Don’t Die on the Wrong Hill

The battle that so-called “Christianity” in America is waging against same-sex marriage is a wrong hill to die on–not just a bad hill or an undeserving one, a wrong one.

While homosexuality is clearly defined as immoral in the Bible, the response from the American “church” is entirely unlike Christ. Satan has suckered us into a position where we are fighting a selfish battle we deserve to lose and, truly, had already lost before it was ever really begun, both spiritually and in the popular mind.

First, what is the Christian response to homosexuality?

I begin here by reiterating a point that no Christian should need to hear twice, because scripture is clear. Homosexuality IS immoral. (See 1 Corinthians 6 and Romans 1. If you really follow Christ, this should be enough to lay that question to rest.)

That said, how would a real Christian respond to a claim of homosexuality in a brother or sister? I promise, it wouldn’t begin with a call to repent, or with a finger pointed in blame ( far less with acceptance). Such a claim should be met with the question “where have we gone wrong?”

This must be belabored, because too many people do not have eyes to see it. Homosexuality is an EFFECT, not a cause. It is an immorality that people are given over to as an indication of other CAUSAL sins. (This is stated plainly in Romans 1.)

As always, brothers and sisters must see each other with love, and love is always the closest possible friend. Homosexuality is no worse a sin than adultery, and far less a sin than pride or contempt or manipulation. If you are confronted with the sin of homosexuality, approach it in another the same way you would approach a sin that you personally are prone to. If you cannot do so, then it is YOU who are in error.

When you see one brother approach another with a pointed finger, beware. That brother is in the hand of Satan.

Now, what was that about the wrong hill?

It would be unjust if the church in America won a battle to strip freedom from others, even the freedom to do wrong. Our country was founded by Christian men on the principle that all men are given the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness BY God. …Those rights are not amended because we disapprove of the mistakes other people make on that pursuit. Why would God listen to us when we demand it be removed so that we can put others back under the law?

We are ASKING God to lend a hand in whitewashing what we know to be a tomb. Do you really think He is such a fool?

There are about a million ways in which that battle could have been fought justly–or at least not unjustly. The freedom of worship, for example, would have been a rock on which this battle might have been fought–instead of a sad footnote, left broken and near death in the wreckage.

The American church has branded itself with the iron of the pharisees, and it hasn’t even the secular power to make its decrees meaningful.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

When it comes right down to it, the ONLY effect the church has achieved by dying on this hill is to make God look weak and petty before all the world by association. This was not His battle the church just lost, or He would have fought it and won, but it IS His name that we’re dragging through the mud.

It seems to me that if the church is so apostate that it is willing to swallow camels and swat at gnats, a good dose of the fear of God is due us.

Yes, our nation is due a judgment, but it is NOT because of a sin like homosexuality as some would have you believe. It is because we, like Sodom, have “…pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease…” Ezekiel 16:49

In fact, America is in precisely the same position the house of Israel was in, as seen in Ezekiel 16. Let that sink in a bit. It’s scary.

Woe be unto America, but even more, woe be unto the body of the American church that has fought to whitewash this tomb instead of opening it up for cleansing.

The Problem of Religion

What should we believe? (And in believing, what practices/traditions/rules should we follow?) This is the key question that has led to every single schism and ism in the history of Churchianity.

I was once told that now, being free of the Law of Sin and Death we are brought under the Law of the Spirit.

This suggests that, as Christians, we have been freed from the old law and put under a new law, which leads us to life instead of being a schoolmaster that teaches us of our sin and leads us to death.

A great deal of time is spent in the New Testament rebuking this idea, (See Galations. Any/all of it.) So what is the alternative? If we, being under grace, are free of the law, are we not called to do or be anything specific? To follow SOME rules?

No. We aren’t.

In fact, everything is permissible for us. EVERYTHING. (oh the mischief I could get up to…)

What is Christianity without Christ? …Nothing. …Oh.

We are not specifically called to do or be anything as Christians. We are NOT called to follow a particular creed or set of rules. Everything IS permissible to us…

But who is us?

Isn’t everything permissible for me if I just decide it’s so? Short of another human being stopping me, what consequence is there? (And wouldn’t that same human being, usually with a badge and a gun stop a Christian or an anarchist-hedonist-atheist just as quickly?)

So now, what difference is there between a Christian and an anarchist-hedonist-atheist?

The answer is simple.

Christ.

Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life.

Do you love Christ?

Given the choice between doing ANYTHING YOU WANT and doing what He wants, which will you choose?

Everything is permissible for us, because we are trusted, beloved of Him.

We are not called to live under the law. We are called to follow the Lord, He who fulfilled the law and assures us that not one jot or tittle of it will pass away until the end of the world.

Do not follow the law. Follow the Life.

We are told that everything is permissible for us (and it IS true) as an encouragement not to be afraid, or ashamed, or accusatory, or judgmental, or divisive….the list goes on.

Fellowship with all brothers and sisters. Do not let meaningless nonsense separate you from each other. Do not let ANYTHING separate you from each other.

This was never a call to agree on everything (or be libertine, for that matter). Disagree, argue, learn, grow, live. Do it ALL in fellowship and unity in Christ.

THIS is our commandment.