Thursday, July 09, 2015
Why the world is not listening to the church
I have held off commenting on the recent supreme court ruling on same sex marriage. But people keep asking me what I think and what the church and/or individual Christians should do about it. What I want to share today is why I think the world is not listening to the church of this issue.
We are not consistent. We are very selective in what we say about Scripture.
For example, did you know that in the United States you can divorce your mate for any reason at all and marry someone else. That is clearly against Scripture, but I do not remember Christians in an uproar over this clearly unBiblical view of marriage. What the world hears is "divorce OK but not same sex marriage."
The Bible sure seems to indicate you should only marry a Christian. We sure are quiet about that.
Living together? Pretty quiet, aren't we?
Seems very inconsistent. Or hypocritical.
The rhetoric I hear most from Christians is about how our country is abandoning our Christian principles and worry/fear about what is happening to America. Guess what is not in the Bible? Allegiance to an earthly kingdom. America is not a Christian nation. Never has been. Non-believers see the inconsistency.
Stop expecting non-Christians to act like Christians.
Start living as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven.
Change hearts, not laws.
So let me be clear about a couple of things. I do not think you are pleasing God in a same sex marriage. I do not think you can please God by leaving your mate to marry your co-worker. I think sex outside of God's design is sin. Pornography is sin. Lust is sin. Withholding sex from your mate is against Bible teaching. You should marry a Christian.
Why are we so upset about marriage but not about greed? Or gossip?
I do not care what a country says is a legal marriage. I am perfectly content to let any couple, including Christians, have a government sponsored recognition of their status. That makes it legal, not right.
So let churches then do the real marriage ceremony. Not in the eyes of the state, but in the eyes of God. Don't let couples spiritually marry without church approval. They could not get divorced unless approved by the church. Nor remarried.
And stop being so afraid. Stand for the truth. All of it. If we are persecuted, rejoice. Stop worrying about what the world thinks of us. Focus on pleasing God.
And let's try and make our marriages something that honors God.
We are not consistent. We are very selective in what we say about Scripture.
For example, did you know that in the United States you can divorce your mate for any reason at all and marry someone else. That is clearly against Scripture, but I do not remember Christians in an uproar over this clearly unBiblical view of marriage. What the world hears is "divorce OK but not same sex marriage."
The Bible sure seems to indicate you should only marry a Christian. We sure are quiet about that.
Living together? Pretty quiet, aren't we?
Seems very inconsistent. Or hypocritical.
The rhetoric I hear most from Christians is about how our country is abandoning our Christian principles and worry/fear about what is happening to America. Guess what is not in the Bible? Allegiance to an earthly kingdom. America is not a Christian nation. Never has been. Non-believers see the inconsistency.
Stop expecting non-Christians to act like Christians.
Start living as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven.
Change hearts, not laws.
So let me be clear about a couple of things. I do not think you are pleasing God in a same sex marriage. I do not think you can please God by leaving your mate to marry your co-worker. I think sex outside of God's design is sin. Pornography is sin. Lust is sin. Withholding sex from your mate is against Bible teaching. You should marry a Christian.
Why are we so upset about marriage but not about greed? Or gossip?
I do not care what a country says is a legal marriage. I am perfectly content to let any couple, including Christians, have a government sponsored recognition of their status. That makes it legal, not right.
So let churches then do the real marriage ceremony. Not in the eyes of the state, but in the eyes of God. Don't let couples spiritually marry without church approval. They could not get divorced unless approved by the church. Nor remarried.
And stop being so afraid. Stand for the truth. All of it. If we are persecuted, rejoice. Stop worrying about what the world thinks of us. Focus on pleasing God.
And let's try and make our marriages something that honors God.
Comments:
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I think most christians agree on issues you bring up in your post, and there are a lot of christian religions.
What is a spiritual marriage? Is that a church of christ approved ceremony and if that approach is used where does seperation of church and state come in? How is that approach different than shariah law that is newswortly as of late? In effect you are setting up a cast system for your followers.
God gave us the ability to choose, when you start making those decisions for someone you are removing free will. Is that not contrary to what the Bible teaches?
We choose to follow the teachings of the Bible because we want to, not because someone makes us.
What is a spiritual marriage? Is that a church of christ approved ceremony and if that approach is used where does seperation of church and state come in? How is that approach different than shariah law that is newswortly as of late? In effect you are setting up a cast system for your followers.
God gave us the ability to choose, when you start making those decisions for someone you are removing free will. Is that not contrary to what the Bible teaches?
We choose to follow the teachings of the Bible because we want to, not because someone makes us.
Also morals are from Creation that God put inside of all of us so we have no excuse. They are not Christian ideas but at Creation, Torah, and Christianity. If we believers were consistent and spoke up and upheld God given morals then more nations would come into the reign of Christ. Arguing from a religious point of view to non-believers they reject. But is it moral to murder, steal, rape, cheat, etc... that is where the heart of it is.
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