evil. History reveals that the ones who did are the real heroes.
I'm not questioning the First Amendment rights of anyone, but I have to
wonder if under today's "tolerance is supreme" mindset, we would have
also encouraged and welcomed Nazism with open arms into our schools,
universities, churches, prisons and neighborhoods. If a presidential
candidate who favors killing 50 million citizens can be supported by
self-proclaimed "evangelical Christians," I think the answer is yes.
Thankfully, we have history to show us the result of such an
unmistakable evil philosophy. But if we look a littler harder, we can
see the results of Obama's philosophy today: 50 million dead children,
millions of wounded mothers, fathers, siblings and friends … and the
consequences continue.
We need to prioritize our policies and our politics before the house
burns down or we face our deathbeds. The house may not be burning down
just yet, but in September 2001, there were some buildings that did. We
may not be on our deathbed, but there are 4,000 American children today
who are – because of the policies and the deadly philosophy of Barack
Hussein Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. We can't be a pro-life
Christian and support either one.
To those who are confused about the candidates and the culture, I have
one word for you: prioritize.
