Preparing Students for Disdain

I'm preparing for hostilities

I'm not talking about open war or riots or murder.  In fact, I won't be the hostile one.  Instead, I believe it now my mission to prepare my students for the hostile world that awaits them.

What do I mean?

Well, with the Supreme Court decisions on marriage this week, coupled with the Texas filibuster that kept an abortion bill from passing (and the praise that senator received), it is inevitable that Christian teenagers will grow up in a world where their beliefs in scripture will make them outcasts.

I've seen it already.  I read several blogs praising the decision and labeling Christians who believe homosexuality is a sin as backwards, outdated, wrong and hatemongers.  Popular opinion is not on our side.

Then again, it never was.

In Jesus' day, he attacked popular opinion.  Time and again he called out the religious leaders for teaching a secularized version of scripture.  In Jewish culture, during the exile, the rabbis had interpreted the law, forming a book called the Talmud.  These interpretations were treated as scripture, even though they were not.

Jesus attacked these interpretations.  He called out the religious leaders for accepting something that was not Biblical.  In return, they hated him.  They called him  names, considered his ministry a fraud, made up lies and eventually killed him. 

What did Jesus say about this?  He told his followers to expect the same kind of treatment.  He said, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first."  (John 15:18)

So, as I see decisions be labeled "landmark" and senators supporting abortion called "heroes," I'm reminded that I am quickly growing out of step with mainstream society.  My views are in the minority.  My thoughts don't echo society. 

But I will not compromise the truth of scripture.  I will teach my students to keep God's word at the center of their lives.  That means they will likely be ostracized by the decisions they make and the associations they choose to have.

It's time to prepare them for a world that will hate them.  After all, that's what Jesus did with his followers 2,000 years ago.

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