Today is the anniversary of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson's birth in 1824 and the quote that headlines this post is my favorite quote of his. It's a great reminder to '...be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:58) It raises some questions I have about the way Christians think about things sometimes, though.
When the Civil War began, Born Again Christians Robert E. Lee, Thomas Jackson, JEB Stuart, Lewis Armistead, E. Kirby Smith, and others resigned their commissions in the United States Army, going back on their sworn oath to 'defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic' (or the 1861 equivalent). What happened to "let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no', 'no'?!!
Could the outcome of the War be, in part, due to the fact that these guys made the wrong choice and gave just one more bad testimony by not keeping their word? Could God have caused the Civil War to discipline Southern Christians for wrongly justifying slavery by picking and choosing Scriptures which substantiated their already decided on position and Northern Christians for taking a Machiavellian 'ends justifies the means' view of abolition that was the catalyst to the War?
How good is the word of folks laying claim to the Name of Christ in America these days as churches? How good is your word, by the way?
Got excuses?
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