Doanld Sensing says that the war for marriage has already been lost and that this present battle over "gay marriage" is a result rather than a cause. He's right.
At the end of the post he promises to give some "next steps" for traditionalists, and although I can't anticipate what he'll say I have some ideas of my own.
My basic premise is that this world in its present form is passing away. I personally don't think there's any evidence to suggest that marriage (or society as a whole) will be redeemed to godliness. In fact, society has never been godly, and it's foolish to think we can ever make it so through legislation.
So what, then, is a Christian to do? Frankly, I think all the political moralizing modern Christians are so fond of (myself included) is a perilous waste of time that distracts us from the real purpose God has put us on earth for: to go and make disciples of all nations. Just imagine the impact it would have for the cause of Christ if Christians spent half the time or half the money on their local churches than they spend on political causes.
For a Christian to spend energy lobbying against homosexual marriage is like putting a band-aid on a tumor. The problem with society isn't that we're poised to allow homosexual marriage -- that's just a symptom. The cure isn't a new set of laws, the cure is Jesus Christ.
So what should a Christian be doing? Number one, a Christian should be praying for the lost. Number two, a Christian should be making every effort to befriend and love unbelievers. Third, a Christian should be taking every opportunity to point unbelieving friends and relatives to Christ. Fourth, a Christian should be training new believers to go and do likewise.
That's pretty much it. And no, I don't even remotely maintain this standard myself.
Update:
Commenter "A" makes an excellent point: humanity always stagnates when there are no frontiers. There's plenty of room on earth for more people, but the planet is getting ideologically crowded. Yet another reason to get people into space by whatever means necessary.
Update 2:
Rev. Sensing comments further on the essential nature of marriage.
If we could just move on from this hateful nonsense of comparing homosexuality to bestiality, then maybe there would be some room true witnessing.
Apprently you have forgotten the lessons learned by the Jews prior to the Exile. You cannot remain separate from the godlessness of the culture around you. If not you, then the next generation will forget who God is.
The Gospel will be spread, regardless. But cutting and running when the battle is desperate will not help. It will only make those who watch you turn and run think: "This is how you serve your God? This is how powerful your God is?".
Quit the fight at the Gospel's peril. Because the Gospel can be lost in the darkness for a time, and all those souls who could know Jesus will perish instead.
Thanks for this encouragement, Michael. Truth spoken in love is incredibly effective stuff.
There is some truth I believe in what you are saying Michael. And I too appreciate your saying it.
I would encourage you to read what Donald Sensing has to say with a bit of a critical eye though (if you don't already). Given your apparent committment to Christian truth.
What he says strikes me as being a bit of a mix between evolutionary theory, humanism, Christianity, and probably several other philosphies.
There is nothing so deceptive as someone speaking some truth in the midst of untruths. Especially when it comes from someone who is a Reverand.
I am not saying that I know the answer to the dilemna in our country regarding homosexual marriages or not. But one thing I know.
For a Christian to not support laws that uphold righteousness when it is within their power to do so in a democratic country like the U.S. is for that Christian to be a supporter of laws that promote unrighteousness. If not actively then by ommission. By sitting idly by and doing nothing to support righteous laws.
It is not a matter of whether marriage has been diluted. Or whether many couples live together before marriage. Or any other consideration.
The only consideration that should be uppermost in the minds of Christians is whether something is right in the eyes of God or not. And whether our support or lack of support for laws will either help support a righteous standard accross our land or not.
If we sit idly by and let things happen then our laws will tend to support unrighteousness. I do not believe that God would approve of such complacency. No matter how far down the slippery slope our country has gotten.
Carlos
Even if you are a not a Christian, but are simply a moral person who believes in the value of protecting children, you can see that the world we know is passing away--and the one coming is not moral. It will not produce healthier, happier, more moral humans. It will not produce people (or therefore, a society of people) who are inventive, strong, generous, compassionate, curious, or righteous.
What to do? Start somewhere else. Many people in the third world want to be strong, generous, moral, compassionate, curious, and righteous. Many of them have found Christianity. Protestantism in the third world isn't like Protestantism here; perhaps the right thing is to Encourage the schism. And some day, we'll even have a colony on the moon or Mars or somewhere in space. The Jesuits will surely be there when it happens.
For the last poster, the laws are already in place. There is no way to remove them. The modern judicial interpretation of "Equal protection under the law" will not stop until Every immoral behavior is considered Equally Good Behavior to moral behavior. (Also, it will not stop until paraplegics are on the US Olympic Track Team.) We cannot repeal the 14th amendment or the equivalent state amendments, nor the Full Faith and Credit Clause. We will not be able to be stopped legally.
I don't think the Pilgrims and other religious-freedom colonists of America felt that they were complacent to the moral evils in Europe, or that God viewed them as complacent for leaving. They chose a different path by leaving--one that in my reading of their history, they felt they were called to do. That might be the same religious requirement here.
Carlos: I'm not saying we shouldn't vote for laws based on how godly they are, I'm saying that we shouldn't invest our time and money lobbying for them. We only have a limited quantity of both, and there are more important things. Jesus didn't spend time with the rich and powerful trying to get them to reform the Roman Empire, he spent time with the lowest of the low, pointing them to God.
A: Brilliant point. Humanity has always tended to stagnate when there are no frontiers. The lowest common denominator always rises to the top in such situations.
I see your point Michael and I think we both agree on what is the most important thing for sure. Saving knowledge of and relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
No question about it. If money and energy gets diverted from that in order to lobby for some law that is otherwise good then we as Christians have most certainly misplaced our priorities.
I guess I just wonder if such a one to one relationship is the case in real life. What I mean is how many Christians invest in the lobbying and political activism at the expense of what we are supposed to be focusing on? Surely one can do both by being involved with lots of people in political activism? Without sacrificing the one for the other?
In any case it seems to me that most Christians are not about their Father's business to begin with. North American Christians are too attached to things of this life in the sense of not wanting to loose what they have. Through persecution, being misunderstood, or otherwise.
If Christians who are active politically can be convinced to start living for God by faith and to start focusing on what is truly important (assuming they are not) I am all for it. But I am afraid that many such Christians would not live for God in the way God would want regardless. So they might as well continue to focus on the political scene.
I am not saying that Christians who are involved in politics are not living for God. Only that many so-called Christians are really not Christians or else they may not be following God in a life of faith. And as such their political activism is at least keeping them busy in sommething that is otherwise worthwhile.
But for sure Michael. We should be focusing on that which God considers most important. And political activism is not it.
Carlos
Carlos: I think we're pretty much on the same page.
What a very nice compliment! Thank you.
What a great way you phrased it: humanity will continue to stagnate when there are no frontiers. The history of Christ and Christianity is not one of Christians taking it easy. It is not even one of waiting for the State to catch up to them, is it?
I am inspired by this thought. Christ said give to Caesar what is Caesar's, give to God what is God's. This amazing sentence, which seems to be a statement that Christianity is not revolutionary against the State, is Precisely a revolution against the State. It forms the core of a notion that the State is not the arbiter of morality, or our path, or of what is Right. The State can impose the laws, but they are not correct just by fiat. (and was the first time that any religion had made this leap to separate religious authority from the State.)
I think this goes to both of your points. God calls us to act beyond and above the political activism. It is our response to this call that determines who we are--and done correctly, brings down unjust and immoral societies. (Because it is not our political activism that brings them down, but something else--or maybe they bring themselves down, because their immorality is choking and suffocating?) A new frontier makes this more clear, because the new society gets founded on the moral principles of its members, but isn't this the history of Christianity? That the moral activism of the Christians repeatedly throughout history has created sects and elements of society that threatened the political systems--even when the Christians themselves were not using political activism?
My faggot brother called me up today and said he wanted to marry a dead gay horse. That of course, is the essence of my brother, a pervert who wants to hump a dead carcass.
I'm a heterosexual youth worker at a liberal Episcopal church; I see my junior and senior-highers growing up in a community in which same-sex unions are celebrated. I see these same youth rejoicing at those unions, but I also see them participating in World Vision's 30-Hour Famine, a homeless shelter, and as acolytes. They are sweet and loving and bright and interesting kids who are growing up with a more inclusive vision of love than their parents' generation did -- and as a consequence, I don't fear for the future. I see some future Kingdom Builders. Heck, I see some contemporary Kingdom Builders!
Peace
Hugo, consider this Bible passage:
Revelation 3:15 - 16
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
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I have no understanding for churches that equally embrace sin and righteousness, in clear defiance of the Word of God.
I try not to judge anyone. I myself am full of imperfections. I continually fall short of God's will for my life. I know it, and it grieves me.
Celibrating the acceptance of sin, however, scares the you-know-what out of me.