US Supreme Court vs the Word of God

I am certain I will take a great deal of heat for this post. I have little doubt I will further be labeled a hater, a bigot, evil, mean, and much worse. Somehow that doesn't really bother me. The truth is the truth, and that is what I expect in response.

Today will go down in history as either a major win for evil and the "Evil One" himself - Satan, or it will be raised up on a poll and idolized as a great day for "equality".  The problem is  - there is nothing inherently "equal" about today's Supreme Court decision, nor is there anything in our Constitution that guarantees equal results or equal outcomes for any circumstance. But this fight was never really about "equality".  The issue is much deeper and darker.

You see - the Bible clearly speak, both in the Old and New Testament, about homosexuality. Indeed, the language is quite clear time and again. Further, marriage is referenced 100% of the time in connection to male + female.  Never in Scripture has marriage been depicted as a same-sex union.  Despite hundreds of years of attempts to change the meaning of scripture, and recent decades trying to rewrite the clear language in the Bible regarding marriage and same-sex acts, the definition of marriage, both in natural law, and by God's design is one  man and one woman joined for life.

But this presents a huge problem for those who refuse to give up, and instead just keep ratcheting up their war on God. So long as the majority believe the biblical version of marriage is correct (even if they often fail to be good examples of it), those who desperately desire to practice homosexuality will be marginalized.  But there is a "solution" - it is the normalizing of what God calls abnormal.  It is a mainstreaming of what God calls an unnatural and even an abomination.

You see, even the unregenerate mind knows, down deep, that homosexuality is wrong. It is not unloving to point this out. I know - people have been "driven" to kill themselves hearing such words. I am so sorry, but people have been taking their own lives for a lot of things related to the corrupt and sinful heart. That is often how sin works - destroying you from the inside. But far too many have chosen to continue to raise their voices while at the same time, undermining reality and the truth of God's Word.

Add to the equation, there are false teachers (as the Bible warns repeatedly about) who have thrown their support behind this issue, not as a means to "grace, but as a way to fill their bank accounts and pews, and to promote themselves.

Just a few years ago, a movement began to protect the definition of marriage through a Constitutional Amendment. Many notable politicians loudly objected saying that marriage was a right for each individual state to determine. Fast forward less than a decades and what do we see - they were flat wrong.  Maybe they were as guilty as those crying out for "gay marriage"?

The Southern Baptists (of which I am not a member of) recently had their annual Convention, at which they resoundingly voted to support the biblical definition of marriage, no matter come what may. I applaud their action, though I fear this will not be universally applied among their churches.

My own association, the Baptist Missionary Association of America began the two-year process of amending our national Constitution/Articles of Agreement to include the biblical definition of marriage. The local church I lead included a very clear definition of marriage in its founding Constitution as well.

I could spend my next days and weeks weeping and mourning for this nation.  But I refuse. This nation has bought its path, much as old Israel and Judah bought their own judgment and brought down righteous wrath from God. I could get ramped up and spew my own anger all over every form of social media, but that would accomplish little. So I will simply speak/write/post the truth. John 8:32 records the reassurance that "...the truth will set you free".

God's Word also commands that I love my neighbor - and that represents nothing new. It often is a struggle to love those who would rather you be silenced or even dead because you speak the truth, but indeed the command is still there.

But I also am under conviction from the Lord God who created me, and who designed marriage, to never willfully participate in or condone sin. Again, this is nothing new, yet the very definition of sin (according to the world and to the US Supreme Court) is being altered in that ongoing rebellion against God.

One final thought that I want to share (this is my blog, so it is my prerogative!): Those who practice homosexuality, particularly those who are celebrating this landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, you may celebrate for a time, and you may even find some level of "freedom", yet you will never, ever find genuine peace.  Even if your neighborhood "church" (using the term in a very lose way) gleefully climbs on board with this decision, you will find no peace in your heart until you call your sin what it is - SIN. And the wages, the just payment for sin is death - an very real and eternal punishment that is the just and righteous Wrath of God. Sure you can live a life of denial. But the reality is there before your eyes. You can file lawsuits. You can scream and holler.  You can play your "pride parade" games, while forcing good, God-fearing people out of business for refusing to condone or participate in your lifestyle.  But you still will find no peace apart from a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Period. Oh - but you say you "prayed a prayer", or that you believe in a God who is love, not a god of wrath.  You had better check your Bible again! The Word of God is clear - those who are genuinely saved by faith WILL not continue in willful sin. Repent! turning from your sins and believe in the One and Only Jesus Christ - "The Way, The Truth, and The Life".

Just because black-robed judges who have chosen to completely change the meaning of words and laws, who have decided to twist and rewrite what is not even in their legal authority to do so have chosen to condone this form of sin, does not change God, nor does it change the definition of Sin in the eyes of the One you WILL stand before in judgment.

Quick Question - Does This Mean That?

This week, the nation's largest Baptist association, the Southern Baptist Convention, voted this week to firmly and resolutely uphold "God's definition of marriage" as between one man and one woman in a lifelong, covenant relationship. Of course, the responses were immediate and often filled with vitriol.

But my question (actually a couple), since I did title this "Quick Question" is this:

1. Does taking a stand on marriage, as based clearly on the Bible (what this denomination lays claim to being it's foundation to all things of faith and practice), automatically make the organization "anti-gay"? (Indeed - what does the term anti-gay REALLY mean?)
2. Does taking a stand on marriage, as based clearly on the Bible automatically mean that you "hate" anyone?

Does this not ooze of the same logical fallacies as the automatic label of "racist" when one opposes the policies and general political ideology of President Obama?

I am personally glad to see a major denomination actually taking an official stand on this issue.  I would like to say, in all fairness, that I would also like to see them take an equally firm stand on all sorts of sins that are plaguing our nation and world - there are plenty chiseling away at what little is left of our moral foundation as it is.

I'm also glad that the association in which I serve, the BMA of America, is also int he middle of the process to include the Biblical definition of marriage in our Constitution/Articles of Cooperation. And a summary look at the constitution of the little church relaunch that I lead will find that we too have articulated the Biblical definition of marriage into what we believe and live by.