It's hard because we are always taught to respect authority and be considerate of others. I believe you can respect authority AND stand up for what you believe in! Let's admit it's hard to go against the flow when we believe differently than our peers, but it's WAY harder to go against the flow when we believe differently than our authority figures. None of us want to disappoint or upset someone that has authority over us and we are taught not to disagree with them, but I tell you it's ok to disagree with an authority figure when they are going against something that you know is biblically correct. And sometimes everything turns out ok...... sometimes it doesn't.
I learned this hard lesson when I was in college the second time around for nursing. I was taking a science class and within the first week of the class my professor started teaching evolution. She was very passionate that we all agree and that this was the only possible way the world could have been created. I finally raised my hand during one of the lectures and shared with her why I believed evolution was not the only way the earth could have come about. It must have been a pretty good argument because she was not happy that I had shared my beliefs. The entire semester she took it out on me through my grades. I knew what was going on and I even confronted her about it in the middle of the semester. She denied and said that I just didn't do the assignments or answer the questions on the tests or labs correctly. I compared my answers with several others in class and didn't have anything different. I ended up with a D for the semester in the class. I was so frustrated because I needed a C in that class and she knew that. I had to take the class again the next semester and made sure to take it under a different professor. This professor was not like the first and allowed all of us to freely share our opinions without fear. It was the SAME class, SAME material, SAME lab and I ended that semester with a B. 1 point shy of an A. When I got my final grade I went to the first professor with my grade. I remember walking into her office and saying "I wanted to show you the grade that I got for this class under a different professor. I just needed you to see that I should have gotten that grade in your class because there was nothing different except a chance to share my beliefs freely without persecution. Thank you for allowing me to experience that class with another professor, it was a much more enjoyable experience the second time around." She in turn said to me "I am glad that you were able to take what you learned from my class and better your grade with another shot." I smiled and turned around and walked out.
In the world we live in today we are seeing more and more persecution towards Christians. I would not have said this was so 15 or 20 years ago, but in the last 4-5 years we have seen this more and more. We are seeing Satan take control over situations and testing us to see where we stand. We are called to take a stand for what is right and to obey God's commands. If I had been rude and hateful to her for discriminating against me for being a Christian I don't believe I would have been in the right. We are proving NOTHING as Christians when we are mean and hateful in trying to prove a point. In fact we are doing more harm than good when we hatefully try to stand up for God. A good example of this is the Westboro Baptist church. I am sure you have heard of them. This is the church that travels all over the country. They teach that God kills men and women in combat, he kills children in school shootings, etc because our world is so evil. They are known for the very hateful attitude towards homosexuality. Instead of teaching others the love of God and how to minister with a peaceful attitude they turn others off and actually give Christians a bad name.
Yet let me be clear we are called to stand up and do what is right and if that means we respectfully do that to an authority figure I say GO FOR IT! You may fail the class, you may be sent to the principal, you may even get made fun of, but when you stand for what is right in a world that is doing wrong you will receive your reward 10 fold. Christians have been persecuted for standing up for what is right since the beginning. People have died in the name of Christ. We live in a country where we haven't had to fear that, but there are countries all over the world where declaring the name of Christ can get you in big trouble or even killed. And I don't want to scare you, but I see in our future it becoming that way in America.
We are already seeing prayer, Christ and Christianity being taken out of government and public forum. The more this happens the easier it will be for our government to begin persecuting Christians. And let's be honest our government is NOT being run by God fearing men and women. God is NOT the center of our country anymore and eventually it will be a war on Christianity.
So the question is Where is your faith? Where do you stand in your beliefs? Are you willing to stand up for what you believe in even if you get in trouble or get made fun of? If you were in a country where you could be killed for standing up in Christ's name would you stand up? This may seem like some deep stuff and it is, but I think Christians need to ask themselves where they stand. Men, women and teenagers. You are asked to stand up everyday with situations you deal with at school, at work, with your friends, on the weekends, and in class. When your friends make fun of someone else at school and are bullying someone do you stand up for Christ and what is right or do you join in? When you are taking a test and didn't study do you stand up for what is right and do your best or do your eyes wonder over to your neighbors test? When women at work are being mean and hateful to someone else in the workplace do you go out of your way to be kind to them or do you join in with the others and make them feel bad? We are given small battles everyday to stand up as Christians and the more victories we have in these battles will give us the strength in the bigger battles when it is crucial we stand up for what is right in Christ's name.
God tells us to obey authority, to pay our taxes and respect others...... UNLESS those things go against what he tells us in the Bible. And when it comes to those things that are against the Bible God EXPECTS us to stand up for what is right. He commands us to.
I pray that we don't see the extent of persecution of Christians in other countries here in America in my lifetime or in yours, but we need to be prepared that we don't know what the future brings and it could be possible. If it comes to that are we prepared? Will we be strong enough in our faith to stand up for what is right, or give in and allow Satan to convince us to fall?
