Marriage Wars: No More Cheap Excuses

Francis Schaeffer once said words to this effect about abortion and the responsibility of the churches: “There should be a sign in front of every abortion clinic that reads: ‘Open by permission of the church’.” There is of course plenty of truth in that statement.

While there are many churches and Christians who are standing against abortion, there certainly are far too many which are not. By failing to be salt and light in this area, we have allowed the abortion holocaust to continue largely unabated. And we will have blood on our hands as a result.

The same is tragically true in the marriage wars. Far too many believers, churches, and church leaders have said and done nothing in this key battle. They have sat back and watched this most fundamental of institutions be ravaged and destroyed by the militants.

The silence of the churches has simply been deafening here. Given that marriage is the key institution made by God, appearing in the opening chapters of Genesis, and still going strong in the closing chapters of Revelation, how in the world can believers be so blasé about it?

How can they not care about something which God cares about so very deeply? How can they not be fully concerned and fully involved in the defence of this most basic and crucial of all God’s gifts to us? How can they just sit by in blatant apathy and indifference?

We have abandoned our responsibilities here as believers big time, and we will one day have to give an account before our Lord as to why we allowed his endearing institution to be lost without a fight. We will then have nothing to say, as we hang our heads in shame, realising how reckless and disobedient we were.

So if marriage is destroyed in Australia and believers did nothing to prevent this from happening, what will they tell God when they stand before him? What lame excuses will they seek to drag up? What lousy justifications will they try to offer? Well, many cheap excuses come to mind here:

-But I was just so busy watching TV and playing games
-Oh, I did not think you cared that much about marriage
-I didn’t want to be seen as judgmental
-But our church was more interested in entertainment and feeling good about ourselves
-I did not want to offend anyone
-You really did not expect me to take my faith seriously did you?
-I thought Christianity was just a private affair
-Jesus did it all, so I just enjoyed the free ride
-Religion and politics don’t mix
-We are just supposed to save souls
-But I did not want to rock the boat
-It did not seem like a loving thing to do to defend marriage
-We are meant to be peacemakers and not cause any trouble
-I was so busy looking after myself and my wants that I just could not get involved
-I really did not think that redefining marriage would be so important
-The church is not supposed to be divisive
-I was in the process of getting a new high score in my Facebook game
-It seemed polishing my new car was more important
-I did not want to upset anyone or lose any friends over this
-Believers should not be involved in worldly issues like politics
-Jesus does not want us to be so unloving and divisive
-The world is going down the tubes anyway, so why waste time trying to reform it?
-But my favourite sporting events were on at the time
-I did not want to appear to be too radical

Please feel free to add your own lousy excuses here. Plenty more could be offered. But not one of them will stand up on that day when we stand before him. We will instead realise in an instant what fools and disobedient rascals we were.

Our heads will hang in shame as we realise what selfish and rebellious Christians we have been. Those outstretched, nail-scarred hands will remind us immediately that Jesus gave everything for us, while we couldn’t even get off the stupid  TV for a few minutes to stand up for his most precious institution.

Well did Bonhoeffer say, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”

And well did Leonard Ravenhill say, “Many pastors criticize me for taking the Gospel so seriously. But do they really think that on Judgment Day, Christ will chastise me, saying, ‘Leonard, you took Me too seriously’?”

So let me ask you again: what are you doing right now to save marriage? If you are not doing anything, why not? What lousy excuses will you offer to your Lord when you appear before him?

[807 words]