|
As observant Christians, have we made our choice
whether to obey God rather than man?
Bob
Religious Freedom & ‘Gay Marriage’ Cannot
Coexist
By Matt Barber
4/15/2013
Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe
themselves with violence. – Psalm 73:6
“Gay pride†necessitates anti-Christian hate. It
must. “Gay marriage†and other “sexual
orientationâ€-based laws do violence to freedom and
truth. They are the hammer with which the postmodern
left intends to bludgeon bloody religious liberty and
the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic.
According to the unequivocal moral precepts of the
Judeo-Christian tradition – explicit throughout both
the Old and New Testaments – homosexual behavior is a
sin. Sin is evil. Homosexual behavior is the central,
defining characteristic of so-called “gay marriage.â€
Therefore, “gay marriage†is evil. Christians are
obligated to avoid sin – to “do no evil.â€
I know; it’s not popular to speak such simple
truths in today’s politically correct world. But I’m
not out to win a popularity contest.
Neither is Ms. Barronelle Stutzman. Ms. Stutzman is
the Christian owner-operator of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland,
Wash. She is, by all accounts, a lovely, sweet, elderly
woman who both employs and regularly serves open
practitioners of the homosexual lifestyle. Sadly, she
has become the latest victim in a fast-growing string of
secularist attacks against Christians and other morally
minded people. If “same-sex marriage†becomes the
law of the land, I can assure you that we will soon see
a virtual explosion in the same kind of anti-Christian
persecution Ms. Stutzman now suffers. Recently, one of Ms. Stutzman’s frequent homosexual
customers requested that she provide flower arrangements
for his same-sex “wedding.†She politely declined,
saying that her Christian conscience and “relationship
with Jesus Christ†prevented her from any involvement
with counter-Christian “same-sex marriage.†She was,
quite simply, a Christian being Christian. The two
hugged and parted ways.
Unfortunately, in our ever-â€progressive†culture,
being Christian has fast become a most dangerous
proposition. As each homofascist demand is checked from
liberals’ sin-centric wish list, it only gets worse.
As a result of her constitutionally guaranteed
religious free exercise, Washington State’s newly
elected Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed charges
against Ms. Stutzman, seeking both a monetary judgment
and an injunction to physically force her to violate her
Christian conscience. He would compel her to either lend
her artistic _expression_ in support of counterfeit “gay
marriage†– something Christianity steadfastly
recognizes as mortal sin – or face further charges.
Speaking of steadfast, to her credit, Ms. Stutzman
has stood firm. She has refused to cave under
Ferguson’s tyrannical torment. Ferguson, on the other
hand, has revealed himself a creep and a coward – a
“progressive†bully who apparently gets off on
abusing elderly women. He’s a disgrace to Washington
State and should be thrown out of office and disbarred.
Still, this type of government persecution must be
expected. Ferguson is a liberal. The liberal viewpoint
is that any viewpoint, save the liberal viewpoint, must
be criminalized and prosecuted.
Like many of us, Joseph Backholm, with the Family
Policy Institute of Washington, has long warned about
the consequences of radically deconstructing the
institution of natural marriage. “Now that the law
says marriage is genderless,†he recently wrote of Ms. Stutzman’s
ongoing abuse, “those who think otherwise [must] …
conform or be punished. … Now liberals believe they
are legally entitled to someone else’s labor.†To homosexuals I say this: Yes, you are equal in
God’s eyes. You are loved. These things are true, not
because of your homosexual lifestyle, but, rather, they
are true in spite of it.
Most homosexuals know intuitively, I think, that
their lifestyle is unnatural and immoral and that the
oxymoronic notion of “same-sex marriage†is a silly
farce. Thus, they must force others to affirm both their
self-destructive lifestyle and their mock
“marriages†under penalty of law. They must
physically compel everyone to engage their
“emperor’s new clothes†delusion, so they can feel
better about bad behavior.
Well, my friend, making everyone else “call evil
good and good evil†won’t fill that dark void in
your soul. Only repentance and redemption through a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ can do that.
When we give deviant sexual conduct preferred status
in law, Christian morality becomes illegal. If you think
government-recognized “gay marriage†is harmless to
society, you’re playing the fool. It places the
Christian sexual ethic and free exercise of religion in
direct conflict with law. It’s my sense that many
liberty-minded people are finally coming awake to this
disturbing reality.
Although we all sin, Christians are commanded to
neither support nor engage in evil. Hence, Christians
– true Christians – cannot engage in nor condone the
unrepentant practice of homosexual behavior. Neither can
we support sin-centric “gay marriage.â€
This rudimentary equation is built upon the natural
laws of moral physics. Christianity is magnetically
charged truth. Homosexual behavior is a magnetically
charged lie – a spiritual and biological falsehood.
Christianity and homosexual sin are as north to south.
Polar opposites cannot occupy the same position in time
and space. They repel one another. It’s physically,
spiritually and legally impossible for religious freedom
and preferred legal status for sexual sin to coexist in
harmony. Ms. Stutzman’s persecution is just the latest
example of this timeless reality.
Why are Christians so afraid to call sin sin? It’s
time for invertebrate believers to grow a backbone.
Truth, in love, is the balance. Yes, the world will hate
you, because it first hated Christ. So what? Count it a
blessing – even unto death.
Here’s my recommendation: When those who are lost
to the world hate on you, laugh at them. Then cry for
them. Then pray for them. Follow Christ’s example and
ask, as did He, that God “forgive them, for they know
not what they do.â€
Then get up, dust yourself off and get back in the
fight.
Albert Einstein once said, “Never do anything
against conscience even if the state demands it.â€
He was right.
Barronelle Stutzman followed this advice and –
though she currently faces government persecution for
her choice – she has also become an accidental hero.
Pray for her. I know God will surely bless her
faithfulness.
Still, know this: If you are a Christian in today’s
America, you too will almost certainly find yourself
with a similar decision to make. When man’s law
violates God’s law, you will have to choose which to
obey. Choosing God can mean persecution.
I’ve made my choice.
How will you choose?
|
