Fewer and
fewer people believe in absolute truth today (a postmodernism effect), believe
the Bible is verbally inspired and without error, or that man must submit to
its dictates or suffer the consequences if he does not. Sin is now
generally accepted, and no attempt is made any longer to hide it as long as the
law of the land will allow it. We abort babies (a holocaust), commit
fornication (taken for granted these days), and become adulterers thinking God
wants me to be happy or else we do not care at all what he thinks or, for that
matter, even believe in him. One of the things that have amazed me
recently in my own neck of the woods is the push for gay marriage among groups
of people whom you would have thought never would do such a thing which
illustrates the state of mind of many who confess to be believers today. (Let the reader note that this article was
originally written before gay marriage became the law of the land.)
One man
was quoted in a local paper as saying that there was no scriptural
justification for denying gays the right to marry. I just could not
believe that a person who knew anything at all about the Bible could say such a
thing as that. Another wrote that he was a born again Christian and
he was a supporter of gay marriage. Please tell me how a person can
read 1 Cor. 6:9-10 and get that we ought to support gay
marriage. "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will
not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the
sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice
homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."(1 Cor. 6:9-11
ESV, my underlining for emphasis) There
is a footnote in the ESV for the phrase "men who practice
homosexuality" which reads as follows: "The two Greek terms
translated by this phrase refer to the passive and active partners in
consensual homosexual acts."
Now I ask
should we Christians be in the business of helping people sin by giving our
consent to it and striving to pass laws to promote it. If the passage
above is not enough for you about God's will in this matter try Jude 6-7, Rom.
1:24-27, and 1 Tim. 1:9-10. When I wrote on the subject, which I
did, one lady wrote in telling me Jesus never said a word about
homosexuality. Is that right? Did Jesus ever mention
Sodom? Check out Matt. 10:15, Matt. 11:23, Matt. 11:24, Mark 6:11,
Luke 10:12, and Luke 17:29. In most of these passages, Jesus is
saying with regards to a specific city that it will be more tolerable for Sodom
on the Day of Judgment than it will be for that city. But I ask the
question why does he use Sodom as a standard for comparison? Was it
not because it was infamous? Had not all the Jewish people heard of
what was done to Sodom and Gomorrah and why?
No doubt
he used Sodom as a basis for comparison because all were aware of how evil it
was and the consequences it reaped as a result. Jude says Sodom and
Gomorrah were to serve as an example "suffering the vengeance of eternal
fire." (Jude 6 NKJV) He gives the reason as well saying they had
"given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange
flesh." (Jude 6 NKJV) So don't tell me Jesus never talked about
homosexuality. When you talk about Sodom you are talking about
homosexuality.
Yes, I
oppose the whole manmade concept of gay marriage and I do so on scriptural
grounds but the thing that is even more troubling to me is the loss of faith in
the word of God by those who call themselves Christian and yet opinionate that
God approves what he has clearly condemned. In the Old Testament, he
even calls the homosexual act an abomination (Lev. 18:22, 20:13). Where
is the faith in statements of scripture that cannot possibly be misunderstood?
The words
of the Bible seem to no longer have meaning among a certain class of people
that would like for others to think they are God-fearing. They speak
of love and grace as though the commandments of the Bible can be tossed aside
as of no consequence and God be mocked in doing so. If they decide
among men that an act is holy and righteous that overrides everything the Bible
has to say about the matter. Jesus spoke of just such a group when
he said, "For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition
of men." (Mark 7:8 NKJV) I don't think any gay marriage
advocate will ever have the gall to say that gay marriage is from God but if it
is not from God where is it from? Whose tradition is
it? To ask is to answer.
Eve had
trouble accepting the word of God when presented with another
option. Today's generation ought to learn from history or do people
ever learn from history? Sometimes it seems we do not. Eve
set aside God's commandment on the say-so of another that it would be
okay. Are we not being told to do the same today? We are
when we deny the words from the passages I have quoted. Read 1 Cor.
6:9-11 again and then take on the role of the serpent and tell people it will
not matter. Tell them like the serpent told Eve, "You will not
surely die." (Gen. 3:4 NKJV)
For those
advocating gay marriage based on love the Bible says, "For this is the
love of God, that we keep his commandments." (1 John 5:3
NKJV) You and I as mere men do not have a right to define love when
God has already done so. What are you going to do, are you going to
override God?
To
endorse gay marriage is a violation of the golden rule and of
love. "Just as you want men to do to you, you also do to
them likewise." (Luke 7:31 NKJV) I do not want any man to
encourage me to sin. To do that to me is to sin against me and it
carries a consequence. "Jesus said to his disciples: 'Things
that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom
they come.'" (Luke 17:1 NIV) Those who are presently
encouraging gay marriage are encouraging people to sin and there will be a
consequence.
For those
who think the homosexual act is sinful outside marriage, just as fornication
is, but would be acceptable to God in a marriage relationship they need to give
that a second thought. There is a difference. God has
never condemned the sexual act between a man and woman as sinful in its own
right. In fact, God said to Adam and Eve "be fruitful and
multiply." (Gen. 1:28 NKJV) "Marriage is honorable
among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge."
(Heb. 13:4 NKJV) But note the sexual act outside of marriage,
fornication, is condemned so it depends on the relationship between a man and a
woman, are they married or not?
That
cannot be said of the homosexual act between man and man. That act
God has declared to be sinful in itself and that is the big, big
difference. As for marriage, the Bible refers to Eve as Adam's wife
and thus a marriage designed by God. Nowhere in scripture will you
find God making a marriage between man and man. Thus such a thing is
an invention of men, and of men, not of God.
Postmodernism
would say there is no absolute truth thus all my quoting of scripture amounts
to nothing with a postmodernist. That my friends is the day and age
we live in and the mindset that seems to have captured so many of our people. Let
the Bible as the inspired word of God take a hike. That is
depressing to me to know we have come to that state of
affairs. Faith is now the invention of man, each making his/her own
faith, making their own truth, thinking all the while that all is A-okay. We
will see. We will see.
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