Your Brother Daniel
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Compromise Kills, Divides, and Will Destroy the
Church
I marvel that there are
well-intentioned Christians who support same-sex marriage (SSM). To support
this institution is also to support gay adoptions and to deny the rights of
Christians who refuse to participate in this practice.
SSM is also a doorway to
the entry of other destructive, anti-social institutions – pedophilia,
transgenderism, the removal of any form of sexual distinctions, and the
persecution of people who disagree.
Those Christians who favor
SSM argue that continuing these culture wars is not good for the church. They
wrongly suppose that if we affirm SSM, we will have peace with our
“progressive” society. However, there will be no peace without complete
surrender of everything central to the Christian faith
Historian Thomas Kidd
reports:
- [British] Parliament approved gay marriage earlier this
year, but it allowed dissenting churches to opt out of performing same-sex
weddings. That exemption irritates activists and civil partners like Barrie
and Tony Drewill-Barlow, who are suing the Church of England to force all
ministers to conduct gay weddings. Barrie Drewill-Barlow explained that
“it upsets me because I want it so much – a big lavish ceremony, the whole
works…I am still not getting what I want.” (World, October 5, 2013, 64)
Evidently, he has no
concern about what others might want. There is no peace, and there will be no
peace until the church is entirely compromised and rendered indistinguishable
from “progressive” society.
However, meanwhile we are wounding our God-given conscience in a
vain attempt to find acceptance in a hostile world, where Jesus warned:
- "If
the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged
to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to
the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world
hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than
his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they
obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. (John 15:18-20)
What then are we to do? Jesus warned that worry can become our
slave-master. Instead, we have to maintain right priorities and trust that our
Lord will provide:
- But
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well. (Matthew
6:33)
But how do we seek Him first? By remaining faithful to His Word –
His commands and teachings:
- We
know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says,
"I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and
the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly
made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him. (1 John 2:3-5)
Fundamentally, we are not
called to be successful, popular, or respected; we are called to be faithful, even when faithfulness proves
costly. We have no choice. Paul warned that when we violate what we believe, we
injure both ourselves and our relationship with God.
- But
the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not
from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)
Paul warned that when we encourage our brethren to do something
that they do not believe is right, they are “destroyed” because of us (1 Cor.
8:11).
Our nation has broken its constitutional contract with the very
people it has pledged to serve by revoking aspects of religious freedom. The
State has coerced religious institutions to violate their conscience to service
gay marriage. It has required Christian businesses to pay for services and even
perform services that violate their religiously guaranteed rights, to their own
destruction. Some Christians have already elected to surrender both business
and vocation to this onslaught rather than choosing compromise.
What will happen when the church is required to perform gay
marriage? It will tear the church in two!
We must not put our hope in man or even in our Western
institutions. They are capitulating as clapboard buildings before a tsunami
(Jer. 17:5-7). Our trust must be in God alone (Psalm 62).
However, this trust does not
preclude seeking justice. It is precisely because we trust in God that we trust
that He will empower our words and hands. It is because we trust God that we
endeavor to cry out for our persecuted brethren.
If we trust Him, we will do what He says! What does He say? He
tells us to let His truth shine through us (Mat. 5:14-16). He tells us to love
our brothers, and, by doing this, our oppressors might come to believe (John
13:35; 17:20-24). He also promises that the justice of our cause will
eventually prevail:
- Commit
your way to the Lord; trust
in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the
dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun…For evil men will be
cut off, but those who hope in the Lord
will inherit the land. (Psalm
37:5-9)
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