REDEFINING

From My Perspective - - -

For half a century, our nation has been redefining cultural and moral values – from the aborting of fetuses to redefining subjects for marriages. Many of these redefining moments find their focus and motivation based upon a political agenda and/or voter support. Why has redefining become an act in the present? The daily update of World Magazine has the following poignant statement: “President Obama announced in a Wednesday interview with ABC News that he now personally supports same-sex marriage. The announcement was practically forced upon the president a few days after Vice President Joe Biden said that he supported gay marriage. Biden’s comments made the question of the president’s position on the issue perennial in White House press briefings. ‘I’d hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient…And I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people the word marriage was something that invokes very powerful traditions, religious beliefs, and so forth…In the end the values that I care most deeply about… is how we treat other people…when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing Himself on our behalf, but it’s also the Golden Rule—treat others the way you would want to be treated…that’s what motivates me as president, and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I’ll be as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I’ll be as president.”

Those who adhere to Political Correctness will accommodate a voter base and redefine a traditional and/or moral standard for the sake of gaining votes and being re-elected to office. A greater problem arises when Theological Correctness assumes a similar posture to become all things to all people. In a Christian Post Article, Dr. Albert Mohler, a key leader in the Southern Baptist Church, warns: “The urgency to reach people with the Gospel can, if the church is not faithful and watchful, tempt us to subvert the Gospel by redefining its terms. Specifically, Dr. Mohler drew attention to how some evangelical mega-churches appear to be softening their positions on homosexuality. He calls on evangelical leaders to steer clear of the sinking sand of celebrating homosexuality—a quicksand that the mainline churches…have fallen into. Many evangelicals today need to take a hard look at what happened to their mainline forebears…”

Dr. Michael Youseff adds in his Blog: “I am hearing the same language I heard 25 years ago: We must love without passing judgment…We need to accept people regardless of their moral practices. But my concern goes far beyond those misleading statements. The questions that no one seems to ask in the midst of this muddled thinking are: Why is the homosexual lobby adamant that their practice should not only be accepted, but celebrated, especially by Christian leaders? When they know full well what Scripture says? Why does the homosexual lobby feel that it’s not enough for the church to love and care for them as individuals?...The deliberate and definitive answer to those questions must always be: God’s Word must be obeyed over the trends of culture and the perceived need to give Christianity a “good” image…We must stand on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and not the sinking sand of the world.”

God’s views and standards have not changed. The lifestyles of Sodom and Gomorrah would be and are still condemned by a Holy God. Romans 1:18-32 continues to be the expression of God’s judgment toward alternate lifestyle and practice – “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due…who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” This is God’s analysis and definition. Make certain your definition squares with His – regardless of the cultural pressures to do otherwise. Consider these things with me!