House Speaker Paul Ryan announced yesterday that he would not run for reelection this fall and would retire in January. He has three teenage children; the oldest just turned sixteen, the age Ryan was when his father died.
“My kids aren’t getting any younger,” Ryan said, “and if I stay, they’ll only know me as a weekend dad. That’s it right there.”
It didn’t take long for critics to respond.
One of the Democrats running for Ryan’s House seat immediately posted a fundraising message: “We repealed Paul Ryan–now it’s time to replace him with Randy Bryce.” Another Democrat called him “the first casualty of the 2018 midterm election.” While a Democrat who disagreed with Ryan on policy issues “found him to be a good man with a kind heart,” a scathing article called him “the biggest fraud in American politics.”
For what will you be criticized?
Aristotle was right: “Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” For the rest of us, criticism is a fact of life. The question is not whether you will be criticized, but for what.
If you’re pro-life, you’ll be denigrated by pro-choice advocates. If you’re for biblical marriage, you’ll be branded as homophobic by those who are not. If you believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6), you’ll be labeled intolerant by pluralists.
We can refuse to engage the culture, but that keeps our salt in the saltshaker and light under a basket (Matthew 5:13-16). We can fight slander with slander, but that violates the biblical command to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15) and brings disrepute on our Lord.
Or we can stand publicly and humbly for Jesus, knowing that the darker the room, the more necessary the light. Consider an example.
“Religion and morality are indispensable supports”
A workshop last week at George Washington University was designed to examine the “unmerited perks” Christians…
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