You Shall Be Holy, For I Am Holy

In view of the recent U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing same-sex "marriage" in all 50 states, we Bible-believing Christians are now becoming fully aware that we are a distinct minority, a counter-culture in U.S. society. For about the first 200 years of U.S. history, from 1776 to 1976, a general Christian consensus held sway. It had begun to erode in the "Roaring Twenties" after WWI when the soldiers came home, and really started to unravel after WWII when returning homosexual soldiers and others formed openly gay communities in San Francisco and other cities. Then came The Pill, no-fault divorce, the sexual revolution and Roe vs. Wade in the 1960s and 70s.

The Christian worldview has been sidelined in the U.S. Immediately after this Supreme Court decision there were calls by a senator and by newspaper columnists to revoke the tax exempt status of church-owned property, tax exemptions for donations to religious organizations, and to limit the First Amendment's guarantee of "freedom of religion" to attendance at worship services, excluding the freedom to express and live out one's faith in society. This is virtually identical to the anti-religious policies of the old USSR! It seems clear that the lighting of the U.S. White House in rainbow colors, these calls to revoke tax exemptions and limit religious freedom required some advance knowledge of the Supreme Court's decision and a great deal of advance planning.

Of course, we must take a strong public stand to protect our rights to practice our faith in society - see "What Do We Do Now?" But also, it's time we as Christians remind ourselves that we are now in the minority and may well lose that battle too. Still, we must not conform to this world's value system, even if it means public shaming, confiscation of property, fines and imprisonment. We Christians are called to be holy, and holiness means to be "set apart" from our surrounding culture that is driven by human lust and passions, as St. Peter wrote:

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be sober and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ - as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance, but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior; because it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy'" (1 Pet. 1:13-16).

We should realize that it's asking rather much to expect that modern post-Christian pagans ought to act like Christians. But this also means we Christians ought not act like pagans! This means that priests and pastors should exclude from communion those church members who continue to live in open sins such as racial discrimination, lying, gluttony, fornication, alcohol addiction, homosexual unions, thievery, bribery, etc. Christians should live according to the Gospel, or else receive relevant church discipline.

The harmful effects of legalizing and promoting homosexual unions should be obvious to unbiased observers. Several now-adult children raised by same-sex couples have spoken out publicly about their mistreatment as children and their longing to have natural parents, but their feelings were ignored in the recent national debate on this isssue. One such case is this: Jewish Lesbians Give Sex-Changing Hormone Treatment to 11-Year-Old Adopted White Son.

But the long-term effects for society will be the spread of venerial diseases such as HIV-AIDS, as well as the precipitous decline in population - social suicide. It is a known fact that about 30% young men and about 20% of young women sometimes have feelings of same-sex attraction. By legalizing and "normalizing" this behavior, we would be encouraging aproximately 25% of young people to opt out of normal, traditional marriage and child-bearing. This means that each new generation would be about 25% smaller... and smaller... and smaller. Within two or three generations it causes suicide of that society.

As we celebrate this Fourth of July weekend, we must remember those immortal words penned by Thomas Jefferson in the U.S. Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, ...”

After the above word "Happiness" there appears to have been a comma in the original text, not a period. This would significantly change the meaning from "the liberty (freedom) to pursue happiness (pleasure)" as a goal in itself, to the right to live at peace and tranquility, free from excessive state control and repression, as the Declaration of Independence goes on to enumerate. We must continue to stand firm for this God-given right to be free from government interference in the practice of our Christian faith.

In another of his profound blog articles, Fr. Stephen Freeman writes in Male and Female Created He Them the following:

"Despite all social discussion to the contrary, the most irreducible level of our human existence is binary – we exist as male or female. This intuition, stated in the story of creation, has a profound place within the Christian gospel. The story of our salvation is revealed to us in terms that are male and female. Far from being grounded in some antiquated view of humanity, the Christian story, the story of Jesus, is a profoundly human story. It reveals that this most irreducible level of our humanity is neither incidental nor unnecessary. To be human can only be expressed in terms of male and female. Any other account of what it means to be human is a mere abstraction, ignoring the only way we can possibly know ourselves."

I will let you read the rest of this delightful blog post for yourself. The stories of Creation, the Fall, and our Redemption overflow with the richness of our being created in God's image as male and female. The effort to erase this very basic element of our human nature is an effort to erase God our Creator from our national consciousness. Let us not give up the fight, but rather keep up the struggle to proclaim the Good News, the story of our Redemption in Christ!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 04 Jul. 2015.)