Last night a buddy and I went to the Tall Timbers GA/FL Turkey hunting invitational banquet prior to today’s tournament. It was scheduled to be held outdoors and I knew it would be cold by the time it wrapped up.
My friend showed up and was dressed as though it was summertime with no jacket. I looked at him like he was crazy and mentioned that it would be cold and asked if he wanted to borrow one of my jackets. He looked at me with disdain and said something to the effect of me being a sissy girlie boy and then he made a big deal of telling me it was like summertime out there.
I was wearing a down vest and my hunting jacket and told him that before the night was over he would be asking to borrow one or both.
We arrived and checked out all of the new turkey calls and caught up with friends not seen since last year’s event. As the sun began to disappear I noticed that it was getting colder and colder and just prior to the banquet I asked my friend for the keys to his truck in order to retrieve my nice warm coat. I sarcastically asked if he wanted me to get his and then said, “Oh I’m sorry, I forgot you didn’t bring one because it’s like ‘summertime’ out here”. He shot me a defiant look and flung his keys at me.
The banquet dragged on and on for an hour as the keynote speaker recounted story after story of his turkey hunting exploits and the glory of the tradition of turkey hunting. By now my buddy was visibly shivering. I casually looked at him and smiled my warmest smile as I zipped up my nice warm coat and asked, “Comfy?”
He muttered something unfit to print and tried to pretend he wasn’t cold. Finally, mercifully, the event ended and we headed for the truck. My buddy looked at me and sheepishly told me that he was freezing. I told him I was nice and warm. On the way home he turned his heater on full blast to the point that I had to let the window down.
My friend’s attitude about refusing to take sound advice reminds me of sin. Too often we embark on a course of sinning and God gently reminds us that we should refrain from it and then He often mentions the consequences of such action. But too often, (like my buddy) we smugly go about it as if He didn’t warn us ahead of time and then we suffer the consequences.
Sometimes the consequence of sin is nothing more than a guilty conscience and other times it is far more serious. Take drinking alcohol to excess as an example; the consequence for overindulgence might be a hangover and then again it might mean a DUI or a fatal car crash.
Many non-Christians don’t understand the Bible. They think it is written to restrict them from having fun, when in reality it is written out of love to help God’s children avoid the ravages of sin.
Take homosexuality as an example, according to current media’s portrayal of gay and lesbian relationships they are every bit as healthy, stable and loving as heterosexual marriages — or even more so. Medical associations are promoting somewhat similar messages.
Sexual relationships between members of the same sex, however, expose gays, lesbians and bisexuals to extreme risks of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), physical injuries, mental disorders and even a shortened life span.
For example a far-ranging study of homosexual men published in 1978 revealed that 75 percent of self-identified, white, gay men admitted to having sex with more than 100 different males in their lifetime; 15 percent claimed 100-249 sex partners; 17 percent claimed 250- 499; 15 percent claimed 500-999; and 28 percent claimed more than 1,000 lifetime male sex partners.. An Australian study found that 93 percent of lesbians reported having had sex with men, and lesbians were 4.5 times more likely than heterosexual women to have had more than 50 lifetime male sex partners. Any degree of sexual promiscuity carries the risk of contracting STDs such as AIDS, Herpes, and syphilis and of course extreme degrees such as mentioned almost assure it.
Common sexual practices among gay men not only lead to numerous STDs but physical injuries particularly to the rectum area, some of which are virtually unknown in the heterosexual population.
It is also well established that there are high rates of psychiatric illnesses, including depression, drug abuse, and suicide attempts, among gays and lesbians. This is true even in the Netherlands, where gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) relationships are far more socially acceptable than in the U.S. Depression and drug abuse are strongly associated with risky sexual practices that lead to serious medical problems.
What about the life span of homosexuals? The only epidemiological study to date on the life span of gay men concluded that gay and bisexual men lose up to 20 years of life expectancy.
So is it homophobic for God to warn His beloved children of this behavior? Or is He concerned that this sin will destroy their lives and make them depressed and unhappy?
I can assure you that it is the latter. God doesn’t hate someone who engages in homosexual behavior and genuine Christians don’t either. God demonstrates His love by warning of its consequences. Lest you be smug, He does the same thing concerning adultery, lust, telling lies, stealing, getting angry and other sinful behavior of which we are all guilty as charged.
We should listen to the Spirit. Who in their right mind thinks that following the Ten Commandments would be a bad thing for society; (we shouldn’t lie, steal, commit adultery, murder, etc.)? And yet the media and the arts and entertainment industry lauds decadence as fun and even packages and brands it as fun and brands anyone opposed to their sinful agenda as a right wing Christian bigoted idiot.
AIDS is not gay and it’s not a celebration folks . . .
Well time to go chase a turkey and yes I will dress warmly – don’t know about my buddy. I hope he has learned his lesson but his head is as hard as bone; in fact he is a bonehead.
Have a great weekend and go to Honey Lake Church (or somewhere) this Sunday.
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
March 28, 2014 – Click here to listen