The God-in-Flesh Issue
Now is the time when Christmas things occupy everyone's attention in some measure. No matter how extremely anti-Christian-things one is, he or she cannot avoid noting the difference in the way things are in December.
Even as much as a lot of that Christmasy stuff is driven by those wholly given over to Roman Catholic commitment, it still does direct the observer to one single truth: That God entered our realm of existence as a man with one single purpose.
He was to die in order to shed His blood as the one single sacrifice that would cleanse us of our sin and rescue us from the grip of death.
How much of a contrast that was to the signing ceremony the president of the United States held yesterday, when he enacted into law the rescinding of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of keeping an individual's proclaimed and presumed homosexuality from affecting military activity. Apparently the administration and defense department will work out how it will work to allow openly expressing homosexually minded individuals to serve.
Yes there are those who will shout about how wrong it is "to be homosexual" or "to be gay or lesbian" or to behave in a sexually immoral way that has been traditionally called sodomy. And on the other side are those who say it is fine and don't bother with what others do, we should all allow people to be who they truly are, we should be tolerant, and all of those sorts of things.
Both sides generally make up the Culture War, always stoked red hot when things like this signing ceremony occur. It is true that sexually immoral behavior that is given some substantial social sanction is repulsive. It is also true that people who spew the worst venom at sexually confused people is just as repugnant.
The truth that very few people see is that militant operatives within the extraordinarily powerful ecclesastical hegemony, conventionally known as the Roman Catholic Church, are sworn to do the dutiful job of fueling that conflagration. Because they are charged with the task of advanced sin management for the hundreds of millions of people who pay them well to do it (taxes, interest payments, tithes), they work like hell (to use a phrase) to see that a lot of people remain sinners and brazenly act on their sin, and that a lot of other people sustain a healthy vitriol against them in the ministry of condemnation.
Even if you are the most impassioned observer of the "Don't ask, don't tell" controversy, do you really think there will not be the worst violence occurring in the ranks? Even if it is not necessarily physical, it will certainly be tremendously emotional and spiritual.
In contrast to this is the Son of God, seeking the lost and asking if they'd want to join Him in the Kingdom. Even if you don't feel like leaving your life of sexual immorality, He'll make it so you can -- and find true inner fulfillment because He's freed you from your own wickedness. Even if you don't feel like refusing to continue screaming at people you don't like, He'll make your heart soft enough to be a reconciler too. Then you can be free from your own sense of entitlement and find peace in the One Who Provides All You've Ever Wanted.
I confess that my heart hurts for all those cheering, applauding people at the president's signing ceremony, left to their own iniquity which will continue to devour their souls. It hurts just as much for those whose fury against them will become more intense.
And yet, at least for this one month, they all still see the Christmas stuff all around them.
Is it just not possible for them to take the blinders off and the earplugs out
And see Him? Hear his word?
Even as much as a lot of that Christmasy stuff is driven by those wholly given over to Roman Catholic commitment, it still does direct the observer to one single truth: That God entered our realm of existence as a man with one single purpose.
He was to die in order to shed His blood as the one single sacrifice that would cleanse us of our sin and rescue us from the grip of death.
How much of a contrast that was to the signing ceremony the president of the United States held yesterday, when he enacted into law the rescinding of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of keeping an individual's proclaimed and presumed homosexuality from affecting military activity. Apparently the administration and defense department will work out how it will work to allow openly expressing homosexually minded individuals to serve.
Yes there are those who will shout about how wrong it is "to be homosexual" or "to be gay or lesbian" or to behave in a sexually immoral way that has been traditionally called sodomy. And on the other side are those who say it is fine and don't bother with what others do, we should all allow people to be who they truly are, we should be tolerant, and all of those sorts of things.
Both sides generally make up the Culture War, always stoked red hot when things like this signing ceremony occur. It is true that sexually immoral behavior that is given some substantial social sanction is repulsive. It is also true that people who spew the worst venom at sexually confused people is just as repugnant.
The truth that very few people see is that militant operatives within the extraordinarily powerful ecclesastical hegemony, conventionally known as the Roman Catholic Church, are sworn to do the dutiful job of fueling that conflagration. Because they are charged with the task of advanced sin management for the hundreds of millions of people who pay them well to do it (taxes, interest payments, tithes), they work like hell (to use a phrase) to see that a lot of people remain sinners and brazenly act on their sin, and that a lot of other people sustain a healthy vitriol against them in the ministry of condemnation.
Even if you are the most impassioned observer of the "Don't ask, don't tell" controversy, do you really think there will not be the worst violence occurring in the ranks? Even if it is not necessarily physical, it will certainly be tremendously emotional and spiritual.
In contrast to this is the Son of God, seeking the lost and asking if they'd want to join Him in the Kingdom. Even if you don't feel like leaving your life of sexual immorality, He'll make it so you can -- and find true inner fulfillment because He's freed you from your own wickedness. Even if you don't feel like refusing to continue screaming at people you don't like, He'll make your heart soft enough to be a reconciler too. Then you can be free from your own sense of entitlement and find peace in the One Who Provides All You've Ever Wanted.
I confess that my heart hurts for all those cheering, applauding people at the president's signing ceremony, left to their own iniquity which will continue to devour their souls. It hurts just as much for those whose fury against them will become more intense.
And yet, at least for this one month, they all still see the Christmas stuff all around them.
Is it just not possible for them to take the blinders off and the earplugs out
And see Him? Hear his word?
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