It is apparent that Conservative Christian circles are losing the debate on Gay Marriage. No, let me correct myself, it is not a loss, but rather a slaughter. This slaughter is manifesting itself through everyday conversation between friends, the work place, the unholy spirit of the world we named the internet and most importantly in the courts. Now you may point out that there have been wins for Conservative Christians in the courts as there was in California. True, but one must ask whether this shall last. The only reason gay marriage could be voted down is because it makes guys feel weird (which, I may add, is a totally legitimate reason). So, the CCs must not pretend that there is a revival approaching; they must see that they are out of ammo as far as convincing the judges to favor them.
Their opponents (Liberals we will call them), however, are thriving with glee as they protest protests, do MTV coming out shows, declare war on bullying (which is deliciously ironic), give Dan Savage his own TV show and let transgender persons compete for Miss America. They have bountiful victories and they aren't going to stop now. They dominate the internet with cute memes that straw man the CCs so as to make us doubt and be ashamed of our Old Testament bigotry. We, the intolerant see two options: 1) Move to North Idaho and remove ourselves from society and occasionally make official statements about gays going to hell to then be made fun of by the world, or 2) join the "enlightened" and make the world a better place by holding their opinions, since that will make everybody happy. Yes, we are the ones that cave. The war mongers and bigots are the ones that submit to the peace loving Liberals, because our post-enlightened sensibilities see it as logical, based upon the ancient Zen like wisdom of no-harm-no-foul.
That is their argument. That is their template for morality. Gay marriage will not hurt anybody. Will Gay Marriage inflict physical harm on anybody? Directly, no. Indirectly, likely, but no more than an average heterosexual marriage would. Does that make it morally sound? That has yet to be argued by the Liberals; currently, they are just trying to make it legal for civil matters. I believe they know that the courts do not decide morality, but the object is make us believe that they do. Otherwise, if we ever got that philosophical ball rolling they know exactly where it would take them. But it wont happen. We are not a nation that concerns ourselves with what is morally right and true. Instead we shout at our friends, family, enemies and government, "My rights! My rights! I deserve my rights!", never once stopping to ask whether or not we are deserving of anything. It happens thus, and it wont ever change unless America falls like the nations have before it. If the people are obliterated then so are the ideas they hold.
What then? Are we CCs to pray for nuclear war? I'll be honest that I have thought of it, but it seems too easy. If we don't join these Liberals, then we get made fun of and wait for the slim chance of utter destruction that wont occur in our life times. Strangely, this is the least of a CCs problems. We, who have claimed Christ as our Lord and savior, who have passed from death to life, have different things to think about. Though our soul has been taken care of, there is always more to be learned from Christ. We must discover how to live as Christians in this world, and let us not say we have not received teaching. In Matthew 10.22, Jesus tells us how we "will be hated by all for his name's sake". He tells us how "they will persecute you in one town" and to "flee to the next". Jesus saw this coming. He knows us and them very well. So basically this treatment we receive now is in our job description. We shall not be surprised, appalled or indignant. We should expect persecution, for the pagans grow greater and greater in numbers everyday. This is routine just as war, famine, genocide and peace are routine. From the moment two people are created they immediately gain different opinions acquired by their perspectives, and almost just as soon they think themselves right and the other wrong. This is the nature and the way of the beast; the beast that shall be named the Pride of Life.
Frankly, Conservative Christians have wasted time being all too conservative and not enough Christian. We have landed in a rut thinking that if we control the White House then we control the minds of the people, as if rebellion and revolution never occurs against a righteous ruler. We have played the world's game with the world's rules and inevitably we lose under the world's definitions. We have nurtured our own Pride of Life and attempted to appeal to the masses with our social return to the law and tragically the dirt has been rubbed in our face. So, we ask, "What are we to do?" Is it despair from here on out? It does not have to be. We are instructed to be joyful in all persecution, whether the sting is physical, mental or emotional we must have joy. Death, because of Christ, has lost it's sting and we have nothing left to fear but our imminent God, the one to whom we owe all we have, and made of ourselves. The joy has tactical use as well. If we are joyful we can be loving. If we are loving our enemies we are "heaping burning coals on their heads".
To wind this down a little bit, personally, I see gay marriage legal in at least some states if not many, and we can expect many other perverse behaviors being declared legal by the state and moral by the people. Gird your loins because this will get weird. Use that weird feeling and vote against it. Don't cave to it, and don't be a Westboro Baptist. Be joyful. Though I do not know if the end of the world is nigh, I do know the end of YOUR world is nigh. Use your timely wisely. Do not be a fool. Be a servant of Christ.
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8 comments:
It sounds like you believe the end of our civilization and culture is inevitable. Don't give up. This fight is far from over.
Creed, it was over before it started.
You give three options, to cave (obviously bad), to be like Westboro Baptist (obviously bad), and to "vote against it" while maintaining a charitable heart. I think that maintaining a charitable heart and voting against it are good, don't think I would say otherwise.
But there's a fourth option. Don't sit idly by, but don't act like Westboro Baptist either.
"Conservatism" isn't just putting a speed bump on "Liberalism"; the meanings of those words have been changed over the past century. Conservatism needs to consider taking a stand for tradition as a completely alternate ideology to Leftism, not a speed bump.
If everyone has made up their minds that it's a lost cause, then of course it will be. Their votes are just speed bumps at that point, unable to truly hold back the organized, well-oiled machine that we face. But if folks hold up modern American "conservatism" to be an actual cultural ideology, no longer as mere nostalgia but as a unified force grounded in reality then there's a chance. We must take the offensive while there's still time. But I think it's really up to each of us to make a difference. That's all I'm saying.
With all due respect (and I can say this because we have shared smoke, which for those of you who don't know is a sacred ritual), I think that considering the legalization of gay marriage as the impetus for our own country's "Fall," is a bit much. Only because gay marriage is discussed hardly at all in the Bible, and where it is discussed is often surrounded by other strange verses that we generally consider to be unimportant (such as not wearing wool with linen and the inadvisability of eating shrimp). Important issue or not, I hardly think that what two consenting adults to with their genitals can be considered the harbinger of doom for our nation.
And Creed, you write as eloquently as always but in this case I think it comes across as a bit of phenomenological hootenany
@Lu
I'm sorry if my argument sounded hootenanyish to you. I hope that I was able to make my point clear, though.
May I point out, if you don't mind, that "Gay marriage" isn't discussed at all in the Bible? Homosexuality is condemned in many places; this condemnation is an important part of Romans 1. But "Gay Marriage" didn't even exist as a concept back then.
All marital advice in the Bible is clearly crafted for a man and his wife. Marriage has been between a man and a woman by definition throughout the entire history of our culture.
Taking a sacred institution and redefining it to mean something obscene in the eyes of those who upheld it as pure? It seems like mockery to me. It may not have a huge economic impact, but (in my opinion, at least) it's a reckless toppling of one of the last remaining pillars of society.
Lu, you are too kind. But in the first chapter of Romans, Paul speaks of people with sexual perversions as those who "did not honor God or give him thanks". From a Christian perspective this makes sense, but since I never believed that America was a Christian nation I don't think that gay marriage will be the culprit behind our down fall but rather Sin.
Creed, its paragraphs like your last one that make it hard to run a polite blog.
My last paragraph was arguing a truth, and nothing more. I really don't see how it was impolite, seeing as how you made a political statement, and thus invited debate to your blog.
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