How ironic that the very week of Vacation Bible School while we are striving to give our children the best possible future, the U.S. Supreme Court votes to legalize gay marriage. It should not surprise us. My entire adult life the Supreme Court has been making decisions like this – such as legalizing abortion on demand in 1973. Meanwhile, various states have been voting to legalize gay marriage.
However, the Supreme Court decision does not affect anything I believe, nor does it affect anything I will do – as a Christian or as a pastor.
I will continue to preach the truth of the Bible, which as the Word of God calls homosexuality a sin – Rom. 1:26-28, Jude 1:5-8, Mark 10:6-9, I Cor. 6:9-11 & 7:2, Lev. 18:22, et al. And the idea of gay marriage is not only foreign to Scripture, it has never been a part of civilization since the dawn of time.
The reason our media and young journalists splash the Supreme Court decision all over the front pages is because they believe this is a Civil Rights issue. So, they want to step up to the plate – for Civil Rights. While they may be well intentioned, they are sadly misguided. Homosexuality is a moral issue, not a Civil Rights issue. It is not a matter of sex, nationality or race, etc. It is sinful conduct. It is not even natural – Romans 1:18-32.
By preaching against homosexuality, our culture says we are guilty of “hate speech.” Nonsense. We do not hate sinners. We love sinners and welcome them. But even while we are merciful and tolerant, we do not condone sin.
We are not going to plan any “gay wedding” at First Baptist Church. Some say that all churches need to change their constitutions to ensure against gay weddings. But we have all the authority we need in the Bible.
Yesterday I emailed both our Florida U.S. senators, Sen. Bill Nelson and Sen. Marco Rubio. I expressed my opinion to them that we should begin impeachment proceedings against all five Supreme Court justices who voted to legalize gay marriage. As Justice Antonin Scalia said, this is no longer a democracy when nine lawyers can force their rule on the nation.
Meanwhile, as Christians, we need to continue to:
- a) Try to make a difference politically. We need to vote. We might be able to reverse the political process.
- b) Pray. Ephesians 6:12 makes it clear we are not in a human battle but in spiritual warfare.
- c) We need to raise our children for a generation when they will need to stand as a Daniel in an ungodly culture. The America many of us knew when we grew up is gone.
- d) We need to continue to proclaim the righteous truth of God’s Word – without fear or favor.
- e) And after we have done all we can, we need to stand – Ephesians 6:13. As Martin Luther said in another era, “Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise.”
Pastor Jim
