Saying ‘No’ Is Often An Act of Love (& Patriotic)

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(12b) <Paul writes in his Epistle to Philippi> …continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, (13) for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.’ (Philippians 2:12b-13) ‘(19) We love because <God> first loved us. (20) Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. (21) And He has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.’ (1 John 4:19-21)

In the state of New York, a rather disturbing event took place when Peanut the Squirrel, along with his ‘sidekick’ Fred the Raccoon, were taken by force from their adopted caretaker and quickly euthanized for purported abuse and possibly carrying rabies, though their lives fully covered as social media ‘stars’ and being kept indoors and never entering the ‘wild’.  It is a form of government subjecting its will, distastefully and with repudiation, upon its citizens – see them as subjects.  This has been ongoing in New York; previously the current governor called for all Republicans/conservatives to move out of New York, a call for 5.4 million New Yorkers to leave the state.  The response for both issues by the state is that the people affected have ‘hate’, due to their disapproval of their government’s progressive ‘anti-citizen’ actions.

I don’t have a ‘dog in the fight’ when it comes to New York, having never lived in the state, though we had a couple of vacations years ago (one to Niagara Falls, another to Manhattan in New York City – though in full transparency I don’t think I’d go now).  However, Peanut’s seizure and subsequent ‘execution’, and the current governor’s call for roughly 3/8 of the state’s population to leave, all because they disagree with the state’s directive or are not in lock-step with the governor’s viewpoints are insensitive.  (If 3/8’s of New York’s population leaves, their tax base would be decimated as well as housing values, business operations, and – yes – even political capital for the governor.) 

This response is almost uniform across the nation when it comes to saying ‘no’ or placing a counter-argument to progressivism and repudiation to obvious heavy-handed government tactics.  This is also used should we attempt to provide contrasting thoughts on progressive concepts regarding education, healthcare, or Constitutional freedoms.  To oppose progressivism is to ‘hate’, in their opinion.  I don’t see how wanting our children to learn basic educational staples (‘the 3 Rs’) without the extra (and false) baggage of Critical Race Theory or gender fluidity studies is ‘hate’, or how not wanting to take a vaccine that is clearly not a vaccine (and shown to cause harm) is ‘hate’.  Not believing in and standing against socialism and totalitarianism, censorship, and revocations of freedoms (including the right to freely worship) is not ‘hate’. 

While I don’t necessarily want to see Florida become overwhelmed in its capacity to take in more residents (and more cars on the roads, more waiting for seats in restaurants, among other additions to daily obstacles) I would welcome New Yorkers to come to Florida, as I’m certain other states would also take in New Yorkers leaving tyranny – as they’ve been doing since 2020.  I don’t want to see the opposite of this, though – Floridians who are Democrats or liberal are more than welcome to stay and need to stay, and if their ideas are truly of God and Truth and are beneficial to all, then their concepts should win out in the public ‘marketplace of ideas’ on merit, not by coercion.  In the end of elections, we collectively get what we want, and collectively get what we deserve. 

There are always going to be disagreements, in any group setting, whether it be politics, church, dinner parties, or who controls the TV remote at home (I do until my wife demands the remote).  Before we entered into Post-Constitutional America, we were abiding by what many called the ‘Marketplace of Ideas’, differing opinions but in the end agreeing to disagree; competing sides compromising when possible but to never waiver on principles.  However, it is clear that in society today, civil discourse is unwelcome, even to the point of adults who are in charge or who want to be in charge are putting their hands up to their ears, screaming ‘I don’t want to hear you!  Do what I say!’, even if what they say is disastrous for themselves and the rest of us. 

Those who shut down opposition and project ‘hate’ upon their opponents may proclaim they ‘love’ others, but their statements contradict this, and are showing not to have God’s love in their hearts.  If one tells me that I have ‘hate in my heart’, but doesn’t know me or cannot provide a valid example why, it is they would have ‘hate’ for me as they are providing a false statement about me.  In today’s worldview, ‘hate’ is to question another yet we see quite often God using the power of the question to show His love. 

In Genesis 3, Jesus (God Manifested) knows where Adam & Eve are hiding, and later questions who tempted them and why they disobeyed Him in eating the forbidden fruit.  Today, many would think it would be acceptable to answer the questions as ‘none of your business’, or ‘because I wanted to’.  They disdain the power of God as they believe God hates them, instead of understanding the questions are because God loves them and wants to teach them why there would be consequences. 

Later in the Biblical timeline, in 2 Samuel 12, Nathan questions David (by way of an allegory) to show David’s sin of killing Uriah and taking Bathsheba in an adulterous fashion.  Today, David would say Nathan hates him since he didn’t approve of what David did, though Nathan (on behalf of God) told David what the Lord shared with him out of love.  Fortunately, David accepted God’s loving rebuke and adjusted his ways to return to Righteousness.

If we are truly to walk with God, we must love Him.  We must also love those who we disagree with, or else we are not in love with God after all.  I disagree with the progressivist’s politics and policies, but I wish them peace and love.  I pray instead for God and His Plan to prevail, for the good of the people. Regardless the outcome I pray those I disagree with live long lives and come seeking Jesus and accept Him.  You may disagree with me, but know that I love you, too.