June 2015
GOD...NO GOD (A response to the Supreme Court decision on Gay marriage)
 As a God loving, bible believing, follower of Christ, I have no trouble understanding that homosexual behavior is a sin. But here is the catch—I am a God loving, bible believing, follower of Christ. I have come out of a life of darkness, done many very bad things, went on a journey to discover that my only hope was God and that ultimately turned my life around.
Because I believe in the inerrancy of scripture I have a context to work from. The problem today exists in large part as a result of the absence of a Biblical worldview—so here is the scenario:
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people-none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (NLT)
What do I do with the above verse, and a myriad of others, that suggest grave consequences for my actions? Here are my options:
- I believe it is true, want the promise of eternal life in God’s kingdom and adjust my life accordingly
- I believe in the existence of a god but cannot believe he would be so unloving and harsh, therefore I choose to discount the authority of the written Word (following a god I want instead of the God who IS)
- I do not believe in the existence of god so therefore non of this means anything to me—I can do as I please and I decide what is right and wrong
With a few other subtle twists those are really my main options. So here is the problem we are facing today as true followers of the God who IS. We live in a democracy—God has given us free will, which allows me to be the ultimate choice maker. People, because of our sin nature—without a clear understanding of God, will always give into the nature within them.
So, in a democracy we “the people” are guided by the will of the masses—as the collective worldview changes so do our laws and attitudes about sin—nothing about what is happening in our nation today should surprise us given the observable absence of any effort to develop or even talk about a Godly perspective on life.
Because of the deep sin in my own past, and some I still struggle with, I am certainly not the one who should be judging here—However—I do know the Person who ultimately will. Having said that let me talk to you about an experience I had in processing the recent Supreme Court decision the other day while in prayer.
As I was having my quiet time with Him on the day our court decided on affirming Gay marriage as a constitutional right, I was overcome with emotion. It began with the predictable feelings of disbelief with a mixture of anger and resentment. Then, the Lord by His Spirit quickly helped me turn a corner by reminding me of my responsibility as a communicator of His Gospel.
He reminded me of the awesome privilege those of us who communicate His Word have, but also the importance of seeking Him to make sure we get it right—in other words—are we really communicating His heart about the issues we face?
So, here is the train of thought He directed me through. I felt strongly that God wanted all of us to know His incredible love for everyone—even those who were demonstrating and celebrating this important decision as a breakthrough carrying signs saying love wins. They honestly believe this is a just cause and are driven by there own perspective of what is right.
Then He lovingly suggested that the big issue is really about Him and the biggest question anyone could come to terms with, God…No God—it all boils down to the idea that God is real or He is not. If we truly understand this dynamic it will ultimately change our attitude toward our culture to be better aligned with our loving heavenly Father.
So follow the logic here with me—if God is real than which god is he? We have a plethora of organized religions who have different gods all purporting to be the one and only true god. They all have their books, documents and history to support their belief. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the one and only Lord and we also have our own evidence largely embodied in the Biblical record.
When we begin to understand this, recognize that a truly Biblical worldview is becoming harder to find given the absence of Christian teaching and recognize that everyone has a worldview shaped by their own experience, we can better understand why we are where we are as a nation. Having said that—if we as true followers of the one and only God want to have the proper perspective we must look to what Jesus said while on the cross, Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.
In this case, a growing demographic of people in our own nation do not have a Biblical worldview. There view is driven by the nature of man…not the nature of our God. Throughout history we see those two natures in sharp contrast. The nature of man ALWAYS gives in to what he desires and feels is best. Without any Godly context it will always follow the same self-destructive pattern.
So please hear me on this—as Christians we are not to be upset, angry or even surprised. Rather, we should have the same heart Jesus has in recognizing the lost as precious children of His desperately needing a Redeemer. The Lord reminded me that marriage was ordained by Him as a spiritual covenant. The world does not go there—it recognizes the legal aspects of marriage and bestows certain rights on these unions to be understood by those living in a secular society.
What this court did was simply uphold what seemed right and just, given their perspective and the absence of any spiritual understanding of the issue before God. By the time God finished leading me down this pathway of thinking my attitude began to shift. He actually challenged me to shift my focus to being more concerned about my contribution to how we got here in the first place.
I am convinced He wants all of us to STOP judging and even talking about His judgment falling down upon us as though we are somehow His ambassadors of doom and gloom. God is the ultimate judge of course and He will judge in His time. He struck me with a strong sense of the importance of our focusing our judgment upon ourselves. The big question for us Christians is, what have we done to contribute to the absence of a biblical worldview in our nation?
Here is the bottom line, we must respond but how we respond is critical. For the most part, I do not think we are doing a very responsible job of truly reflecting His heart right now. In the list below I want to share some practical things for you to consider moving forward, especially as we communicate to our children and grandchildren what has just happened—they are going to need the right perspective:
- Develop an understanding of how differing worldviews are developed and their potential influence upon our culture
- Understand the importance of, and determine to develop an intimate relationship with God—it is the only way you will have His perspective
- Practice loving people—not judging them
- Refrain from talking about God’s judgment and retribution—no one cares as the world has already discounted our message
- Be more concerned about how God will judge us as a result of our own failure to impact our culture
- Ask God to help you shape a proper and sensitive response when asked your opinion about this matter
- Help to gently correct and admonish other Christians who are not communicating a responsible and loving message
- Finally, if you want to make a difference, remember this quote from Oswald Chambers, God will never do any more through you then you first allow Him to do IN you.
Helping men become the Man God Intended…one man at a time,
Vince D’Acchioli
Founder, On Target Ministries |
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