Sylvia Thompson
Marriage cannot be adequately supported outside of Scriptures
By Sylvia Thompson
Bill O'Reilly, the Fox News commentator, has been in the news of late, because of his demeaning characterization of Christians as "Bible-thumpers." I am not a Bill O'Reilly fan, so I pay little attention to anything that he says. This time, however, his rant has brought home an inconvenient truth. There is no salient way to support an opposition to homosexual marriage (or any other aberrant form of marriage) outside of the Bible.
Those who acknowledge a belief in Scriptures who have been valiantly striving to make homosexual behavior not necessarily wrong, but homosexual marriage decidedly wrong, are losing the battle. And I contend that they are losing because they choose to decouple homosexuality from the push for homosexual marriage.
The state of Washington, among others, lost the marriage battle at the ballot box in the November 2012 elections. One of the Christian ministers at the forefront of earlier victories against homosexual marriage in the state gave his assessment of that loss. Pastor Ken Hutcherson revealed an effort on the part of Brian Brown of National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and his group to exclude Pastor Hutcherson and others like him from strategy discussions. Pastor Hutcherson's cadre were deemed too controversial. Translated, they vocally opposed homosexual behavior in addition to opposing homosexual marriage. Mr. Brown has stated that he refuses to make the opposition to marriage about homosexual behavior. And therein lies the problem.
There would be no issue of homosexual marriage if there was no homosexual behavior. And were it not for the fact that Holy Scriptures condemn homosexual behavior, there would be no issue at all. That groups such as NOM assume they can fight a battle for the preservation of marriage and pretend that homosexuality is not the core of the problem says much about their level of comprehension.
Marriage is an institution from Almighty God. All the secular and legal arguments for and against it do not alter that fact. And none of those arguments will hold water in a culture untethered from God, as our culture has become.
In an amoral culture removed from God and Holy Scriptures, which lay the foundation for human behavior, no behavior can be prohibited if the culture wants that behavior. Cannibalism was accepted in some cultures that had no knowledge of Christianity. So was child and adult sacrifice. Women and girls were little more than chattel in some cultures, and still are in parts of the world where Christianity is condemned. As an accepted practice in some cultures, boys were fair game to satisfy the lust of men. They still are as is evidenced by the stated purpose of the homosexual group North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). That group, however, is supposed to be illegal, not that law enforcement does much of anything to curtail the group's activities. In some ancient cultures, however, there wasn't even a pretense of illegality when it came to sodomizing children. At least, not until Christianity became widespread.
In such a culture, anything can pass itself off as "marriage": marriage between anybody or anything, numerous-partner marriages, incestuous marriages, bestial marriages, and whatever else can come from the depths of the flawed human mind. When there is no code of conduct from a source greater than humans to guide humankind, anything is allowable.
To the dismay of non-Bible-thumpers like Bill O'Reilly, who dismiss the authority of the Bible, there really is no way to make the case against homosexual marriage without "thumping" the Bible. If you remove the Bible and its directives from God, then anything can be accepted – any behavior, any thoughts, any actions.
I don't think that O'Reilly and the supporters of the God-defying behaviors now engulfing America are quite ready to accept that eventuality. As the true "cafeteria Christians" (pick and choose your morals) that some of them are, they will want to be able to draw the line somewhere. One man's line, however, will be another man's obstacle to be overrun.
The bottom line is that there is no arguing against any behavior if you have no unassailable basis from which to argue. For those of us who "thump the Bible," the Bible is that unassailable basis.
© Sylvia Thompson
April 7, 2013
Bill O'Reilly, the Fox News commentator, has been in the news of late, because of his demeaning characterization of Christians as "Bible-thumpers." I am not a Bill O'Reilly fan, so I pay little attention to anything that he says. This time, however, his rant has brought home an inconvenient truth. There is no salient way to support an opposition to homosexual marriage (or any other aberrant form of marriage) outside of the Bible.
Those who acknowledge a belief in Scriptures who have been valiantly striving to make homosexual behavior not necessarily wrong, but homosexual marriage decidedly wrong, are losing the battle. And I contend that they are losing because they choose to decouple homosexuality from the push for homosexual marriage.
The state of Washington, among others, lost the marriage battle at the ballot box in the November 2012 elections. One of the Christian ministers at the forefront of earlier victories against homosexual marriage in the state gave his assessment of that loss. Pastor Ken Hutcherson revealed an effort on the part of Brian Brown of National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and his group to exclude Pastor Hutcherson and others like him from strategy discussions. Pastor Hutcherson's cadre were deemed too controversial. Translated, they vocally opposed homosexual behavior in addition to opposing homosexual marriage. Mr. Brown has stated that he refuses to make the opposition to marriage about homosexual behavior. And therein lies the problem.
There would be no issue of homosexual marriage if there was no homosexual behavior. And were it not for the fact that Holy Scriptures condemn homosexual behavior, there would be no issue at all. That groups such as NOM assume they can fight a battle for the preservation of marriage and pretend that homosexuality is not the core of the problem says much about their level of comprehension.
Marriage is an institution from Almighty God. All the secular and legal arguments for and against it do not alter that fact. And none of those arguments will hold water in a culture untethered from God, as our culture has become.
In an amoral culture removed from God and Holy Scriptures, which lay the foundation for human behavior, no behavior can be prohibited if the culture wants that behavior. Cannibalism was accepted in some cultures that had no knowledge of Christianity. So was child and adult sacrifice. Women and girls were little more than chattel in some cultures, and still are in parts of the world where Christianity is condemned. As an accepted practice in some cultures, boys were fair game to satisfy the lust of men. They still are as is evidenced by the stated purpose of the homosexual group North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). That group, however, is supposed to be illegal, not that law enforcement does much of anything to curtail the group's activities. In some ancient cultures, however, there wasn't even a pretense of illegality when it came to sodomizing children. At least, not until Christianity became widespread.
In such a culture, anything can pass itself off as "marriage": marriage between anybody or anything, numerous-partner marriages, incestuous marriages, bestial marriages, and whatever else can come from the depths of the flawed human mind. When there is no code of conduct from a source greater than humans to guide humankind, anything is allowable.
To the dismay of non-Bible-thumpers like Bill O'Reilly, who dismiss the authority of the Bible, there really is no way to make the case against homosexual marriage without "thumping" the Bible. If you remove the Bible and its directives from God, then anything can be accepted – any behavior, any thoughts, any actions.
I don't think that O'Reilly and the supporters of the God-defying behaviors now engulfing America are quite ready to accept that eventuality. As the true "cafeteria Christians" (pick and choose your morals) that some of them are, they will want to be able to draw the line somewhere. One man's line, however, will be another man's obstacle to be overrun.
The bottom line is that there is no arguing against any behavior if you have no unassailable basis from which to argue. For those of us who "thump the Bible," the Bible is that unassailable basis.
© Sylvia Thompson
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