If you’re on the same junk mail lists I’m on, I know you’ve received come-ons from advertisers who send you two reply envelopes, one marked YES and the other NO. And the NO envelope always contains a note on yellow paper that begins, “Frankly, I’m puzzled that you can resist our irresistible offer.”
You’ve seen those, haven’t you?
Good. That means you will understand where I’m coming from in what I’m about to write.
Frankly, I’m puzzled, too. I’m puzzled that American taxpayers continue to cough up billions to finance lifestyles where illegitimacy and drug abuse and violence are the norm. Why are parents who teach their kids to behave willing to feed and house and clothe and medicate the families of people who teach their offspring to run amok in the streets? Who taught us to bankroll sin and call it compassion?
Frankly, I’m puzzled by the patience of citizens who tolerate a justice system that can produce a travesty like the O. J. Simpson trials. Guilt or innocence aside, none of us can be proud of the way a defendant’s wealth or race can distort the legal process.
Frankly, I’m puzzled by Christians who would rather judge each other and fuss with one another than unite to tell the world about the One who died to free us all from the ravages of sin.
Frankly, I’m puzzled that otherwise decent, intelligent people have decided to turn their backs on almost 20 centuries of consistent Christian witness and now in these late days somehow have convinced themselves that slaughtering unborn babies will make our nation stronger and our people more enlightened.
Nowadays when I get those yellow “I’m puzzled” notes from advertisers, I wad them up and toss them into the trash without reading them. Quite possibly you will react to this essay the same way. But I suspect that most of my readers are just as puzzled as I am that our Christian nation has drifted so far so quickly from our moral roots. “Righteousness exalts a nation,” the Scriptures tell us, “but sin is a disgrace to any people.” And, frankly, our meek tolerance of public policies that debunk righteousness and protect sin puzzles me.