The Banning of Truth Has Serious Consequences

I never cease to marvel at the attempts of the world to snuff out the light of the Truth.  This past July, Marlys and I spent 23 days living in Fredericksburg, Virginia - right in the Bible-belt.  In fact, as we drove hundreds of miles through the winding Virginia back-country roads and through small towns and villages, we commented on how we saw more churches than bars.  While in Fredericksburg we were privileged to attend three churches - very different each from the other - but whose message was that of Truth. 


So I was surprised to read a report from Todd Starnes this past week about a pastor living in Fredericksburg who faced eviction from his apartment because he was leading a Bible study in his home.  You can find the article posted at: www.patriotpost.us/opinions/57702-pastor-faces-eviction-for-hosting-home-bible-study.  "A semi-retired Lutheran minister in Fredericksburg, Virginia, faces the possibility of being evicted from a senior living community because he's been hosting a small Bible study in the privacy of his apartment, his attorney alleges.  First Liberty Institute, a law firm that specializes in religious liberty cases, is representing Pastor Ken Hauge.  They accused the management of  The Evergreens at Smith Run of a pattern of verbal abuse and harassment directed at Christians who live in the complex.


"'The threat of eviction follows repeated religious discrimination by Evergreens management, including forcing Hauge to refer to his event as a "Book Review" rather than a "Bible Study,"' First Liberty attorney Hiram Sasser wrote in a letter to the corporate owner of the community.  Sasser told the 'Todd Starnes Radio Show' that management also withdrew support of a social event because a resident said grace over a meal.  It also banned all religious activities from the community room.  He is calling on Evergreens to rescind the eviction threat, rescind the rule banning religious activities from the community room, and stop the harassment of people of faith.


"Pastor Hauge's troubles with management began in early 2017 when a group of about 20 residents asked him to lead a nondenominational Bible study in the community room.  That gathering eventually moved to a private apartment.  Management initially approved of the gathering provided the participants call it a 'Book Review' meeting instead of a 'Bible Study.'  In 2018 management relented after a resident complained to corporate headquarters. ... On July 23 residents received a notice that the community room was off-limits to future religious activities.  Bingo and poker were permissible; prayer was not.  On that same day Pastor Hauge and his wife were threatened with an eviction notice.  'The notice threatened to terminate the Hauge's lease and evict them unless Hauge stopped leading the Bible study entirely, either in his private apartment or in the community room,' Sasser said."


Friends, I am shocked but not surprised as I read this article.  Talking about the Bible is off-limits in many public spaces these days.  Truth has been dis-invited into the public arenas.  There is a general fear of what the Truth might expose, thus affirming what Jesus said in John 3 that "men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed" (John 3:19-20).  But it is sad that a person cannot have a Bible study within his or her home without the fear of violating some organizational rule or community ordinance. 


Speaking of Truth or the lack of Truth, one of the consequences is the rise of anxious, depressed college students.  I found this interesting article at The College Fix website: www.thecollegefix.com/post/47900.  The article was written by Katie Anderson.  Allow me to share just a portion of this thought-provoking article with you. 


"Yale University recently expanded its mental health services to meet an ever-growing need for student counseling, adding this summer four clinicians and three new psychiatrists to handle the caseload.  Yale is not alone.  The number of college students looking to counseling for help for mental health struggles is drastically increasing across the nation, according to studies, campus counselors, and many recent news reports. 


"'Data over the past five years from counseling centers nationwide have shown that the top two reasons students come for counseling are anxiety and depression,' Karen Nakayama, director of the Counseling Center at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, told The College Fix.  'Currently, anxiety is number one and depression is second.  In the past, depression was first and anxiety was second,' she said, adding the spike in students seeking help may be due in part to efforts 'destigmatizing mental health services with students.'


"According to an article published in Scientific American, 'At Northwestern University, it can take up to three weeks to get a counseling appointment.  At Washington University in St. Louis, the wait time runs nearly 13 days, on average, in the fall semester. ... At the University of Washington in Seattle, delays in getting care are so routine, the wait time is posted online; it's consistently hovered between two and three weeks in recent months.'


"Why are so many young adults anxious and depressed?  'I think college students are facing different pressures recently,' Krystalyn Geissler, who is currently getting her Master's degree in psychology at the University of New Mexico, told The College Fix via email.  'A few decades ago, a person could work a part-time job and afford [...] to get a college degree on those wages.  Now, this is definitely not the case,' she said.  ... Students are also often stressed about what job their degree will land them after they graduate.  'Another stressor is that a Bachelor's degree does not go as far as it used to.  Many times a person needs several years of experience on top of a Bachelor's degree to get paid a starting wage of around $12 [...] a lot of students work long hours, sometimes at multiple jobs, to pay for a degree that many not feel like it is worth it,' Geissler said."


This article failed to include that I believe to be a primary cause of anxiety and depression among college-aged young people today.  That cause is the absence of any clearly defined moral and ethical foundation within their lives.  They have grown up in a culture that has said to them that they are the most important people in the world.  In many cases, parents have either wittingly or unwittingly accommodated that thinking pattern.  Rarely have they said "no" to any of the expressed wishes of their children.  Difficulties at school, now it is the teacher who shoulders the parental wrath and blame.  A child learns that there are no consequences to wrong behavior - someone will be there to "bail you out."  Many within this generation are easily offended when someone says something that they disagree with, and, because they have never learned the art of dialogue, all they know how to do is to scream "I am offended!  You are wrong!  I am right!" 


What has happened?  We have removed ourselves from the Truth that is found within the Word of God and within a relationship with Jesus Christ.  The Bible IS the Word of God.  The Bible DOES NOT contain the opinions of God.  The Bible IS Truth.  The Bible is NOT simply a collection of God's personal ideas.  And, whenever we separate ourselves from Scripture we separate ourselves from Truth - a Truth that provides stability and encouragement within a world that seems to be spinning out of control.  In the absence of Truth, anxiety levels do rise.  My anxiety-level drops when I know that God is in control.  My anxiety-level drops when I realize that 'truth sets me free."