Hi to my Forum Friends,
Last week, watching the news on television, I saw something which really puzzled me. Then, yesterday, listening to my pastor's message, that little "light bulb above my head" lit up -- and I could see clearly the answer.
What did I see that puzzled me? The news station was showing a meeting in Southern California where people were debating Proposition 8, the Same-Sex Marriage ban, which the California Supreme Court recently ruled to uphold. Several people spoke in favor of the ban; then a man who appeared to be in his fifties stood up to speak. He was a conservative, well dressed man -- looking nothing like the characters we see marching in the Gay Pride Parades, or even those hanging around the gay bars in San Francisco and San Diego. The man looked, in all ways, just like any person we might meet on the street. Yet, he is gay. But, what puzzled me was his sincerity when he stood and declared, "God made me this way!"
My immediate reaction was that this man is very sincere; he really does believe that God created him to be gay. How can any rational, intelligent person come to believe something which is so far from the truth?
Then, yesterday, as I was listening to Pastor Omer teach from Proverbs 15 and 16, that small little "light bulb above my head" began to glow -- as I thought to myself, "Everything, good and bad, has a beginning." Think about that. The sin of the world -- began when Eve allowed herself to be deceived by Satan, and Adam, there with her (Genesis 3:6), did nothing to prevent that deceit. That one seed of disobedience birthed all the sin of the world.
Cancer begins with one small cancerous cell. Then, it grows and spreads, until -- if not checked -- it metastasizes all over the body. One corrupted cell -- spreading until it engulfs the entire body.
And, if we are honest with ourselves, we can trace the ills of our American society to one source: How we view the Bible.
Yes, our attitudes toward abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriage -- even murder, rape, thievery, alcoholism; all the ills of our society can be traced to how we view the Bible.
"Okay, Bill, please explain this ridiculous statement!"
Not a problem. Folks either view the Bible in one of two ways -- and this includes believers, non-believers; even atheist, secularists, agnostics -- everyone. We all believe the Bible exists. Some may not believe that God exists -- but, even they will not question that the Bible does, indeed, exist.
So, what are the two ways to view the Bible? The Liberal, and we can lump all the non-believers, atheists, secularist, agnostics, etc., in with our Liberal Christian Friends when discussing their view of the Bible. To the Liberal, et al, the Bible is a good book, worth reading, but it is not the inspired, inerrant Word of God. It is a book written by men to fit their individual beliefs, cultures, and needs, to guide and teach their society of their day. In the mind of the Liberal, the Bible is a book of myths, metaphors, allegories, symbolism, and fables. It can be used to teach moral values, within the limits of society -- but, should never be viewed as a book of absolutes. Basically, their attitude, when we point out a specific Scriptural passage or verse to show them God's position on sins, is, "Well, that is what the Bible says; but, that is not what God really meant." At this point, I have to ask, "If God did not mean it -- why did He say it?" The word "oops" is not in God's vocabulary.
The Conservative, Evangelical Christian will view the Bible as the Holy Spirit inspired, inerrant Word of God -- His revelation to man of all things we need to know to live in this world -- in Biblical times and in our times today. If the Bible tells us that a specific action is wrong, that it is a sin -- then, you can bet your eternal life on it -- that is how God views that action.
So, why did the conservative looking gentleman in the Prop 8 meeting sincerely declare and believe, "God made me this way!"?
Because many centuries ago, sincere Christians, wanting to reach a point of agreement with others who held different views -- began to compromise their beliefs to fit their friends' belief systems. I just received the latest issue of the magazine "Acts & Facts," published by the Institute For Creation Research. The first article is one written by the late Dr. Henry M. Morris, founder of the Institute For Creation Research and himself a scientist and a Bible-believing Christian. The article is titled "Traveling Down The Road To Compromise" -- and from that article I have taken this excerpt:
Charles Darwin set the pattern. Starting out as a Bible-believing creationist, he first became enamored of Charles Lyell's uniformitarianism and his "progressive creationism." Soon he abandoned the Bible and creationism altogether, moving on into the domain of theistic evolutionism. Eventually he became an agnostic and finally an atheist.
Many others in his day followed this compromise road. Darwin's chief opponents, in fact, were scientists, not the theologians of his day.
Once we step away from "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) -- we open the door for a world of compromise. And, we end up with a society of people like the gentleman who sincerely believes, "God made me this way!"
Can we blame this man? No. We can blame the Christians who have allowed the Bible to be down-sized to being just a good book; we can blame the American Psychiatric Association who wants everything to fit into a Freudian mold instead of a God mold; we can blame a society which has a extreme "I" problem, i.e., I want this; I want that; I want the freedom to do what "I" want to do, etc., on and on, ad infinitum.
And, we can blame those who benefit financially from propagating this Liberal view of the Bible and God. Who benefits financially? Well, for one, I don't believe you will find many abortionists living in run down neighborhoods or driving old clunker cars. I believe we can all agree that the popular atheist writers -- Dawkins, Hitchens, et al -- laugh all the way to their banks where they deposit their millions taken from the pockets of their devout followers. And, have you ever wondered why we, so frequently, see these devout men of the atheist religion participating in debates and on talk shows? These debates and talk shows are golden calves, cash cows, for them. Every time one of them is seen in a debate or on a talk show -- their cash registers start ringing.
Who suffers? The people like this gentleman who sincerely declared, "God made me this way!" Society, Liberals, all the anti-God crowd -- all have so convinced this man that "God made him this way!" -- that he is not open to change, to healing, to a cure for his societal illness. Yes, they have firmly convinced him that their way is the right way -- and, one day, they will have to stand before Jesus Christ and explain to Him why they led this man, and billions like him, down the path to destruction.
In Matthew 25:31-46, we read about the Sheep and Goat Judgment which will occur at the end of the Tribulation and before the beginning of the Millennial Reign of Christ on earth. Here, Jesus explains to His disciples how, at that time, He will judge who will go into the Millennial Kingdom with Him -- and who will go into eternal punishment. Those who have convinced this man to believe "God made me this way!" -- will have a hard time explaining their motives to Jesus Christ. And, if these folks have died before the Rapture, Tribulation, Sheep and Goat Judgment, and Millennial Kingdom -- they will still have their audience with Jesus Christ at His Great White Throne Judgment; when all non-believers will stand before Jesus Christ and try to explain their non-belief -- before going to their eternal life with Satan.
My Friends, now is a good time to start taking God's Written Revelation to man -- the Bible -- seriously. God wrote what He meant -- and He meant what He wrote. And, the sooner we all believe and acknowledge this -- the more folks we can lead into eternal security with Him rather than toward eternal destruction without Him. Think about it.
Then, commit yourself to sharing the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, the true Gospel of Salvation -- with all your Friends, Relatives, Associates, and Neighbors -- all your FRANs. Wouldn't you rather have the eternal satisfaction of knowing you may have helped one FRAN to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior -- rather than the eternal pain of knowing you may have helped lead one FRAN into eternal destruction by what you tell him/her about God's Word, the Bible? Think about it.
How Do YOU View The Bible?
God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,
Bill
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