Thursday, May 17, 2012

Why is the fence there?

An old proverb says "Before you move a fence you should find out why it was put there in the first place." This is why I am convinced of the need to speak to the topic of marriage. Before we as a country and as a culture agree to change what we say marriage is we should probably find out why we ever valued it in the first place. I have a number of thoughts on this issue myself, but Alan Shlemon does a very good job of laying out the basic issues here.

In particular I agree with his statement at the end of his article, "Make no mistake about it. Redefining marriage will impact our culture. It won’t be today, next week, or next year. It will be in the long-term because ideas have consequences."

I have heard it said a number of time recently that people who believe in the traditional marriage are on the wrong side of history, and that the redefinition of marriage is inevitable because that is where our society is headed. Perhaps we are, but I am afraid that while we could be on the wrong side of history for a few years, we are not on the wrong side of history in the long run. Human nature has not changed, and if some believe that we can destroy basic societal units and rebuild them however we chose then they are fooling themselves.

Simply put, humans function best under specific conditions, and to deny that obvious truth is like denying gravity. You think you can fly right up until the time you hit the ground.

http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2012/05/should-homosexuals-be-allowed-to-marry-whom-they-love.html

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Law is Good.

Recently I was reading through Psalm 119 which is all about how good the law of God is and I realized that as modern Christians we don't often emphasis the goodness of the law. In fact, we frequently talk about grace and mercy, and we often avoid talking about the law because it might make us sound judgmental.

In fact, this is exactly what happens whenever we talk about biblical morals in public conversation. We get push back from people that we should not judge others and that we cannot push our morals on other people. But this is not what we should be doing when we try to encourage others to see the truth of the biblical law.

The law is good, because in following it we get the best outcomes. If you care about someone or something, you want the best for them, and we should promote the law because in following it people end up living in the best way possible for themselves and for other people. In other words, biblical morality is not just some arbitrary opinion of some people or the random whim of some god, but rather expresses the timeless truths about how the world works and how people work.

People who consistently follow the law are consistently better, freer, happier, and more content people, and the world is better because of them.

As an example marriage is not some random rule, but is a relationship for which we were created and in which people function best. Therefore, we should not apologize for promoting biblical morals in our culture around us, but we should explain that what we desire is the best for ourselves and others.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Who needs to give mercy?

As I was reading through James this morning, I came across this passage.

For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:13 ESV)

 It struck me that showing mercy is not optional for the Christian. In Matthew 18:21-35, we see a parable where the necessity of mercy is shown. What we see here is a king who forgives a great debt, but the person who has the great debt forgiven refuses to forgive a small debt owed to him. This is a parallel to our situation.

If we claim to be a Christian, but hold unforgiveness in our hearts then we are misunderstanding the gospel. What we are primarily misunderstanding is the size of our own debt and the greatness of the mercy of God toward us. God is not minimizing the sin done to us (Jesus had to die for that too), but He does want us to minimize our own sin. If we do, we minimize the greatness of God and His mercy toward us.

The practical outworking of this is seen in the lack of true joy in our lives and ultimately leads to sin against other people because we are not able to love others like we should. So my encouragement to you if you find yourself having a hard time forgiving someone is to first spend time with God and find out how great He is (Read Matthew 18:21-35). Then examine your own heart for ways that you have failed to trust Him and ways that you have sinned against others. Repent and humble yourself before God and allow yourself to know His mercy. Then ask God for His help in showing mercy and forgiveness to others. You cannot give away what you do not have, and so forgiveness of others starts with receiving it from Him.

If you do these things, you can be free, both from the guilt of your own sin and the ongoing pain of the sin that was done against you. We are commanded to rejoice and promised that we can have peace (Philippians 4:4-8), and God never commands us to do something or have something that He does not also provide the way to accomplish it.