As promised, I'll fill you, my blog friends, in on the most recent fiction book I read. It was Minor Protection Act by Jodi Cowles.
When I find books that are good I tend to get involved in the world of the characters. I found this book filling me with righteous anger, really firing me up at times.
You see my house church has discussed in the past how we believe some day in the near future (possibly our kid's generation) those who really follow Christ will be forced to meet in house churches in this country. Our religious freedoms as Christians are being compromised by those who preach "tolerance". Obviously their idea of tolerance is tolerance for those who agree with them, but that is another topic. We've talked about how this may come about by the government censoring churches regarding certain topics in order to keep their tax exempt status (already being done) among other things. Jodi's book brings up another way this could happen that we haven't even thought about.
Ten years ago, if I had read this book I would have said this would never happen in this country. Now I am not so sure.
Without giving away too much I'll tell you that the story follows a young lawyer who has won media attention for a trial involving parents of a high school girl who commits suicide. Upon her death they read her journals and determined her death was the caused by her friendship with a Christian classmate. Her journals detail her arguements with him regarding her sexual orientation.
The boy has already been sent to prison for 15 years and is considered the girl's murderer under a recent Hate Crime law, when the girl's parents sue his parents. The reasoning is to prove a point because he had been (in their thinking) raised in a hostile and bigoted environment that breed violence and intolerance.
The young lawyer wins the case and catches the attention of the President who is wanting to pass the Minor Protection Act. This act would make it legal for the government to remove children from the homes of parents who are breeding terrorism and violence through their religious teaching. However, unbeknownst to the lawyer, the President has his own agenda and things begin to spin out of control. Christianity as we know it may be wiped out within one generation.
Jodi does a great job of helping you to relate to the characters. If you are parent you will agonize with the characters regarding the choice they are being forced to make. Do you stand up for your faith, put God first as you've pledged and risk losing your child forever? Even worse, the child(ren) you may loose would be raised in a family with beliefs and morales in direct opposition to what you have been teaching them regarding God and right and wrong. What choice would you make?
If you are interested in this book, you can find it on Amazon.com
5 comments:
Very thought provoking indeed. The first thing that came into mind was God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son.
In your posting, are you talking about actual preachers when you said "preach tolerance". Also, can you give me an example of a government censorship on churches. I don't remember reading about this.
Thanks!
By "preaching tolerance" I was not talking about actual preachers, except for maybe the very liberal churches that have already succumbed to our society's pressures to be P.C.
One type of "censorship" is the fact that churches can not talk about certain political subjects without the risk losing their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. They can not endorse a particular candidate from the pulpit because the government thinks separation of church and state means our beliefs we live by should not affect our politics.
However, the censorship I'm talking about does not just have to do with the government. Some (as you know) are being censored by their own denominations. They are being told they have to support certain things (ie. homosexuality or homosexual preachers). Unfortunately, many churches are becoming very "worldly" and trying to be so "seeker friendly" that they are compromising their faith.
We are to hate the sin, but love the sinner, however many people (including some churches) are teaching us to embrace the sin as well as the sinner because they do not see any distinction between the two.
...joining in the discussion. There is also a state on the east coast (blanking on which one right now but I'll try to look it up and come back) where pastors are buying liability insurance because of new hate crimes legislation that could hold them liable for saying things in the pulpit. For instance, "homosexuality is wrong and here is the Bible verse..." could be deemed hate speech.
jodi cowles
www.as4me.com/blog
Ah, yes. I see now what you are saying. It's happening at my church as well since I'm a Presbyterian. We've talked in great lengths at our church and I've heard many aspects of this. I can't say much to protect the pastoral staff, as they could get into trouble. This has shown me a new aspect on how twisted things are, but how important it is for a congregation to uphold the Word of God and Jesus' teachings. Praise God that I'm in a strong congregation and leaders who stand firm to the Bible.
FYI, I looked it up and it's Pennsylvania where the pastors are seeking liability insurance against the new hate speech law. The law describes "harassment by communication" as discriminatory, so pastors could be sued for reading Romans 1 in a sermon.
jodi cowles
www.as4me.com/blog
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