IS LEGAL SAME SEX MARRIAGE
A REASON TO BE CONCERNED
Should we be concerned if same sex marriage is the law of the land? The children of Darfur are not concerned. The unborn are not concerned. The women in Afghanistan are not concerned. The men on death row are not concerned. The millions with HIV in Africa are not concerned. The drug addicts are not concerned. Those starving in North Korea are not concerned. The millions of African orphans are not concerned.
OK, about what should we be concerned? The utter lethargy in the evangelical church. And that, my friends, has always been legal.
But at the core of this obsession with what the kingdom of darkness believes can be found in nationalism and its Siamese twin patriotism. We as believers are called to be invested in the kingdom of darkness on only one level - we called to care for their souls. We have never been called to be upset over their rules and regulations. We have never been called to join hands with some of the more conservative elements of their kingdom in order to change their rules. We are called to walk among them with wisdom.
Col.4: 5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.
What wisdom does Paul mean? And what does he mean about redeeming the time? It’s obvious Paul speaks about their eternal souls. You cannot be passionate about reaching the lost and also about changing the culture. You see, reaching their souls for Christ is serving Christ, while changing the culture benefits you. And you cannot serve two masters. The wisdom that God gives us is always redemptive and never self serving. Which bothers you more, if gay couples marry legally or if gay couples are lost in eternity? The answer to that question will ultimately determine where your prayers and energies are spent.
But the reason believers fight for legalities concerning morality is because they want to preserve a way of life they have constructed in their minds. You don’t see protests and talk shows and sermons expressing emotional angst over divorce. Why” Because it is accepted and practiced within the church save a few disingenuous doctrinal words. But if and when the Supreme Court makes gay marriage legal, the evangelical community will act as if the sky is falling. And many big mouth know-it-all preachers will claim that the first natural disaster following that decision will come from God. It is all too predictable.
Believers do not weep at night over the souls of men, but they will find much energy and speak volumes about the so called cultural decline. And of course that decline is fabricated upon a founding fathers fairy tale. I can only wonder how anyone who reads and believes God’s Word can actually contend that certain time periods were less fallen than others. Are we suggesting that law abiding citizens who do not know Christ are more pleasing in God’s sight? And are we also suggesting that God so loves a certain way of life here on earth that he is willing to help sinners to kill each other to protect it? When gay marriage is made legal, nothing will change.
Gay people will still be gay; divorce and adultery will still roam church halls; church mortgage payments will still have to be paid; conservatives and liberals will still hate each other; believers will still constantly complain about a myriad of things; and the church will place it dry-eyed head upon the pillow at night and dream about finding a great coupon to eat out this weekend where they can share their consternation about gay marriage.
Note of interest: The only reason I am not gay is because I am not.
The moment the church becomes fascinated with all kinds of earthly issues is the moment it looses its fascination with Christ. It is impossible to be consumed with Christ and His redemptive mission while grabbing hold of the ebbs and flows of fallen man and his attempts to create paradise. What is gay marriage compared with an eternity without Christ? Why would we expend our energies attempt to muscle sinners into a more acceptable lifestyle instead of sacrificing ourselves to reach them with the message that can transform them forever. Present the glories of Christ and leave the fallen moral scraps for those whose eyes cannot look upward.
Do you wish to protect the sanctity of marriage?
Seek and cultivate and sacrifice yourself to not only protect, but to expand your marriage to Christ.
And that, my friends, will transform everything else.
And that, my friends, will transform everything else.
PREACH IT! Oh, may Jesus break my hard, judgmental heart.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDeleteThe church certainly does seems to approach same-sex marriage as the last stand against their version of christianity. But, this new version of christianity, it seems, has lost "Christ". It still calls itself christianity, but, it's attitudes and rationale are not in line with the New Testament. Same-sex marriage won't change a true christian's spiritual life. It isn't a threat. Whether a same-sex couple live together, or are legally married by the government in which we live won't change our relationship with our Savior. It only reinforces what Jesus prophesied, and that was that the last days on earth would be like the days of Lot. Yet, in the story of Lot, Lot was willing to give his daughters up to the mob outside his home in place of the male angels who were his guests. Imagine, a man considered fairly righteous who would rather give up his daughters to be raped, rather than give up two male angels to be raped. I never understood why Lot chose to do that. Was it because the act of homosexuality on the angels would have been an abomination? Or was it because Lot feared God's retribution of giving up God's helpers to wicked men? What parent would choose to do what Lot did? In the West, today, many christian parents would get a gun and express their First Amendment rights.
Today's christianity in the West seems to forget it's not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against dark forces and principalities in the air; they think that specific actions here on earth prevent them from reaching their full spiritual potential? That doesn't coincide with the bible's teachings. Spiritual growth comes from being in the Lion's Den, not out of it. And the church would be a much better witness if it stopped making public statements about homosexuality, as though homosexuals are pre-meditating to do people harm. The christian voices out there are doing more harm to Jesus when they publicly humiliate and show a lack of compassion to those who have to walk in different shoes.
What some christians seem to forget is that we live in a society that is permissive to some of the worst carnal sexually-obsessed activities in the world, like the porn industry. And it started with heterosexuals.
The most common argument I hear is the "Slippery Slope" argument. If we let gays marry, what's to keep us from letting people marry animals, or adults marry children, or maybe humans marry inanimate objects. I don't remember reading Jesus Parable of the Slippery SLope in the Gospels.
ReplyDeleteOne concern I do have is what happened in Canada. After changing all the laws, forcing ministers to preside over weddings they didn't believe in, and over-emphasis on the topic in public schools, only 5% of the gay population actually got married. When it came right down to it, the issue was more principal than practical.