Are we ashamed of the Gospel?

“The modern habit of saying "This is my opinion, but I may be wrong" is entirely irrational. If I say that it may be wrong, I say that is not my opinion. The modern habit of saying "Every man has a different philosophy; this is my philosophy and it suits me" – the habit of saying this is mere weak-mindedness. A cosmic philosophy is not constructed to fit a man; a cosmic philosophy is constructed to fit a cosmos. A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun and moon.” - G.K Chesterton

Scripture Text: (LK 11:37-41)
Brothers and sisters:
I am not ashamed of the Gospel.
It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:
for Jew first, and then Greek.
For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith;
as it is written, “The one who is righteous by faith will live.”

The wrath of God is indeed being revealed from heaven
against every impiety and wickedness
of those who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
For what can be known about God is evident to them,
because God made it evident to them.
Ever since the creation of the world,
his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity
have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.
As a result, they have no excuse;
for although they knew God
they did not accord him glory as God or give him thanks.
Instead, they became vain in their reasoning,
and their senseless minds were darkened.
While claiming to be wise, they became fools
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for the likeness of an image of mortal man
or of birds or of four-legged animals or of snakes.

Therefore, God handed them over to impurity
through the lusts of their hearts
for the mutual degradation of their bodies.
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie
and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator,
who is blessed forever. Amen

The atmosphere of “political correctness,” “tolerance,” and moral relativism that has infected this country has cowed Christians into a corner, making us so fearful to speak out against the wrongs we see that we begin to doubt our own convictions to Christ and the Truth.

Ask yourselves this question: If something is not true, is it worth believing? The answer is obviously no. Why would we believe something that we know is false? So for us to rationally believe the Gospel, it has to be true.

Either Jesus is God who came to earth as man, died for our salvation, rose from the dead, the Gospel is true, and there is a definitive Right and Wrong, or Jesus was just a guy who talked a lot of nonsense, the Gospel is a cool story but nothing more, and Right and Wrong are whatever society says they are. It can’t be both true and false based on what one believes. Belief in something does not make it true. Truth can either validate or invalidate belief.

St. Paul tells us in today’s first reading at Mass, “It (the Gospel) is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes,” then this reading is a call for us today to stand up for the Truth. Stand up for Christ using the power of the Gospel. Stand up against the wrongs of this world. We all have ways we are called to do this in our own lives and in our own unique way with the gifts we have been given. But however we are called, right now is the time to take courage, to be bold, and to stop being ashamed of the Gospel. We must be willing to speak up and to bring the Truth through words and deeds to the world around us.

We are Christians, soldiers of Christ, and it is time to act as witnesses, not as bystanders.