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This Matters
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“We hold these truths to be true… all men are created equal…”
The word “created,” implies belief in a Creator. Believe it or not.
“that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights…”
There He is, “Creator…”
“that are among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
I believe this. Every single word and thought penned by Thomas Jefferson in the wake of the greatest protest in America’s history. You and I were created by God. It is God, not man, who grants us unalienable rights. The right to life and liberty. The right to pursue dreams. The right to voice our opinions boldly or with meekness. The right to choose.
To choose what? Our gender? The life or death of an unborn child? Who will be our lovers? Our mate?
For three decades I have believed in Christ as my Savior. My Creator. I read the Bible and believe His word. I believe that being a Christian meant I could not consider as unalienable rights the choice to change who and what God created. Man is man. Woman is woman. Male and female. Husband and wife. Mother and father. Life begins at conception. No one, not man nor woman, have the right to abort what God created.
I was comfortable with my beliefs. Even when they made someone else uncomfortable.
God has His ways of working on and in His creation.
A year ago, He placed upon my heart a verse from the book of Galatians, the third chapter, twenty-eighth verse—
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ.”
Hours upon hours, I studied this verse, and the passages preceding and following. Searching for meaning and application in our lives — my life — today. Was the Apostle saying what Jefferson would pen eighteen hundred years later? All men are created equal, by God. All lives matter.
Today, I still struggle understanding choices made antithetical to my beliefs. I think it may be easier for me to understand God than it is to understand man. But like another fisherman, one named Peter, I truly understand God shows no partiality. Do not take my revelation as an endorsement of behaviors I disagree with. Some people enjoy ketchup on their burgers, I believe it is the waste of a fine tomato. But I understand and respect your choices; made while standing or kneeling.
If God does not show partiality, then why do we? At the core of partiality, we will often find hatred nestled in the darkness. Hatred because someone’s choice does not agree with ours. Hatred for someone elected because he or she did not earn our vote. Hatred because of the uniform someone wears, donning it each morning before going into our streets to protect us. To serve us. Hating because they do not believe in the same God as you do. Hating because of the color of their skin. Hatred that drives the scum of the world into our neighborhoods to destroy and wreak havoc in the name of equality.
Dear Haters,
Listen carefully,
Hatred is your choice. It is not something you were born with. You cannot blame it on your parents, your wherewithal, the color of your skin, or your sorry, pitiful life. It is a conscience choice you make. An unalienable right. But know this—when you exercise your right to hate, you surrender all your other rights. Your right to opinion is drowned out by the screams of your hatred. Your right to assemble is made meaningless by your venom and destructive behavior. Your right to freedom will be squelched by slamming of a jail cell.
Your right to matter?
You do not matter.
Respectfully,
Jim Hirtle
