July 17 2017 – Click here to listen
I’ve attended several churches where the pastor was quoting Scripture directly from the “The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language.” I’ve read most all translations and decided to obtain this one too and read it. My sons got word I wanted it and gave me a copy as a gift for my birthday or some similar occasion and I started reading it.
It was written by Eugene H. Peterson, a retired Presbyterian minister. I partially read some of it and immediately didn’t like it at all, because I felt it outright distorted the meaning of so many of my favorite passages. I abandoned the project and put it on my bookshelf and haven’t given it another thought until its author, Pastor Peterson, recently expressed his support of same-sex marriage.
He proclaimed in an interview with Religion News Service, “I wouldn’t have said this 20 years ago, but now I know a lot of people who are gay and lesbian, and they seem to have as good a spiritual life as I do.” When asked if he would ever perform a same-sex wedding ceremony had he been working today, he responded, “Yes.” And then went on to say, “I think that kind of debate about lesbians and gays might be over.”
Interestingly after a firestorm of protest from conservative Christians and bookstores threatening to take his books off the shelves, he changed his mind and now has proclaimed he wouldn’t perform a same sex wedding and hopes he will never be asked.
Huh?
So, is he basing his belief system in gay marriage not being sinful entirely upon his good relationship with some “gay” Christian acquaintances who love the Lord, or what is written in the Bible? Is his belief system based on selling books? Is his belief system subject to changing like the wind based in no small part upon criticism by his peers? Is he confused about what he believes?
No nation during the recorded 5000 years of the history of mankind has ever allowed homosexual marriages until Barrack Obama did so during his presidency. As is often the case, many nations have now followed the United States and have passed similar laws. Since then our society has shifted from 25% opposed to accepting this sin as a norm, to 72% now in support of it.
Peterson’s statement, “I think that kind of debate about lesbians and gays might be over” is nothing unique to our country endorsing this sin. Even a cursory look at the Bible reveals societies throughout time abandoning the Word of God to accommodate their sinful desires; read the book of judges to understand this more clearly. The most egregious offense in this regard in modern times was the Lutheran Church in Germany as Hitler began his persecution of the Jews prior to WWII. The church cut the entire Old Testament from the Bible.
Those who know and love the Holy Bible and believe it to be the inerrant, unchanging, Holy Word of God there is no debate and can be no debate upon what it states no matter what society demands.
Why?
We are commanded by God in the Bible to take it as it is written and cannot change it to suit our fleshly opinions of God’s laws to accommodate the everchanging whims of society. In fact, there are dire warnings in Revelation 22:18-19 to anyone who tampers with the biblical text: Jesus warns against distorting His word in any way, whether through additions, subtractions, falsifications, alterations, or intentional misinterpretations. The warning is explicit and dire and the plagues of Revelation will be visited upon anyone guilty of tampering in any way with the revelations in the book, and those who dare to do so will have no part in eternal life in heaven.
Although the warning in Revelation 22:18-19 is specific to the Book of Revelation, the principle applies to anyone who seeks to intentionally distort God’s Word. Moses gave a similar warning in Deuteronomy 4:1-2, where he cautioned the Israelites that they must listen to and obey the commandments of the Lord, neither adding to nor taking away from His revealed Word. Proverbs 30:5-6 contains a similar admonition to anyone who would add to God’s words: he will be rebuked and proven to be a liar. This principle must be applied to the entire revealed Word of God. We must be VERY careful to handle the Bible with care and reverence to not distort its message.
A man can love another man, multiple men and/or women, a woman can love another woman, multiple women/men, one can love their dog, or parakeet, but it doesn’t mean he should marry them. Unfortunately, it seems our permissive society is heading down that road and where it might stop is anyone’s guess.
Society is rejecting God’s laws and turning that way because of our sinful nature. The Bible is clear that homosexuality is a sin, but that does not mean we should hate those who commit this particular sin, because everyone sins. We are to love the sinner and hate the sin the same as Christ does.
Christians are not homophobic or mean-spirited, or bigots because they believe the Bible. The Bible will endure forever. To be sure there are people who will attempt to cut out the parts of the Bible that condemn whatever sin they love and paste in what they want to hear. As we have seen cutting and pasting God’s Holy Word is a dangerous thing.
I urge everyone to read the Bible for themselves. I attribute all of the success I have enjoyed in my life to my study of the Bible and my love for Christ and my attempt at obedience to Him. The closer I’ve come to adhering to the laws of God the happier and more blessed I’ve been in my life. It is when I stray from the Bible, (sin), that I have experienced problems.
I prayed for Pastor Peterson this morning and urge you to do likewise. From what I understand he is a kindly and well-meaning person who perhaps fell into the liberal minded thinking of Seattle Washington where he resides and now is facing a firestorm of controversy. He has been listening to hell and that is where firestorms originate.
2 Timothy 3:16
“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”