The American Family Association is conducting an online poll regarding the issue of homosexual marriage.
While I believe that the institution of marriage was established by God the Father as a union between a man and a woman, I have to respect the commitment of those supporting homosexual marriage. The AFA’s own poll shows that once word gets out in the homosexual community, they can mobilize their supporters swiftly, as voting in favor of homosexual marriage on the AFA poll has risen from three percent to over fifty percent in the past three days.
In an attempt to get our society to recognize that the holiday we celebrate this time of year is Christmas, Kirk and Amy McElwain have launched GrinchList.com. While stores and public agencies have no problem calling Hannukah or Kwanzaa (a totally made up holiday, by the way) by their respective terms, they seem to replace “Christmas” with “holiday.” As McElwain says in an article on WND:
“Surely, no one would think of renaming the [Jewish] menorah the ‘holiday candelabra,’ nor should they. People of the other religions and cultures would never tolerate such revisionism, yet why do we? Perhaps, more importantly, why do they think they can get away with it?”
The site features a list of companies who limit or altogether shun usage of the word “Christmas,” in the name of a false diversity and multiculturalism. The McElwains also recognize those companies which embrace this part of American culture.
The recognition of this as the “holiday” season, as well as usage of the term “Xmas,” have worked to dilute the reason for celebration this time of year. It may be a bit cliche, but it’s true: Jesus is the reason for the season, and by recognizing this time of year as Christmas, it refocuses attention on what the holiday is really about.
One of the unfortunate by-products from the ouster of Saddam Hussein has been an increase in persecution of Christians in Iraq by followers of the “Religion of Peace.” It will be an uphill battle for the U.S. to influence a constitution for the newly freed nation that will not be based on Islamic law, but rather allows the practice of all religions.
Pray for our Iraqi brothers and sisters in Christ that God will protect them, and that they may be witnesses to their Muslim countrymen.
Lots of organizations and communities operate Angel Trees this time of year, caring for poor and disadvantaged kids and adults. We like to adopt a couple of “angels” each year, and my wife really enjoys shopping for these kids, even though we will never meet them.
The original Angel Tree was founded as part of the Prison Fellowship ministry, by Mary Kay Beard, a former prisoner convicted of bank robbery, among other misdeeds. It’s one thing to not get presents because your parents are poor or disabled; it’s quite another to not get presents because one or both of your parents are behind bars. This was the group of kids God gave Mary Kay Beard a burden for, and she began the Angel Tree ministry in 1982.
The Prison Fellowship Angel Tree is seeking donations to buy gifts for the children of prisoners around the country. Many local companies and organizations organize PFM Angel Tree drives that directly impact prisoners’ children in those local communities. The local Christian talk radio station I listen to is doing just that in the D/FW area.
I encourage my fellow Christians to support this worthwhile ministry. It is not the fault of these children that their parent is behind bars, and this is an opportunity for not only the child to hear the Gospel of our Lord, but their parents as well.
“And so I want to read a Scripture that kind of lays that foundation for what I will say later. Now there are—when I have a discussion with people—there’s a question that I like to ask, especially those who are theologians or pastors or those who feel like they know the Bible.
“It’s a question that I enjoy having some fun with, and I ask them this question; I ask it of you: What is the very first thing that God created when he set out to create the universe? What was the first thing he made?
“When you ask people that who know the Bible, they immediately go to Genesis 1 and they try to remember what that said and was it the heavens and the earth or the firmament or the light or the deep? What was the first thing that God created when he set out to do that? Actually, they are wrong, because there’s a hook in the question. The answer is not found in Genesis 1 or any part of Genesis. It’s actually found in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs 8.
“And in this passage, Proverbs 8:22-30, wisdom is speaking in first person, metaphorically. Wisdom is, as we know, throughout this book, God’s point of view. Wisdom is His way of seeing things. Wisdom is His value system, and so wisdom, here, is talking about itself and this is what it says: ‘The Lord brought me forth as the first of His works before His deeds of old. I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. When there were no oceans, I was given birth. When there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth. Before He made the earth or the fields or any of the dust of the world, I was there when He set the heavens in place.’
“‘When He marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep. When He gave the sea its boundaries so the water would not overstep his command, and when He marked out the foundations of the earth. Then, I was the craftsman at His side.’
“What this is saying, in other words, is that the moral law of the universe antedated the physical universe, it came first. It was not as though the children of Israel wandered into the wilderness and the Lord looked at their behavior, and they’re worshipping idols and they’re doing all these wrong things, and he says, ‘Hmmm. Those folks need some rules,’ and so he calls Moses up into the hills and said, ‘Here are the Ten Commandments. This will help those people do better.’
“It is not that way at all. That moral foundation, that moral law, is eternal because it’s an expression of God’s own nature and it pre-dates the universe and it will outlast the physical laws. You can no more defy that moral law than you can jump off a ten-story building, because if anything, the moral law outranks the physical law. The physical law is going to pass away. His book says, ‘The heavens and the earth shall be rolled up like a scroll, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth, there’ll be new physical laws, but the moral law is eternal.’
“He said his Word shall live forever. So that moral law has great significance and it says in the end of that chapter, ‘For whoever finds me, finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself and all who hate me, love death.’ The moral law of the universe.
“What this is saying to me, and I hope to you, is that the universe has a boss. It has a boss and he has very clear ideas of what is right and what is wrong. It doesn’t matter a whole lot what you think or what I think. What matters is what he thinks, because that moral law has been there from eternity and will be there to eternity, and if that is true, then we have an obligation to understand it and to respect it.
“Now, I’m not talking today about dogma. I’m not talking about denominations. I’m not talking about churches. I’m talking about a law that’s written on the heart of every human being.” — Dr. James Dobson, in a speech before the Council for National Policy, 7 February 1998 (emphasis added)
Welcome to my weblog on my faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My hope is to share my thoughts on God, Christianity, and the Bible, for both my believing and non-believing friends to read and digest. You may also find some crossover between this blog and my political blog, Ludichris, when it comes to the realm of religious liberties in the United States. Further postings regarding matters of faith and God will be absent from my Mac and technology blog.
You will not be reading constant missives decrying you, the reader, as a sinner because you do this, or don’t do that, etc. The fact of the matter is that we are all sinners, including those of us who call ourselves Christian. Just because you have found the means of salvation doesn’t mean you are now perfect. Perfection is an unattainable goal for us on this physical Earth, and there has been only One Who has lived the perfect life. We’ll get more in to that in future posts.
I welcome feedback and encourage discussions in the comments. Thanks for stopping by!