You Will Care

So, remember that time I took a kid to the doctor’s office and my world went nuts? Good times, good times… (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out this and this.)

Seriously, though, I was so surprised by the whole situation that I think I went into a bit of shock. I was in shock that a post went viral. I was in shock that so many people thought I was crazy. I was in shock that people felt so free to curse a complete stranger.

But more than all of that, I was in shock because so many people accused me of being a narcissist for wanting to raise my child according to my conscience. To be sure, there were lots of comments supporting my desire to parent according to my religious beliefs. But there were so many comments claiming my kids should be taken away from me because I did not parent in a socially acceptable fashion - claims I didn't think could actually come to fruition, but caused concern regardless.

After a while, the shock wore off. I figured my experience was a fluke. Even though I’d heard from other parents who’d experienced similar situations, I thought we had to be the exceptions, not the rule. This is still America. Land of the Free. Right?

Not so much. And a new book is coming out detailing various abuses of the First Amendment. Erick Erickson and Bill Blankschaen have written, “You Will Be Made to Care: The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe.” I’ve been reading an advanced copy – y’all, it’s good. Scary, but good. And motivating.

This is not a political book. This is a book for religious believers who are concerned about religious freedoms being stripped away. And though I wanted to believe what happened to me was a one-off, what I’m reading in these pages makes me realize there is a concerted effort to eliminate the freedoms we once held dear – and too cavalierly.

But the history of the world shows that events ultimately come to a head. They boil to their essence. And at that point, you will be made to choose between conscience and compliance.

And for my University Reformed friends, Kevin DeYoung is quoted extensively, including this:

The great opportunity we have is people understanding and seeing now that to be a Christian in our culture is going to have to mean a willingness to be different. And that’s really what being a Christian should always have been like. [It’s an opportunity] to be true not to our fallen selves, but who we are in Christ.

I’m only to half-way through, but I cannot encourage you strongly enough to get this book. You can pre-order it now and get a bunch of free stuff (including audio interviews with Kevin DeYoung, Russell Moore, and Ravi Zacharias) to tide you over until it’s published on February 22.

I’m not getting a dime for this. I’m just waking up to the reality of our situation. And I want you to wake up, too.