"Sometimes I think it's a sin When I feel like I'm winning when I'm losing again."
Gordy Lightfoot's song "Sundown" is about a cheating woman, but the
hurly burly about "Same Sex Marriage" and other recent fiascos brought the lyric
to mind in a different conception. If we are still allowed to use that word.
Okay, about this "Same Sex Marriage" deal. What was won? What was lost?
Just who are the losers?
Maybe you'd better sit down.
The losers are all of those who reject what God has designed in favor of their own
misbegotten 'beliefs'.
Sure, sure-according to the world which ignores God, the perception is that
homosexual marriage is a stunning achievement, something to be cherished and enjoyed.
We Christians aren't over in some corner, sad and crying, having lost faith.
You see, we KNOW.
We know God, and we know that, whether the world recognizes it or not, His Word
is true and right, His Law is perfect.
It's really so easy. What He calls sin is sin. BOOM! Truth in five words, with
one used twice.
Whenever you think you've 'Won' something which God rejects...you are a loser.
Son Down.
When Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom, the only 'Winners' will be those who
Love and respect Him, who obey Him with all that they have or are.
The good news is that, in this time of Grace, it is still possible to be made to be
peace with God. You know the Gospel, though you may have ignored it all of your life.
I haven't lost anything.
You can redefine "marriage" six times this week, and it means nothing.
For God is True.
11 comments:
Legislated immorality sounds like an oxymoron, but there you go.
You once told me that you personally had nothing against gay people, it was just God. You've also told me once saved, always saved. So, since you're going to heaven anyway, couldn't you work up just a bit of empathy for people who just want to fall in love and get married and raise a family just like anyone else?
Keep in mind that we're talking about civil marriage here. A legal contract, recognized by the government but not by any church that doesn't want to countenance it. Nobody's going to force any church to marry anyone its rules say it can't marry. (The Catholic Church won't marry divorced people or non-Catholics, many churches will marry only members, and so on.) That being the case, one would think you could just live and let live.
Doug writes: "Legislated immorality sounds like an oxymoron, but there you go."
I guess we should criminalize the practice of any non-Christian faiths along with Mormonism and Catholicism? Perhaps we should make it impossible to get divorced for "unbiblical" reasons (which means anything other than infidelity, including abuse)?
- James B
Hi Both.
"So, since you're going to heaven anyway, couldn't you work up just a bit of empathy for people who just want to fall in love and get married and raise a family just like anyone else?"
Who says that I'm lacking in empathy?
You don't know me, but you should know me better than that by now.
Is it uncaring to warn people against Judgement? Then God must be uncaring, because He sends millions of Christians throughout the world to warn sinners to repent of their sins. You're upset by what God calls Sin. That's on you, not me.
Absolutely I 'empathize' more with God, and accept that He is right where all the world is wrong.
But I am not uncaring, and I empathize with my fellow sinners regarding whichever sins they are entangled by.
One of my best friends from high school came out as homosexual-his brothers (both straight) told me. I heard that he returned for our last HS reunion-I was at my friends wedding,so I missed seeing him.
As for James-you will agree that slavery was immoral. It was legal here once, so that is an example of legislated immorality. I see Abortion as legislated immorality of which Man may approve, but God disapproves. He Who said, "Thou Shalt Not Kill" meant it.
"I guess we should criminalize the practice of any non-Christian faiths blah blah blah" Not in this millennium. Though I have the right to disagree with the laws of the land, I live under the same laws as you do. In this country we have to freedom to practice (or ignore) any faith we wish. That is wonderful, and is part of what separates us from countries where, for example, a population is 100% Muslim because to not be Muslim is a death- that is, when Christ returns and rules the world from Jerusalem, no paganism allowed, no 'other' religions will exist. That is a promise from Scripture.
With that said, another plug for joining my visage on Facebook...IF YOU DARE! Just click on the image at the top of the FDW page and see what happens.
So empathy and "love your neighbor" boil down to telling people they're going to hell. That certainly does make life easier: none of that boring binding of wounds and buying of meals need disturb your placid existence.
As James has previously pointed out, through the millennia people have come up with diverse ideas of what God(s) look like and what they do; you can have your pick. The one you picked sure is a piece of work.
James also makes an excellent point about divorce. Both Jesus and Paul explicitly forbade it, yet you don't inveigh against it as you do homosexuality. Why aren't you running up and down the countryside trying to keep people from getting divorced instead of complaining about gay people's getting married? You'd touch a lot more nerves: about half a percent of all marriages are same-sex, but about half of all marriages end in divorce.
complain about gay marriage? what?
Read it again, Lu:
"The losers are all of those who reject what God has designed in favor of their own misbegotten 'beliefs'.
Sure, sure-according to the world which ignores God, the perception is that homosexual marriage is a stunning achievement, something to be cherished and enjoyed.
We Christians aren't over in some corner, sad and crying, having lost faith.
You see, we KNOW.
We know God, and we know that, whether the world recognizes it or not, His Word is true and right, His Law is perfect.
It's really so easy. What He calls sin is sin. BOOM! Truth in five words, with one used twice."
I'm not all weepy that gay marriage is the law of the land-God is unchanging; what He calls good is good, and what He calls bad is bad.
Switching the argument over to divorce is weak.
"Why aren't you running up and down the countryside trying to keep people from getting divorced instead of complaining about gay people's getting married?"
Both divorce and homosexual marriage come from sin. I'm not a fan of sin. I would not support either. But we ALL share a stained reality, a corrupted creation, where such things happen.
The difference between us is I know that Christ is returning, and when He does, when He rules from Jerusalem...no more divorce, or homosexuality, or war and hate and sin. Eventually.
What is your view of the future? Without Christ, it must be pretty bleak. Do you really believe that Man can fix the problems that exist?
If not...how long do you think we have before some idiot hits the wrong button and blows us all to Betelgeuse?
Again I ask: if both divorce and homosexuality (including same-sex marriage) are sin, and both will go away when the Great Glorious Kingdom arrives, why do you rail against the latter but not the former? Both are legal, accepted as part of the landscape, and happening every day. The only difference is that divorce has been around a lot longer and is regularly practiced by (Protestant) Christians, despite Jesus's and Paul's forbidding it.
I don't believe we can fix all the problems that exist, but I do believe we have to try our best instead of sitting around waiting for some imaginary fairy-tale ending.
"why do you rail against the latter but not the former?"
I can make this very simple.
"Both divorce and homosexual marriage come from sin. I'm not a fan of sin. I would not support either. But we ALL share a stained reality, a corrupted creation, where such things happen."
Hey! Look at that! I just copied and pasted the exact same words.
Absolutely, some Christians divorce. Some Christians remarry. That is part of that 'stained reality' that I mentioned. Dr. Charles Stanley, one of the leading Bible teachers with a media ministry was divorced by his wife after he rose to national prominence. It is a failure in life.
And we all fail in different ways, because no one is perfect. But here's the part that you will hate, Lu.
That Christians fail is not proof that God is a failure. My shortcomings, my sins only prove that I am a human being. God does not sin, or make mistakes. So pick on Christians all you like (and you DO like!). It matters not one whit. Rail against God if it makes you feel important. But it does you no good, and it doesn't affect Him at all.
On my Facebook page right now I have proponents of homosexual rights mixed right in with Christians honoring God. Why?
Because I have friends, people I care about who range all across the spiritual/political spectrum. Some of them went all 'Rainbow happy' when homosexual marriage was called legal.
They are my friends, too. Some are my co-workers with whom I inhabit space IRL.
Your ruse, upbraiding me for not denouncing divorce as loudly as homosexuality...weak.
Watch this space.
If a Christian can divorce, can a gay Christian get married?
"If a Christian can divorce, can a gay Christian get married?"
I can play this game as well as you, Lu:
The Supreme Court (American division, not God Who is truly Supreme) has declared that homosexual marriage is legal so yes, everyone such as that can-your word, used twice in one sentence-CAN get married.
But a Christian who is in homosexual sin does not honor God, and God will not honor that marriage, as He does not approve of sin. Homosexuality is sin, according to God.
Same principle-if someone robs banks to get rich, God will not honor that person as having succeeded in life by his or her becoming prosperous. A thief is still a thief, no matter how many homes/cars he can afford.
What DOES God honor?
Repentance. Turning from sin and asking for Forgiveness. You've heard the word "Holy" all of your life-it means separated, to be set apart FROM the world by God. That which is holy is holy. And even though we poor human creatures still live in these aging sinful bodies...I have been set apart by God, and the better best part of me will someday live in an eternal glorified body fit for Heaven. Just exactly the same as every other Christian truly belonging to God.
So you may judge me and other Christians only by what you can see (and criticize). But we are more than that, not because we are so wonderful, but by God's Grace and His being Wonderful.
A dozen or so years ago a popular Christian artist 'came out' as homosexual. It rocked American Christianity, but not our faith in God.
My question was really if a gay person can be a Christian, or a gay person who enters into a same-sex marriage can be a Christian, just as a Christian can get divorced (the NT doesn't say divorce is sin, it just says don't do it). You seem to say yes, which is fair enough. I'm actually bothered less by divorce or same-sex marriage than by other things the Bible enjoins that don't seem to faze a lot of Christians in the least; oppressing the poor comes to mind, the most pious and prominent American Christians seeming to count it not so much a sin as a sacred duty.
In any case, there are kinder, gentler ways to be a Christian, but you picked the Christianity you picked, or it picked you. Much good may it do you.
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