The Apparent Missteps of the Pro-Marriage Lobby
It was announced today that a federal judge dismissed California's constitutional prohibition against same-sex marriage, and today a lot of people wanted to talk about it. It is so juicy because it is one of the more prominent battles in the incessantly raging Culture War, but most of what I hear being said is woefully uninformed, naive, or flatly foolish.
For two people to engage in a homosexual act is just as execrable as two people married to others having intercourse, or a person and a sheep committing bestiality, or any number of other sexually immoral activities. In that sense, then it makes perfect sense for the law to step in and regulate these behaviors, most notably for our day, homosexual acts. After all, as it says in the first letter of Paul to Timothy, "that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers."
Isn't it ironic that when good, wholesome homosexualists cheerfully announce their pleasure with the ruling, they are confessing their need for the law to govern their sinful behavior. In that sense, I am fully in favor of the judge's ruling.
I still acknowledge that an individual or even any group who states marriage is anything other than a contractual or even covenantal relationship between one adult man and one adult woman does not make it that way.
This was the first supposed misstep of the pro-marriage crowd, that they submitted the matter to a vote. When has there ever been a vote to declare that some dogs are really cows? When you submit matters of unassailable truth to the whims of the god Democracy the perceptions of those truths may change but the truths cannot. The tricky part is that those living by the World are so easily seduced by operatives working to subvert their understanding.
The second supposed misstep was the atrocious job the pro-marriage lawyers did of presenting their case in court. They smugly neglected to present evidence about the vibrant meaning of marriage or introduce experts who could articulate its profound merits. Those who were paying attention were bewildered at how pathetically inadequate their entire presentation was.
There have been so many seemingly puzzling missteps like this that it can only mean they weren't missteps at all. If you see things through the Kingdom lens, you'd see that all of it has been designed to draw people into an extraordinarily benighted conception of marriage, family, sexuality, community, and even things like the meaning of the law, the boundaries of society, and the nature of truth and grace. But then if you only see things by the World lens they can't help but be in such darkness.
Those living by the World do definitely need the law. The law is a very good thing.
But it is not for Kingdom people.
Kingdom people already have Truth and Grace, Someone who is not outside the law or above it or even beyond it, per se. It is that He's the complete fulfillment of the law through life-giving love. When people love they have no need for the law.
They love.
They do so because The One Called Truth and Grace loves them, He empowers them, He encourages them, He has sent The Counselor to speak to them and intercede for them -- all of this in rich practical reality.
Much of what I hear is related to what the Constitution has to say about it and how the Constitution is being interpreted in all of this. That's fine. That's the law. That's what World people need to govern them and their affairs. Some will spout a thing or two about God and the Bible and all that. That's very cool too.
But when you're moored to the World no matter how much you appeal to those things, those in the World who you might be trying to impress can't hear you. Oh, except to the extent that they hear things like how much you hate them because you won't let them be who they are. When you say "Constitution!" and "Law!" and "Marriage!" and they sneer right back, that's just the Culture War raging on. But they are just as much in favor of those things constraining them as you are.
The sad truth is both of you are subject to a lord you may not be able to identify. Oh you've given him supreme rule over you. You've done so if you've got a W-4 obligation with your incorporated employer, you've got a membership in a 501c3 worship assembly, you've been particpating in a Social Security pyramid operation, or any number of other entanglements with Caesar and his "constitutional democratic" Institution. Even if you proudly voted against same-sex marriage and thought you were doing the principled thing, you were still appealing to the law to keep same-sex arrangements from using the law they needed to govern their conduct.
All those things his operatives have been doing to persuade the population to bring the homosexualist out of the closet and under the law? Perfectly within the scope of his well-defined duties. In fact Caesar can't be doing anything but.
On the other hand, do you want genuine freedom, whether you are a homosexually minded individual or a zealous Romanist bent on sustaining the weighty force of law?
You won't get it from the World.
It only comes from the Kingdom, and that means turning 180 degrees and looking to Christ.
Even so, I'm still learning. I'm still up for the interaction. I'm looking to hear from a few of the Kingdom people on this. I really am. I'd truly like to be further enlightened about all of this just like anyone else.
_
One of my home page pieces recently was about the true nature of the United States Constitution. That is here.
For two people to engage in a homosexual act is just as execrable as two people married to others having intercourse, or a person and a sheep committing bestiality, or any number of other sexually immoral activities. In that sense, then it makes perfect sense for the law to step in and regulate these behaviors, most notably for our day, homosexual acts. After all, as it says in the first letter of Paul to Timothy, "that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers."
Isn't it ironic that when good, wholesome homosexualists cheerfully announce their pleasure with the ruling, they are confessing their need for the law to govern their sinful behavior. In that sense, I am fully in favor of the judge's ruling.
I still acknowledge that an individual or even any group who states marriage is anything other than a contractual or even covenantal relationship between one adult man and one adult woman does not make it that way.
This was the first supposed misstep of the pro-marriage crowd, that they submitted the matter to a vote. When has there ever been a vote to declare that some dogs are really cows? When you submit matters of unassailable truth to the whims of the god Democracy the perceptions of those truths may change but the truths cannot. The tricky part is that those living by the World are so easily seduced by operatives working to subvert their understanding.
The second supposed misstep was the atrocious job the pro-marriage lawyers did of presenting their case in court. They smugly neglected to present evidence about the vibrant meaning of marriage or introduce experts who could articulate its profound merits. Those who were paying attention were bewildered at how pathetically inadequate their entire presentation was.
There have been so many seemingly puzzling missteps like this that it can only mean they weren't missteps at all. If you see things through the Kingdom lens, you'd see that all of it has been designed to draw people into an extraordinarily benighted conception of marriage, family, sexuality, community, and even things like the meaning of the law, the boundaries of society, and the nature of truth and grace. But then if you only see things by the World lens they can't help but be in such darkness.
Those living by the World do definitely need the law. The law is a very good thing.
But it is not for Kingdom people.
Kingdom people already have Truth and Grace, Someone who is not outside the law or above it or even beyond it, per se. It is that He's the complete fulfillment of the law through life-giving love. When people love they have no need for the law.
They love.
They do so because The One Called Truth and Grace loves them, He empowers them, He encourages them, He has sent The Counselor to speak to them and intercede for them -- all of this in rich practical reality.
Much of what I hear is related to what the Constitution has to say about it and how the Constitution is being interpreted in all of this. That's fine. That's the law. That's what World people need to govern them and their affairs. Some will spout a thing or two about God and the Bible and all that. That's very cool too.
But when you're moored to the World no matter how much you appeal to those things, those in the World who you might be trying to impress can't hear you. Oh, except to the extent that they hear things like how much you hate them because you won't let them be who they are. When you say "Constitution!" and "Law!" and "Marriage!" and they sneer right back, that's just the Culture War raging on. But they are just as much in favor of those things constraining them as you are.
The sad truth is both of you are subject to a lord you may not be able to identify. Oh you've given him supreme rule over you. You've done so if you've got a W-4 obligation with your incorporated employer, you've got a membership in a 501c3 worship assembly, you've been particpating in a Social Security pyramid operation, or any number of other entanglements with Caesar and his "constitutional democratic" Institution. Even if you proudly voted against same-sex marriage and thought you were doing the principled thing, you were still appealing to the law to keep same-sex arrangements from using the law they needed to govern their conduct.
All those things his operatives have been doing to persuade the population to bring the homosexualist out of the closet and under the law? Perfectly within the scope of his well-defined duties. In fact Caesar can't be doing anything but.
On the other hand, do you want genuine freedom, whether you are a homosexually minded individual or a zealous Romanist bent on sustaining the weighty force of law?
You won't get it from the World.
It only comes from the Kingdom, and that means turning 180 degrees and looking to Christ.
Even so, I'm still learning. I'm still up for the interaction. I'm looking to hear from a few of the Kingdom people on this. I really am. I'd truly like to be further enlightened about all of this just like anyone else.
_
One of my home page pieces recently was about the true nature of the United States Constitution. That is here.
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