If I did not speak the very stones would cry out

My husband sent me a link to this article. It started out in an interesting direction, an article about the signs of our times. The medical establishment trying to kill a father before his time:

A medical resident--we called her "Dr. Death"--at the Intensive Care Unit at Long Island's North Shore Hospital chased us down the hallway.

"Your husband wants to die," she told my mother, again. Just minutes before I had asked her to leave us alone.

[...]

"Dr. Death" was just one of several. A new resident appeared the next day, this one a bit more diplomatic but again urging us to allow my father to "die with dignity." And the next day came yet another, who opened with the words, "We're getting mixed messages from your family," before I shut him up.

She even was thankful for the stand of Christians in this fight against euthanasia:

I've never been one of those Jews who makes facial contortions at the mere mention of the Christian Right; I actually agree with them on some matters. And this experience with my father has given me a new appreciation for the fight many evangelicals have waged against euthanasia.

And then she veered off into intolerance and bigotry:

But I'm offended that so many conservative Christians believe that theirs is the only path to salvation. I'm sick of being proselytized. We Jews enjoy a more basic type of faith, a direct relationship to God that requires no salvation, no penitence, no supplication. We do not proselytize. And we don't worry about the next life; we conduct mitzvahs--good deeds--that enhance life for ourselves and others in the here and now.

When I first started to read the article, I thought it would make a compelling case for how life has been devalued in our society and how we value quality of life above all else. If your quality of life is compromised, then you might as well die.

But then when I read the second half of the article, I thought that this was a topic that needed to be addressed. I don't think people understand that the church has been commissioned by God to proclaim the gospel to all nations:

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

It is our job to do so. Our Lord and Savior has commanded us to do so, it's not an option. We don't get to put aside the word of God because it makes others feel uncomfortable. Read the book of Acts, over and over again the apostles were arrested and thrown into jail for telling others about Christ, why do you think that we would stop just because you don't like it. People are thrown into jail in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, China, Vietnam, just because they tell others about Christ. We will tell others about the gospel no matter what are the consequences because that is what we do.

And we are not being intolerant or boastful when we say that apart from Jesus there is no salvation. We are only stating what the Bible says and therefore what we believe:

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Acts 4:11-12 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

If you try to make us give that up then you are forcing us to give up our religion. I will continue to proclaim that Christ is the only way to salvation because that is what He claims and since He is God, I think He would know :-)