Yep...more stuff on respect and action.

Would you want a robot for a spouse?  Someone that did everything you asked, said all the right things, ignored their own feelings, didn't have an opinion but treated you like you were almighty king and stood every time you entered.   But that thing is, the spouse isn't a robot.  It's an actual person doing all these things out of fear or duty.  You love this person.  But they don't love you back.  Their hugs are empty.  Their sex is lifeless.  Their care they provide is unemotional.

Would you want churchgoers to just come on a sunday, give their tithe (right), sing songs, listen to sermons, shake hands with the pastor and leave only to do nothing about their faith all week long?  Would you want someone to pray for the hungry, yet never lift a finger to feed the homeless?  

Think about your kids, if you have young kids.  Think about some words that will describe how you want them to be when they grow up.  Courageous, thoughtful, compassionate, hard working, grateful....

Did blindly obedient make the list?  I doubt it.  Did forced showing of respect though not heartfelt make the list?  Probably not.

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.  If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love."  Yep...came straight from the bible.

So let me ask you.  Do you want to put the value of a song over the cries of the oppressed and marginalized?   Is your allegiance to tradition going to take a precedence over the blatant racism that still happens in America today?  Standing for a song does not equal respect.  Standing for a song does not equal love for your country.  Standing during a prayer for hungry people to be fed does not equal donating $100 to the local feeding program.