Boy Scouts of America

This is a time that I cannot decide if I am angry, disgusted, or sorely disappointed, or all three.  I guess it’s all three.  The decision the Boy Scouts of America, as an organization, made today is disgusting and extremely disappointing.  In case you haven’t heard, 61% of the 1,400 Scout leaders who met in Texas today, voted to remove the ban on allowing gays to be members of the Boy Scouts organization.  In its 100+ year history, the BSA has banned homosexuals and atheists from membership.

 I have a number of concerns, but I suppose the greatest are as follows:

 The Scout oath reads, “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout law, to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.” 

Ø  How can he do his duty to God and be part of an organization that pretty much tells God to go fly a kite?

Ø   How can he keep himself morally straight, if he is going against God’s law?

 The Scout law referenced above is made up of twelve parts.  The twelfth law reads, “A Scout is Reverent.”  The explanation that the BSA provides is, “A Scout is reverent toward God.  He is faithful in his religious duties.  He respects the beliefs of others.” 

Ø  How can a Scout be reverent toward God, if he is thumbing his nose at God?

Also, the gay activists have already said that, though they are happy with the decision to lift the ban on gays, they still want the ban on gay Scout leaders lifted as well. 

Ø  How long will it be before the organization bows to more political pressure and lifts the ban on gay Scout leaders?

 

Galatians 6:7 reads:  Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 

I have no doubt that it is a matter of a very short time before the BSA is met with lawsuits from gay activists to force them to lift the ban on gay leaders.  At some time after that, the organization’s “leadership” will bow to the political pressure and the pressure of lawsuits and will lift the ban on gay leaders.

I am not concerned about the lawsuits.  The organization has sown, and they should expect to reap the fruits of their decision.  I am concerned that it is simply a matter of time before a boy is molested either by a fellow Scout or by a leader.  The result will be on the heads of those “leaders” who made this decision today, placing political expediency ahead of what is best for the Scouts and the organization.  They have allowed an immoral minority to ruin a fine organization.  Shame on them!  I would rather see the organization go down the drain that have one boy molested by an immoral leader or fellow Scout.

What’s Wrong With Restoring Honor to America?

This past Saturday, August 28, Glenn Beck held the Restore Honor to America rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Much of the liberal news media chose to ignore the facts. An example is one outlet that reported that Glenn Beck stood at “the very place” where Dr. Martin Luther King made his famous I Have a Dream speech. Actually, Glenn Beck stood a number of steps below where Dr. King spoke. In fact, Beck deliberately chose to stand below the place where Dr. King spoke, displaying the respect for Dr. King that he had already voiced. Misreporting by the liberal media is nothing new, and most people should expect it to happen by now.

Unfortunately, the Reverend Al Sharpton is following right along with the liberal news media, again not really a surprise. Still, when Mr. Sharpton chooses to misrepresent the rally, my concern moves from “Does Mr. Sharpton know the word of God?” to “Does Mr. Sharpton know the God of the word?” I’ll explain my statement below.

One of Mr. Beck’s remarks was quite simple. He said, “We must get the poison of hatred out of us.” Yet, Mr. Sharpton remarked, “They want to disgrace this day. This is our day, and we and we ain’t givin’ it away.” When Bill O’Reilly questioned Mr. Sharpton on his statement, O’Reilly said, “It sounds like Beck is talking about racial harmony,” Sharpton replied, “He (Glenn Beck) wants to make this a theocracy.” He apparently bases this statement on Beck’s call to restore America to Judeo-Christian principles. At no time did Mr. Beck call for a theocracy.

Simply abiding by those principles is a far cry from a theocracy. If, as a nation, we were abiding by those principles, this nation would be in much better shape than it is now. (By the way, Mr. Sharpton, if you truly believe and understand the word of God and know the God of the word, then you know that, soon and very soon, believers of Jesus Christ will be living in a theocracy, one in which the head is a King—Jesus Himself!)

My question for Reverend Sharpton is simple. Just how does a rally to restore honor to America disgrace the anniversary of Dr. King’s speech? I remember Dr. King, and I remember what he said in many of his speeches. I believe he would have been delighted to hear the things Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and his niece said during the rally. The Restore Honor to America rally stood for many of the same things that Dr. King stood for and preached. Shame on Reverend Sharpton for deliberately mischaracterizing the rally and its principles! If anyone disgraced the anniversary of Dr. King's speech, it seems to me that it was Reverend Sharpton.

The reason I made the statement about Reverend Sharpton in my second paragraph is because the God of the word said (in Matthew 5), “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” Mr. Sharpton is hardly a peacemaker. He is much more a rabble-rouser than a peacemaker.

The God of the word also said (in the same chapter), “But let your statement be, ’Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; and anything beyond these is of evil (or from the evil one).” In other words, speak your words in such a way that you don’t need to swear an oath, because whatever you speak shall be taken as truth, because your word is always true. In my opinion, Mr. Sharpton has demonstrated that you cannot always take his yes as a yes nor take his no as a no.