It is a time-honored tradition at Navy homecomings: one lucky sailor is chosen to be first off the ship for the long-awaited kiss with a loved one. It was the first time on record that a same-sex couple had even taken part in the tradition, let alone won the honor of the first homecoming kiss.
Of course civil rights advocates and cultural progressives will be celebrating this event, saying gays and lesbians have waited a long time to right this wrong. But wrong does not become right by the passing of time. And while it is true that culture changes with time, along with the public’s sense of right/wrong, the Bible does not. When a society severs itself from its biblical roots, the slide toward moral relativity is inevitable. And then one day, you wake up and realize that what was once shocking has become commonplace. "... and all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes" (Judges 17:6).
Greg,
ReplyDeleteIn one of Francis Frangipane's books he makes a point that if we want to dispel the darkness in a given region we need to BE more light! In Jesus' own words as well we are to "let (our) light SO shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt.5:16, NKJV.
Working with as many GLBT as I do I am beginning to see that the quality of good works needs to be stepped up by God's people to distinguish works that are "done in God" (John 3:21) from works that just anyone can do.
Acceptance of the GLBT lifestyle is not so much accepting darkness as it is recognizing the different kind of light that we Christians are supposed to give off--reflected Light of the Light Himself.
Stan
Hi Stan
ReplyDeleteWhile my post today implicitly addresses the subject of homosexuality, I do hope the point of this post was not lost, my point being that a culture that is not grounded in biblical standards will always slide into moral ambiguity, if not outright immorality, because it has no basis for deciding what is moral (right) and what is not (wrong). Using the example of two female sailors kissing on the front page of the newspaper was too good of an example (of moral relativity) to pass up!
I will leave the larger discussion of gays and lesbians for another venue.
Greg,
ReplyDeleteApologies if it seemed I failed to address your point. Let me try again.
Jesus told us that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees we cannot see the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 5:20). "Exceeds" can either refer to quantity or quality of righteousness. The American Christian church has failed to distinguish itself by the "righteousness that exceeds" either in quantity or quality, in my opinion. But it has thereby created a vacuum for the righteousness of the world to become the standard--it doesn't look any different. That opens the door wide to anyone, ANYONE, with a "just" cause to appear righteous. Hence, the front-page photo with the female sailors kissing each other.
Does our generosity exceed that of non-Christians? Does our expressions of love and respect exceed that of non-Christians? Does our work ethic exceed that of non-Christians? Does our purity in conversation exceed that of non-Christians? Does the example of love between family members exceed that of non-Christians? Does the faithfulness of Christian spouses exceed that of non-Christians? Does the sexual purity of Christian couples outside of marriage exceed that of non-Christians? As employers do we treat non-Christians with fairness and justice that we would extend to our Christian brethren? Any of the above areas of life that do not distinguish the actual realities of Christians as contrasted with non-Christians explain WHY we have moral ambiguity! It explains WHY we shrink back from holding up distinctly Christian (biblical) values for our government to stand for-- many of us don't even practice them ourselves and feel hypocritical for demanding them out of someone who doesn't even claim to believe in God like we do.
Yes our culture is not "grounded in biblical standards" but we American Christians are mostly to blame for that, I think.f Maybe this new year can bring "righteousness that exceeds!"
Stan
Wow! Stan. Great insight. I love your expression a "vucuum of righteousness".
ReplyDeleteIt occursto me that the American church has been so affected by "political correctness" it is afraid to look emphatic (too self-righteous). Thus, we have Joel Osteen's fear of offending Mormons, his weak response on homosexuality, saying "the Bible calls it sin, but I'm not going to judge anyone", and many other examples by others who want to make the church seem likeable. The church does not know how to speak the truth in love. Rather than trying to know how to do that, the church has opted to not speak. But, as you say, the church is not doing a very good job that either. If you remove "love" and "truth" what's left?!!