Post by coveredinharmony on Nov 7, 2008 19:31:12 GMT -5
I know it has been a while since I posted, and I will give you all an update soon. I am praying for all of you 
I wanted to share this with you all. I will be posting it on my blog and on my Facebook page as well. Please do let me know what you think.
Please also remember that I live in California, where Proposition 8 was recently passed; same-sex marriage accordingly is now banned in California.
Love in Christ,
Little sister Sarah
_______________________________________________________________
It should come as no surprise to most of you that I voted for Proposition 8. I believe that homosexuality is a sin, grievous to God and against His order for mankind. To equate a partnership between two homosexual people with a marriage as God intended it is at best laughable and at worst sinful.
I think most of you who supported Prop 8 are religious people: you claim the name of Christ, you proclaim that you believe the Bible completely and wholly, and you want to see the Christian values and virtues written in that Holy Book to be practiced and protected. To you and to me, legally solemnizing homosexual partnerships as “marriage” is offensive and an assault on our values.
It seems nonetheless that for some time, we as a nation have begun to accept perversions in marriage. Like it or not, we’ve all seen an assault on marriage. But my dear brothers and sisters, this assault did not start with the “Gay Pride” movement. It started long before that.
It started when we allowed the concept of marriage to break down.[/b]
It started when we ignored Christ’s command that a husband sacrificially love his wife as Christ loved the Church—even to the point of dying for her.
It started when we as a culture failed to realize that a woman has a similar and equally important responsibility—to love, cherish, respect, and submit to her husband as the Church is reverent unto Christ. It started when we failed to recognize the distinct yet vitally important role of woman as helpmate, mother, and keeper at home.
It started when we as a Church began to ignore God’s blessing: children! We began to search for riches, success, even “Christian” success before we would even consider sacrificing ourselves for the “heritage of the Lord.”
The Church itself has become rebellious against God’s Plan. The Church has accepted cold marriages. The Church has ignored the vital role of wives and mothers. The Church has neglected children.
And so the Church, little by little, began to reject God’s Will. We accepted pastors and preachers whose marriages were failing and whose children were in disarray, because they were good speakers and won souls to Christ. We counseled Christian women to enter the workforce—since, after all, she had a responsibility to support the family too, right? We promoted the “Christian” use of birth control. How could we serve God if we had too many children running around? We’re too busy winning souls, right?
Then we started to see families fail, and instead of crying out to God in repentance and for healing, we did the unthinkable. We justified divorce.
Do we wonder why society now is accepting homosexuality? What does marriage mean anymore, to most? Absolutely nothing! It’s about “legal rights,” about seeing your sick spouse in the hospital and taking in insurance money if they die. It’s not about building up a Christian family, about servant leadership and submission to one another! Brothers and sisters, we have lost our vision!
We allowed marriage, a holy union between one man and one woman for life, to be perverted. Yes, we Christians! We have allowed the institution of marriage to pass from the Church to the government. The government has said, “We will formally and legally sanction marriage.” We were okay with it, thinking, “What could it hurt?” Little did we realize that when the government regulates something, it defines and controls it. The government has said, “Divorce is OK.” We fought it, then we tolerated it, then we accepted it, then we did it ourselves! Now the government has said, “Men can marry men! Women can marry women!” We rise up in arms, but will we too soon tolerate it, accept it, do it ourselves?
Brothers and sisters, we must get out of our minds that lie that the government defines marriage. No, brothers and sisters. The Bible defines marriage. The Lord defines marriage!
Tell me, what is marriage to you? Is it your marriage license, your wedding ring? Or is it your fruitful partnership, your godly children, and your growth together with your spouse upward and God-ward?
As Christians, we must shun any assault on a Godly marriage. We must shun homosexual marriage, yes. But we must also shun divorce, shun cold marriages, shun gender blurring, shun the “birth control” mentality. We as a Christian culture must get back to the Biblical view of marriage as between one man, one woman, for life, and for a fruitful marriage. We must learn anew to see marriage as God sees marriage.
Perhaps we as Christians should begin to rethink the government intrusion on marriage, as well. Why is it that the government is allowed to dictate what does and what does not constitute marriage? The Church should be doing this. No, the Bible should be doing this! My thought is that the government should simply get out of the business of marriage altogether. Sound radical? Early America didn’t give out marriage licenses; churches solemnized marriages. Who needs a piece of paper when the Lord of Heaven sanctions your union? Let churches be once more the ones who solemnize marriages. Let the legal benefits of marriage be given in alternate means.
But even if this doesn’t happen, that misses the point. Brothers and sisters, let’s get our minds back on the real goal—glorifying God with our lives and our Bible-sanctioned marriages. Let us fight against anything and everything that contradicts the Bible. Yes, homosexuality is a sin, and we should oppose it and educate our society against it. But the same is true with lying. And with divorce. So to is a lack of compassion toward your fellow sinners. So is forgetting that marriage is supposed to be solely focused on serving the Lord.
Proposition 8 is passed, and it might some day be overturned. Or perhaps not. But we as Christians should have our focus upward, not outward. Let us step up Heavenward and search for the Lord’s will in our lives. Let us preach against sin and build up a many-generation foundation for our lives and for our homes. Let us stop trusting in politicians, in Constitutional amendments and ballot measures, and let us once more trust in the Bible, in the Lord Jehovah. We will never have a Christian America. Let us instead strive for Christian families, Christian marriages, and Christian churches. Let us remember the value of Godly husbands as leaders, as fathers, as providers and protectors. Let us extol the virtues of Godly wives and mothers as helpmeets, as homemakers, as extremely valuable teachers and workers for Christ in their own right—and let us remember that no paycheck can make up for having a Godly mother in the home. Let us once more sing the praises of children, and remember that they are the ultimate gift from God, fearfully and wonderfully made. Brothers and sisters, let us remember that marriage is for life, but most of all, that marriage is for God.
O Lord, have mercy on our nation, I pray. Cleanse the Church from the heinous sin of forgetting Your standards, Your Word, Your ways. Let us remember that You are the One that designed marriage, and that we should learn to see it through Your eyes. Help us once more turn to the Scriptures. Keep our eyes off of the government, off of politics, and on to a vision of a Godly family, a vision of Christ. Bring us, O Lord, to our knees in repentance. Revive Thy Work, O God. Raise up a Godly seed, and heal Your Church and Your people. Thank you, O Lord. For it is in Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
I wanted to share this with you all. I will be posting it on my blog and on my Facebook page as well. Please do let me know what you think.
Please also remember that I live in California, where Proposition 8 was recently passed; same-sex marriage accordingly is now banned in California.
Love in Christ,
Little sister Sarah
_______________________________________________________________
It should come as no surprise to most of you that I voted for Proposition 8. I believe that homosexuality is a sin, grievous to God and against His order for mankind. To equate a partnership between two homosexual people with a marriage as God intended it is at best laughable and at worst sinful.
I think most of you who supported Prop 8 are religious people: you claim the name of Christ, you proclaim that you believe the Bible completely and wholly, and you want to see the Christian values and virtues written in that Holy Book to be practiced and protected. To you and to me, legally solemnizing homosexual partnerships as “marriage” is offensive and an assault on our values.
It seems nonetheless that for some time, we as a nation have begun to accept perversions in marriage. Like it or not, we’ve all seen an assault on marriage. But my dear brothers and sisters, this assault did not start with the “Gay Pride” movement. It started long before that.
It started when we allowed the concept of marriage to break down.[/b]
It started when we ignored Christ’s command that a husband sacrificially love his wife as Christ loved the Church—even to the point of dying for her.
It started when we as a culture failed to realize that a woman has a similar and equally important responsibility—to love, cherish, respect, and submit to her husband as the Church is reverent unto Christ. It started when we failed to recognize the distinct yet vitally important role of woman as helpmate, mother, and keeper at home.
It started when we as a Church began to ignore God’s blessing: children! We began to search for riches, success, even “Christian” success before we would even consider sacrificing ourselves for the “heritage of the Lord.”
The Church itself has become rebellious against God’s Plan. The Church has accepted cold marriages. The Church has ignored the vital role of wives and mothers. The Church has neglected children.
And so the Church, little by little, began to reject God’s Will. We accepted pastors and preachers whose marriages were failing and whose children were in disarray, because they were good speakers and won souls to Christ. We counseled Christian women to enter the workforce—since, after all, she had a responsibility to support the family too, right? We promoted the “Christian” use of birth control. How could we serve God if we had too many children running around? We’re too busy winning souls, right?
Then we started to see families fail, and instead of crying out to God in repentance and for healing, we did the unthinkable. We justified divorce.
Do we wonder why society now is accepting homosexuality? What does marriage mean anymore, to most? Absolutely nothing! It’s about “legal rights,” about seeing your sick spouse in the hospital and taking in insurance money if they die. It’s not about building up a Christian family, about servant leadership and submission to one another! Brothers and sisters, we have lost our vision!
We allowed marriage, a holy union between one man and one woman for life, to be perverted. Yes, we Christians! We have allowed the institution of marriage to pass from the Church to the government. The government has said, “We will formally and legally sanction marriage.” We were okay with it, thinking, “What could it hurt?” Little did we realize that when the government regulates something, it defines and controls it. The government has said, “Divorce is OK.” We fought it, then we tolerated it, then we accepted it, then we did it ourselves! Now the government has said, “Men can marry men! Women can marry women!” We rise up in arms, but will we too soon tolerate it, accept it, do it ourselves?
Brothers and sisters, we must get out of our minds that lie that the government defines marriage. No, brothers and sisters. The Bible defines marriage. The Lord defines marriage!
Tell me, what is marriage to you? Is it your marriage license, your wedding ring? Or is it your fruitful partnership, your godly children, and your growth together with your spouse upward and God-ward?
As Christians, we must shun any assault on a Godly marriage. We must shun homosexual marriage, yes. But we must also shun divorce, shun cold marriages, shun gender blurring, shun the “birth control” mentality. We as a Christian culture must get back to the Biblical view of marriage as between one man, one woman, for life, and for a fruitful marriage. We must learn anew to see marriage as God sees marriage.
Perhaps we as Christians should begin to rethink the government intrusion on marriage, as well. Why is it that the government is allowed to dictate what does and what does not constitute marriage? The Church should be doing this. No, the Bible should be doing this! My thought is that the government should simply get out of the business of marriage altogether. Sound radical? Early America didn’t give out marriage licenses; churches solemnized marriages. Who needs a piece of paper when the Lord of Heaven sanctions your union? Let churches be once more the ones who solemnize marriages. Let the legal benefits of marriage be given in alternate means.
But even if this doesn’t happen, that misses the point. Brothers and sisters, let’s get our minds back on the real goal—glorifying God with our lives and our Bible-sanctioned marriages. Let us fight against anything and everything that contradicts the Bible. Yes, homosexuality is a sin, and we should oppose it and educate our society against it. But the same is true with lying. And with divorce. So to is a lack of compassion toward your fellow sinners. So is forgetting that marriage is supposed to be solely focused on serving the Lord.
Proposition 8 is passed, and it might some day be overturned. Or perhaps not. But we as Christians should have our focus upward, not outward. Let us step up Heavenward and search for the Lord’s will in our lives. Let us preach against sin and build up a many-generation foundation for our lives and for our homes. Let us stop trusting in politicians, in Constitutional amendments and ballot measures, and let us once more trust in the Bible, in the Lord Jehovah. We will never have a Christian America. Let us instead strive for Christian families, Christian marriages, and Christian churches. Let us remember the value of Godly husbands as leaders, as fathers, as providers and protectors. Let us extol the virtues of Godly wives and mothers as helpmeets, as homemakers, as extremely valuable teachers and workers for Christ in their own right—and let us remember that no paycheck can make up for having a Godly mother in the home. Let us once more sing the praises of children, and remember that they are the ultimate gift from God, fearfully and wonderfully made. Brothers and sisters, let us remember that marriage is for life, but most of all, that marriage is for God.
O Lord, have mercy on our nation, I pray. Cleanse the Church from the heinous sin of forgetting Your standards, Your Word, Your ways. Let us remember that You are the One that designed marriage, and that we should learn to see it through Your eyes. Help us once more turn to the Scriptures. Keep our eyes off of the government, off of politics, and on to a vision of a Godly family, a vision of Christ. Bring us, O Lord, to our knees in repentance. Revive Thy Work, O God. Raise up a Godly seed, and heal Your Church and Your people. Thank you, O Lord. For it is in Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
