SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Can you feel the blood rising already?

Here's another weigh-in on this serious subject that is under adjudication by our high court.  In an effort to be brief about a complex subject, could we consider three areas?

FICKLE. TWEAK. LOVE.


FICKLE.
The Supremes are asked to build law around something so new the paint hasn't dried.  Marriage between a man and woman has been the pillar of society for 4,000 years.  Just as recently as 1996, Bill Clinton and Democrats passed legislation called DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) which upheld traditional marriage.

Now magically, we are 17 years down the road from DOMA and things are tumped upside down.  We have new clarity; we're evolved and tolerant.  But consider that there are 1,100 federal laws dealing with marriage now that a capricious ruling could complicate.

TWEAK.
A friend of mine posed a good question.  Do the people with the red/pink "equal sign" (see above) want marriage, or just the perks the institution affords?  Civil unions already exist that could be reworked to assure better equality of benefits.  But would that really scratch the itch?  Perhaps not.  Do same-sex couples want to be considered "married" in the sense they haven't done anything wrong and are equally entitled to rewrite mores?  Now the water gets deep and choppy.

Marriage already had an inventor and the Inventor built humanity on that plan. People don't get to rewrite a concept from on high.  Rewriting would make them equal to the Divine...and Lord knows, that's been tried.  Marriage remains His plan for the ages and both a picture of what His fidelity looks like, and a launchpad for the next generation.  A man gives himself up for his wife just like Jesus gave himself up for the church.  The woman respects her husband as the church respects her Head.  (Personally speaking, marriage has been His best tool to tweak my selfishness.)  All that brings glory to His power and points to God's larger plan.

 We "get" that not everyone in a secular society buys into such a model.  Some believe the Bible and some don't. However, now the image of God is under attack like never before with tsunami waves that would shake the pillars of civilization.  And this latest wave hurls people into one of two camps.  Either you are kind and loving and trying to do as Jesus said ("love one another")...or you are a hater-bigot.

Is there room for the lover of God's word?  Homosexuality is mentioned seven times in Scripture, all unfavorably.  What shall we do with that?

LOVE.
If you have children, you may be familiar with loving through hard times of unacceptable behavior.  Yes, the Scripture calls for loving others, but not to the exclusion of the other things He says.  Scripture also sets out guidelines for those who would "come, follow Me".  He calls us to actually love people enough to plead with them when they are asking for God's wrath.  Isaiah says "Your sinful acts have alienated you from God."

In Scripture, if I am busy tolerating behavior that is sure to earn punishment, then I may gain the applause of men...but I haven't loved my brother well.  A Christian can tolerate ungodly behavior that is another man's choice, but they certainly don't promote it.

There is a wide place to camp where people can know we love them, while not endorsing their behavior.  Have you not heard the present participle verb in Romans 1:18?  "God's wrath IS (continually) BEING REVEALED from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness."  It truly is spitting in the wind to ask for God's wrath.  If we love our neighbor, we want them on that bus when it pulls out of the station for the coming kingdom.  You can't love them and help them be excluded from the kingdom at the same time.

So at day's end...

We know FICKLE men change, but God doesn't change.  Isn't DOMA a great example?  Once everyone wanted to support it, now everyone is jumping off that bandwagon.  Did you ever tell your kids "if everyone jumps off the cliff...will you?"  All the more reason to hang tightly to words that never change.  Should we call "good" what God has not called "good"?  He actually says "Woe to them who call evil good".

TWEAK the benefits?  Yes, we can "even" things up.  We can decree that partners have better survivors' benefits and figure out how the states can reciprocally acknowledge civil unions.

But MARRIAGE belongs to God.  He folds marriage into the implementation of His greater plan, which is one continuous blueprint.  So who is bodacious enough to tweak HIS plan?  That can't end well.

And LOVE.  What is love?  Are we not called to love God first?

And if we love anything more than God, isn't that forming an idol?  Self-rule is an idol (when self determines what is "just" and "fair").  Loving one of God's tenets to the exclusion of them all is an idol (picking which you live by and which you ignore).  Nobody makes a golden calf anymore, but idols are made everyday.

We should remember God doesn't have tenets such as "go along to get along"...or..."do what you like as long as you don't hurt anyone".  His tenets call us to choose Who(m) we serve.

And does it hurt to see people go their own way?  You bet it hurts.  The Book says the road is narrow and one day all will give an account.

So take courage and speak the truth in love.

CYPRUS

It's a done deal.  Cyprus has been "saved" from bankruptcy.  Poof!

Cyprus is the size of Vermont.  Forbes calls it "smidgen-sized" in their ARTICLE:
Cyprus Bailout-Everything You Need to Know Before the Opening Bell.  

If Cyprus represents only .2% of the European Union's monetary worth...then what's the big deal?

It's a big deal because we worry that Cyprus is the first domino.

Cypriots are furious because of yesterday's deal.  The European partners agreed to bail out Cyprus if Cyprus puts skin in the game.  So the agreement was to seize money from large depositer's bank accounts.

Well, it's just from the rich.  It doesn't matter.  They can afford it.

Listen, America.  This is such a picture book for us.  Government with dipping rights is a force to be reckoned with.  What if YOU waked up to find as much as 40% of your assets gone?  The cutoff was $130k.  Below that amount and your money was put into a "good" bank; above that, you go into a "bad" bank...where depositors and bond-holders may recover little or none of their money.

Sadly, Cyprus' problem is not just their bailout through seized assets.  What caused the problem in the first place?  Why are they in that hole?  Why isn't THAT problem being addressed?

If Europe passes all those utopian work weeks/benefits (on the assumption that people are entitled), then are the people entitled to feel the results?  Is there REALLY such a lack of understanding of basic economic feasibility?  Or are they petulant children?  We all get it that everyone shuffles their feet while no one wants to end up with the check.  But someone at the table gets the short stick.

So take careful watch, America.  When our government (and unions) demand unrealistic regulations and bargains, who is at the head of our table?  The states?  If California can't pay the ridiculous things they've agreed upon, then who gets the check?  Arkansas has a balanced budget law which has kept us out of the red.  Shall we pay for California?  Is responsible stewardship repaid by bankrolling a spendthrift?  Does anyone side with a trust fund kid who has run through "Daddy's money"?  No.  No one.

Grow up, Cyprus.  Grow up, Europe.  Grow up, America.

HOLY GROUND

Last night there was a pinprick of light on earth that surely was seen from heaven.  It was a flame that joined the heavenly chorus...praise that we are told goes on night and day there.

This room was full of smoke and a light show and your chest felt the rumbling.  That's similar to how Isaiah described the temple worship in Chapter Six of his book.  But the place last night was not a temple.  It was the Drury University basketball arena in Springfield, MO.  

And it was a Chris Tomlin concert.

The stars onstage (Chris Tomlin and Keri Jobe) were just the choir directors as the audience sang at the top of their lungs for the entire two hours.  (See singers on right.) 

The songs were a blend of new ones from Chris' "Burning Lights" CD, plus the oldie-but-goodies "How Great is Our God", "Indescribable", and "I Will Rise". 

And at the end, the two young 'uns (who are 31 and 40) joined voices in the hymn "Crown Him With Many Crowns", followed by Keri Jobe singing "Revelation Song"  LINK.  Who could ask for anything more?

Whatever hurt or brokenness or discouragement that walked into that arena...lost its sting as the people applauded and magnified the Most High God.

The Lord says He inhabits the praise of His people, so surely He was on that holy ground in a Missouri basketball arena.

Last month, Chris Tomlin and Keri Jobe both attended the Grammys.  He said that many of the winners or presenters came to the mic and spoke of "music's greatest night".  CT said that with all due respect, they haven't seen anything yet.  There's a time coming when the Grammys will pale at the sound of the heavenly host surrounding the throne of God.

Revelation 19 paints a picture of that worship scene.  It says there is the voice of a vast throng like the roar of many waters and the loud crashes of thunder.  And they are all shouting "Hallelujah!  For the Lord our God, the All-Powerful reigns!"

Meanwhile, a Chris Tomlin concert will do.

P.S.  Here's a LINK to one of his new songs called "White Flag".  It was recorded in January at the Passion Conference in Atlanta which drew 60,000 college students. 

HARDTOSWALLOW

Our leadership in the White House makes bold statements that cover fifty shades of the truth.  They're as bold as a burglar in daylight.  If you tap dance on all possible positions, then on the outside chance someone ever DOES call you on something, there would still be cover to run under.

Take sequestration.  The White House finally admitted BHO and Jack Lew cooked it up.  How many positions has he maintained until then?  Every position.  "I wrote it."  "I didn't write it."  The Republicans did it."  "Congress wrote 'em."  And now two days ago... "sequestration is dumb."  LINK

Then there was the presidential debate.  Can you remember back in October when BHO made sport of concerns that Romney had about the military cuts that would come from the sequester?  BHO flatly stated "there won't BE sequestration"...and everyone was flabbergasted.  The statement sounded like he was on the launch pad for an offensive against his own plan.  How do you debate against "pathological"?

Well, sequestration DID pass and now the military brass calls it alarming.  Yes, the cuts that weren't going to pass, have passed...the ones he didn't write but did.

BHO is no Adele, but this parody of "Skyfall" is pretty funny.  LINK

At the end of February in a radio address, BHO let fly with a greatly detailed doom list...then had to be followed nine days later by a takeback speech that said "This is not going to be an apocalpse, I think, as some people have said."  REALLY?  What people were saying such tripe?

Yessiree.  Before the cuts,

***he scared the poor old White House janitors.  Then that misfire was taken back in this link.

***he gave illegal immigrants "get out of jail free" cards.  First the White House said it was a couple hundred or so.  Then we found out it was 2,000 and plans for 3,000 more.

***he cancelled deployment for the U.S.S. Harry Truman.

You tell me which bully ordered those punishing things before the cuts were even a reality?   Homeland Secretary Napolitano says she didn't order the immigrants released and didn't know who did.  Finally they found a fall guy and he retired "early".  That showed him.  Secretary Napolitano joins Secretary Holder ("I didn't know about Fast and Furious") and Secretary Clinton ("I didn't know about Benghazi").

When the dust settles on those budget cuts, it will have very little effect on the main problem (entitlements)...but will slash the military.  Even his own out-going Defense Secretary Panetta said that would be disastrous.  And in the months ahead when BHO's economic policies implode, the boogeyman will be sequestration.

Possession is nine-tenths of the law.  And Bill Clinton has held the trophy for "Most Tortured Truth" for his unique story-telling (and in particular, his use of the word "is").  But now we have seen even his smooth tongue surpassed.

BHO may be saying now that he's not a dictator, but he IS the king...King of Elasticized Accuracy.