Saturday I had the opportunity to eat lunch with my daughter, which doesn’t happen nearly often enough. The subject of Crimea came up in the conversation, and I listened carefully to what she had to say, since she and my oldest grandson have taken two mission trips to the city of Sevastopol, the chief port in Crimea.
She has been in contact with some of her Christian friends over there and asked about the political situation. Shocked when they told her that they—and most of their Christian friends—were pro-Russian in the current conflict, she inquired as to why.
These people are not naive. They know about the history of their country as a satellite of the Soviet Union. They know that Russian rule is pretty much totalitarian. Yet they prefer Russian rule over Western influence. Sounds pretty strange, doesn’t it?
They explained to my daughter that, as Christians, they didn’t want their children raised in the liberal social atmosphere of Western society. They talked about how we’ve turned our backs on Biblical principles to accept letting men marry men and women marry women—letting women kill their babies rather than exercise sexual restraint—tolerating the abuse of drugs for sensations of pleasure.
This was coming to me second-hand, so I don’t know what all other things they talked about abhorring in Western society, but what Lynn told me both shocked and surprised me. It was completely unexpected.
It’s not my purpose in this post to preach to anyone on either side of the moral issues these Crimean Christians mentioned. Many of my friends are completely opposed to this moral liberalism and others of them are sympathetic with it.
Regardless of whether you favor honoring the moral absolutes of Christianity or the ethical relativism that has taken over our Western world, is it worth pushing third-world countries toward totalitarianism? We live in an open society in a small world with glass walls. Everyone knows what goes on. Do we want our permissiveness to allow Russian to take back the territories of the former Soviet Union?
What do you think?
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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.
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David N Walker 
People would rather live in a police state than see people they think are icky get rights? It seems to me they are the ones with a serious problem.
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This is very sad that they view our Christianity in our country this way. What a shock! Jane
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The gentleman who said that, You cannot take a conversation with a few people and make a broad generalization.” is correct, and my comments were meant to be anecdotal. However, it is instructive to note that even among Christians, culture greatly affects our world views. And not every people group values the same things. That is really the point I was trying to make.
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Thanks, Lynn. I agree with your point, but I also think it’s sad that “Christian” Western nations have let morality sink to the point that people like the Crimeans want nothing to do with us.
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David – I’m behind in reading your blogs. I’m sure you’ve had the occasion to feel a bit overwhelmed, who hasn’t?
This blog brings to the forefront of why so many foreign countries don’t want our military
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Oops! I laid my arm on my iPad and there went my incomplete message.
What I wanted to say is that this is further evidence of why our military should not be in countries where we aren’t wanted.
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I agree about not spreading our military around so much, Sheri, especially since this administration seems hell-bound to hamstring our military.
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Wow…this is very interesting, and yet, not surprising when you factor in the things (same sex marriage, immoral behavior, etc.) that has run rampant in the western culture. I mean, I was shocked when I read this, but now that I’ve processed it, I can understand where they are coming from. Bless those people’s hearts and souls. My heart truly hurts for them.
On another note…thank you for stopping by my blog and leaving a very encouraging and kind comment! If Blogger would allow me to install a “like” button, I sure would! 🙂
Have a blessed rest of the week, David!
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Thanks, Shannon. Sorry they don’t have a “like” button. I’m sure a lot of people would click it, and it is encouraging to a blogger to see those “likes.”
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You cannot take a conversation with a few people and make a broad generalization. The question is about rights and people should have access to them equally regardless if you are Christian or not but in the case of Crimea there have one other aspect to consider. They have to live with Russia next door. They cannot decide to pack up and move. No one is willing to go to war to free them. They, as a people, need to decide what’s best for the country as a whole. You or I have no business getting involved.
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I agree it’s not our place to tell them what to do in their own country, Colin. Nothing in this post implied we should. The point is that it’s sad that the social liberalism of the West is pushing these people into supporting a totalitarian government.
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I too heard what Lynn said and was surprised that her Christian friends preferred Russia over the West. It’s truly interesting to learn about other people’s perspectives.
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Yes, it is, Sharon.
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