The ‘culture wars’ are raging all around us, and far too often it seems to be churches who are at the forefront of normalizing sin. For example, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America recently drank the kool-aid and decided to condone homosexual clergy and relationships. In reply, Pastor Peter Speckhard wrote this brilliant piece of satire:
http://firstthings.com/blogs/evangel/2009/12/temple-prostitution-a-modest-proposal/
At the other, less amusing, end of the spectrum, some of you may have been following the Lisa Miller case. It illustrates why the normalization of homosexuality is not just a private matter between individuals, but involves rewriting laws that affect us all; laws which are then used to attack Christians, and damage the natural family.
Lisa Miller was a lesbian who entered into a civil union with a woman named Janet Jenkins in Vermont (where such things are legal), and conceived a child through artificial insemination. However, Lisa later converted to Christianity, repented of the homosexual lifestyle, and filed for a divorce from Jenkins, who responded by demanding shared custody of the little girl, Isabella. Lisa refused, not wanting to expose Isabella to homosexuality. After all, Jenkins was not even related to Isabella, except by judicial fiat. So Lisa returned to her native Virginia (which doesn’t recognize homosexual civil unions or marriages), and a nasty custody battle ensued, involving the conflicting laws of the two states.
Sadly, a judge decreed that Lisa and Jenkins had to share custody of Isabella. Lisa was naturally horrified. Wanting to protect her daughter, she refused the judicial order. So the judge awarded full custody to Janet Jenkins! Faced with the State’s demand to give her child over to a lesbian stranger (i.e. to a non-relation), Lisa decided it was better to flee the country, where she and Isabella are now being protected by Mennonites, somewhere in South America. In fact, a Mennonite pastor named Kenneth Miller (no relation) helped her escape, and he is now being prosecuted for “aiding in international kidnapping.” Imagine, helping someone take their own child out of the country is called “kidnapping.” If that isn’t Orwellian doubtlethink, I don’t know what is. On the contrary, Pastor Miller was saving Lisa and her daughter from the real kidnappers. His court case began yesterday:
If you feel so inclined, you can help pay his court fees here:
The question I ask myself is: would I have the courage or conviction to defy the State or an unjust law, in order to obey God? Or have my priorities and thinking been so changed by secular culture, that I would rather please the world? What would I do, faced with a similar situation? Ask yourself, what would you do?
That said, there is a deeper question here, specifically related to Free Grace theology, one that concerns the homosexual and salvation. Clearly, homosexuality is a sin, and churches who say otherwise are disobeying God, Scripture, and doing immense harm to their parishioners by sanctioning evil. Moreover, engaging in homosexual acts will no doubt hinder someone’s abiding fellowship with God. But the question presses itself: can homosexuals receive the gift of eternal life simply by believing in Jesus for it? The answer is a resounding ‘Yes!’ There is one gospel promise for all sinners. Here’s an article by Bob to that effect:
