It’s been a while since I have posted anything. I have been watching and waiting as the the whole LBGT and same sex marriage scenario plays out in Australia. If the situation in the USA is anything to go by, the so called guaranteed religious freedoms are not guaranteed. Freedom of speech and freedom to express objections to those things we oppose are by no means a certainty.
So while I have been watching the ebb and flow of this discussion go back and forth, I have in the fore front of my mind this particular text from the bible: Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Rom 1:19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Rom 1:21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Rom 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
Rom 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
Rom 1:27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
Rom 1:28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,
Rom 1:29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
Rom 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;
Rom 1:32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
There are a number of scholars who can do a far better job at exegetic analysis of this text than an armature such as myself however it is clear that this text says much about moral responsibility and the deliberate giving over of one’s mind to depravity. That is to say depravity to the point of out right defiance to one’s own conscience and the deliberate deconstruction or destruction of accepted norms. Further to this is actively seeking to silence any opposition and rally support through emotive arguments.
It is truly a sign of the times when a minority group seek approval by political maneuvering. Politicians, rather than listening to the people they serve try to circumvent the democratic process by conducting midnight meetings to pass bills through parliament without consultation. That isn’t about what we want as a society, that is simply about political survival. When People in public office will suck up to the loudest voices simply to ensure they get another term in office we have to ask what their real agenda is.
Okay so the above are generalizations. I have made a number of sweeping statements regarding motives, morals and agenda’s. I don’t have to go in to detail about the fallout from legalizing same sex marriage in the USA or Ireland. We already know that the left wing radicals are testing the law on religious freedoms and rights. They aren’t interested in the rights of their opposition, they aren’t even interested in open honest dialogue. The reason being is that to do so exposes the weakness and irrationality of their own position.
President Obama and even the Minister of Australia can kiss up to these groups all they want. Do they personally agree with gay rights or same sex marriage or is it simply saying what is popular? I don’t know because the line between conservative politics and radicals is no longer discernible. Let’s call it what it really is, it’s flim flam hucksterism. It is devoid of any meaningful rhetoric, the arguments are emotive and irrational.
The buzz argument has been that if two people love each other then its okay love is what really matters. Rarely has anyone stopped to ask if it is indeed love. I had a discussion on with guy that argued from a study done at a Californian College that claimed the incidence of divorce same sex couples was about 30% lower than in heterosexual couples. Same sex marriage has only been legal in the states for three or so months. Homosexuals actually make up about 1% of the community as a whole so the actual statistics and the sample that could be obtained by such a study are meaningless. Nothing was said about how the data was obtained, who obtained it and how bias was removed. These and many studies like it need to be called into serious question.
So currently in Australia a Catholic Priest may be facing court in Tasmania for promoting traditional family values in Catholic Schools. http://www.acl.org.au/2015/09/persecution-and-the-courage-of-julian-porteous/ Why? because it discriminates against same sex marriage! Of course it discriminates! Besides discrimination being hijacked for political purposes so that the populace will look down their noses derisively at the dissenters, to discriminate means to compare and contrast or differentiate between tow different things. Does that mean I should discriminate between a MacDonald meal and KFC? Does discrimination imply that I shouldn’t determine that one thing is right and another thing is wrong. Should I allow my conscience to be dictated by what is popular? Just because most people accept something is acceptable means that it is okay. However as our text points out, in many cases if they majority endorse it then they will always argue in defense of it and encourage others to do the same.
Ironically the text I quoted above speaks directly to the whole LBGT and SSM issue; directly! It states emphatically that it is wrong in the eyes of God. We can do all kind of mental and semantic gymnastics to try and make it okay and they can argue that there is nothing wrong with it, but that is simply opinion not fact. Majority opinion doesn’t make something good or right.
The fact that we are in the place where we are says something significant about what is coming in the future. The fact that this text says that God has or will give them over to the depravity on the their own minds and lusts is a fearful judgement.
The Calvinist 