Are YOU responsible for the decline of Christianity in our nation?

You don't have to look far to find a news story lambasting Christians.

If you take a stand against sin, you're intolerant or a "hater"...

Well, the last part is actually biblical: he who loves the Lord hates the world.

But Christians aren't hate-filled people spewing lies and trying to control the world by condemning everyone.

Christians, true Christians, hate sin, love people, and want all to come to the knowledge and glory of Jesus Christ.

Growing up, there was a mutual respect between Christians and non-Christians. Kind of a you do your thing, I'll do mine.

And souls were steadily won through churches, schools, street revivals, and even television.

But then it wasn't right to have prayers in schools. It infringed on non-Christians' beliefs.

Our rights as Christians have grown smaller and smaller.

Just yesterday I heard someone on national television  refer to Christians as a "small, but loud group of haters"...

I know you can be so right that you're wrong...

Lambasting a lost person over the perils of sin is no way to reach them and even if you are correct in your stance, the manner in which you hold those beliefs in your heart can make all the difference.

But I'm not concerned with the vocal Christians right now.

I'm more concerned about the silent ones.

Our society let this happen.

We didn't speak up when this ball got rolling. We didn't want to make waves...we didn't want to deal with persecution.

So we let them take out prayer.

Then Christian speakers.

Now we've got cities where pastors are forced to submit their sermons TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT for approval before preaching them.

That little rolling stone chasing Christians away turned into a giant boulder and we just tried to outrun it instead of throwing dynamite on it.

Are you guilty?

I certainly am not.

I speak up.

Did you say that? Yeah, me too... 

Then this happened:

I was waiting on my husband to come out of the store when I decided to check out what was trending on Facebook. Behind the usual myriad of Kardashian stories was Kirk Cameron.

He is on a cross-country marriage tour with his wife. His wife of TWENTY-FOUR YEARS, I might add so I'd consider him at least somewhat qualified.

It's a Christian seminar so the usually vocal, and much-panned, Cameron obviously applied biblical truths to marriage.

"Wives should be submissive to their husbands.." the headlines screamed.

Being familiar with the passage, and also with the message for husbands, it was a non-issue for me.

But mainstream media went wild.

He was blasted on more sites and blog posts than I could count.

Likened an abuser or a stone-age father, the attacks were vicious.

I couldn't find one article that said "Look at this guy. His wife is standing by him, smiling and happy, and has been for 24 years."

It was more of a "This poor girl has been mistreated for 24 years and she doesn't even know it."

I wanted to respond.

I wanted to defend him.

But I try not to engage on social media. I post links to my blog for my friends and family but don't go looking for a widespread audience.

Besides, I'd just had an awful Facebook experience. 

I'd been watching t.v. with my husband at the 7 P.M. hour when a razor commercial came on showing women in bikinis trimming little green bushes in front of their private areas.

I found this commercial offensive, even more so considering the early hour. I was thankful I didn't have kids at home that were asking questions about this not-so-family-friendly commercial on network television.

I decided to check online to see if anyone was protesting. I wasn't surprised when I found a Facebook page of people expressing various degrees of disapproval. It wasn't unanimous but the majority responded negatively.

I decided to calmly add my two cents..lest the majority sway toward approval.

"I am offended at this commercial. It would make me not want to buy the product."

Focus group lingo. 

I awoke the next morning to 20 comments on a post I'd made. Was it a picture of my kid? A blog post? A puppy tale?

Oh no...it was the razor comment.

I was annihilated.

Calling me names that I'd have gotten my mouth washed out for, these people ripped me to shreds.

I was shocked.

I was giving my opinion to a national company, nothing more.

I wanted to fire back. 

Ignore the trolls, I'd always advised.

So I didn't.

I wanted to delete my comment, lest any of my friends see the ensuing attack.

But then I'd have been bullied into removing my opinion.

So I left it.

I certainly didn't post any other reviews after that.

So when this Kirk Cameron thing came up, I thought about posting in his defense.

Then I remembered the razor post.

And I decided I wasn't up for the attack.

Is that what happened to us? 

We weren't up for the attack so we kept our mouths shut?

And now we are facing the end of religious freedom in America...

Are you to blame?

I am.