Where Is Your Line?

Several years ago, I was challenged by an acquaintance of mine.  He asked me, “Where is your line?”

At first, I did not understand his question, so he asked me again, “Where is your line?”  He then clarified, “At what point will you respond to an attack, direct or indirect, be it moral, or physical, or ideological?”

I was a bit irritated.  How could he be asking me this question?  He continued.  “If you cannot tell me where your line is, you will never know when the line is crossed.”

Although I was irritated, I listened as he went on to explain.  He spelled out that if I did not know where my line is on different ideas, an immoral culture would slowly, incrementally, wear away until it had overtaken me without any objection.

Even while I was taking offense to his question, I knew he was on target.  I did not know where my line was.  I had not thought through at what point I would react to assaults on my beliefs.

He used the example of a frog being thrown into hot water.  The frog will immediately jump out.  Of the other hand, if you put a frog in cold or tepid water and slowly raise the temperature, the frog will slowly be boiled to death unaware that the water temperature was slowly rising.

He ended with, “If you do not know your line, you need to figure out where it is.”

Holding the Line

So why is this important?  Why draw a line at all?

Some years ago, while living overseas, one of my friends at the factory at which I was working was a woman whose family owned a farm.  Since she was an only child and a female, few in her hometown respected her family.  In this country’s culture, only boys could inherit their parents’ farmland.

Her parents’ neighbors would consistently move the stakes marking out their plot of farmland.  Her father was constantly putting the stakes back to stay the encroachment of his neighbors.

He knew he had to constantly enforce the boundaries of his farm or lose it to his predatory neighbors.  He knew if he did not, he would lose one meter the first year, two meters the second, and so on.  Before long he would be looking over a farm that was no longer his.

This is a physical example of a line that needed to be constantly defended, in this case a property line.

Holding the Line of Ideas

Ideas are more difficult to defend.  The line is not clearly visible.  In many cases, we are the beneficiaries of those who established a line for us long ago.  But since we did not establish the boundary of ideas and morality that make up our culture, sometimes we do not understand where it should be or even if it has moved.

For example, we live in a Judeo-Christian world which tends to uphold the Mosaic tradition of “an eye for an eye” (Exodus 21:23-25).  But because many perceive this approach to law as barbaric, they have allowed to line to move.

Unfortunately, many people do not understand what “eye for an eye” really means.  It is not about gouging out a person’s eye if that person hurts another individual’s eye.  Unlike some traditions in other cultures, a nobleman’s eye is not worth more than the eye of peasant. Similarly, a stone carver’s tooth is worth the same as that of a wealthy merchant’s. This tradition is that of equality under the law.  If you really understand its meaning, it is not barbaric at all.

Be that as it may, the line here has continued to move.  Tough sentences from the past have softened.  Today, it seems laws in many parts of the United States have become just a suggestion.  The line has moved beyond reason.

And the line continues to move.  Under the guise of “rank has its privileges,” modern nobles (the wealthy and the political elites) often avoid punishments for crimes which would land the common man life in prison.

Living without a Line

Most of us are convinced that if asked to abdicate our beliefs, we would protest.  If asked to engage in savage brutality most think they would resist.  Unfortunately, history shows us this is overly optimistic.

Take the case of Reserve Police Battalion 101 chronicled in the book titled “Ordinary Men” by Christopher R. Browning.  These policemen were responsible for mass shootings in Poland in 1942.  Yet these men were not fanatical Nazis.  The men were ordinary middle-aged, working-class men.

Nevertheless, these ordinary men quickly separated themselves into three groups: willing executioners, reliable killers, and a small minority who evaded participation in the acts.  Unfortunately, even the small minority did nothing to diminish the homicidal efficiency of the battalion.  None of them protested or resisted the murder of men, women, and children.

These men probably did not fathom that they would be asked to partake in such atrocities when starting their careers as policemen.  None of them dreamed they would be asked to cross the line of murder not by not inches, but by miles.  What makes us think we would be any different?

Know Your Line

Unless you know your line, you might cross it without knowing.  At what point should we serve our fellow men by speaking out against sins that have corrupted so many.  At what point should one resist the normalization of abortion, euthanasia, pornography, adultery, homosexual behavior, transgenderism, etc.

If we cannot do this due to fear of persecution or hurting someone’s feelings, we should ask “Why?” How can we refuse to speak against sinful actions knowing that so many outside and even inside the Church repeatedly engage in them?  Holding the lines against these ideologies provides an opportunity to call others to repentance and witness to the Faith.

The faithful, and the not-so-faithful, need to hear from us.  If it makes us uncomfortable, then the truth is doing its job. Speaking God’s truth will hopefully prompt many to reject the continual shift in our culture and acceptance of sin as normal behavior.

In a culture this corrupt, Catholics cannot afford to be timid.  We need to love God and battle evil with fortitude.  We must not let the malevolent control the culture.

Consequences

Since I was challenged years ago, I have spent a lot of time thinking about where my line is, or more so, where my line is on several ideas.  I have also taken a risk in defending and pushing back when I felt I was being asked to cross the line.

At my place of work, I was sent to diversity training.  In reality the training had very little to do with diversity.  The training had more to do with training people not just to accept, but affirm many sinful behaviors.

This is one of my lines.  I stated openly (and in so doing I thought I might be fired), that I was unwilling to lie to someone and call a person a woman who was, in fact, a man.

I must add that once I spoke up, I was not alone.  Be that as it may, my company is beginning to embrace the ideologies pushed by the secularists in society and government (ESG).  I still believe it is only a matter of time before I am fired, along with many others, for not conforming to secular ideologies that have nothing to do with my actual employment duties.

As a way of reminding myself that I must hold the line, I carry a physical reminder.  On my keychain is replica of a Roman denarius with the head of Tiberius Caesar.  This may have been the same coinage given to Judas for his betrayal.  It is a reminder for me not to sell out and betray our Lord.

I encourage everyone to know where their line is in today’s culture.  Without knowing where their line is, people may betray their principles without evening knowing they’ve sold out.