Thursday, March 27, 2008

Habitat Breakfast

On Tuesday morning I got to go on a "date" with Eric. Torrie was willing to let us drop the kids off at her house at 7am so that we could attend the Habitat for Humanity breakfast downtown. The breakfast was decent and it was for a good cause (Charter is a sponsor), but one of the speakers really got to me, and not in a good way.

I feel like I'm not a person who gets offended easily, maybe that's because I lead a quiet life, but this guy offended me. Habitat for Humanity is a Christian faith-based charity and that is wonderful but it wasn't wonderful that the speaker took advantage of his chance to relate a political message as well and a "gospel" message that was so wrong to me that I just bristled. He talked about Noah and that he had read an article in the New Yorker (I actually found the article but it is just an excerpt online) that said, and he agreed, that when Noah had finished building the ark if he had just prayed to God then and asked him to save the people, that God would have saved them because if there is but one righteous person alive then God will spare the nation. But instead, Noah just got on the ark and didn't pray for anyone.

And I'm sure that I didn't explain well enough to make you bristle along with me. This man spoke, preached more like, for a while and had already commented on the waste of the war in Iraq when there are war zones in our own nation (I can appreciate this point but to use this time as a soapbox moment was inappropriate) and then he goes and talks about Noah like he was just a regular man. Noah was a prophet of God. That is what got to me the most, he talked about Noah like he had not already been preaching to the people, warning them of their wicked ways. Noah was doing the Lord's work and yes, he was a man, capable of mistakes, but not just any man is chosen to be the prophet, God wouldn't let him be a prophet if he was going to go and mess up the world. I'm still not being very clear. My offense was greatest because I know there is a prophet on the earth today and I hold him in high esteem and know that he cares about the welfare of all the souls on earth and I know that he isn't just a man, he is a man of God. So knowing this about him makes me realize that Noah would also be the same kind of man, different personality, different era, but still a man of God. So to say that he got tired of caring about everyone and just decided to get on the ark, who cares about all of you, really offended me. This was the closing argument in the speech. I wasn't impressed. But it did help me realize a strength in my testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that I knew was there but not with such conviction.

So thanks, if you read all the way to the end. Just had to get this out of my head. Good night and good luck.

5 comments:

Melain said...

That's so cute that you ended your rant with Good Night and Good Luck.

And I'm with you babe! I'm SO not easily offended. (maybe even to a fault) but when people start throwing their two cents into DOCTRINE from a pulpet, I can get pretty pissy. If you'd had fruit with you, I would have encouraged you to throw it. ;)

Torrie said...

your testimony always gives me shivers
thanks for your faith, it stregthens mine
{p.s i know my spelling is really off today, my head is high is a cloud of meds}

kelly said...

so tacky!
makes you grateful to know the truth, but makes you want to shout it out!

Anonymous said...

Im with all the ladies above- that guy was really out of line. He has every right to believe what he believes but he had no right using a captive audience for his opinions. Thank you tho for your beautiful testimony.

Lark said...

Reading it made me mad at him too! How lame and annoying.