When error and falsehood come our way, it is never a trickle but a flood. We do not just get a few cases of deception and false teachings, but heaps of them. It seems that lies and deceit have a snowball effect, and when you start getting some of it, you soon have plenty more following suit.
As one clear example, it seems like just days ago I penned a piece refuting a ludicrous and senseless piece by a Christian leader telling us why we must fully support homosexual marriage. Oh yeah, it WAS just days ago – see here: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2017/08/03/not-argue-homosexual-marriage/
But sadly these articles are a dime a dozen. They are everywhere. And to be honest I have had a gutful of them. They push so much falsehood, nonsense and illogic that they do my head in. And my heart hurts as well to see this avalanche of untruth and unreason rushing in.
Why does all this remind me of Isaiah 59:15: “Truth is nowhere to be found”? Or Jeremiah 9:3: “Falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land”? Or 2 Timothy 4:4: “They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths”?
I grieve so deeply in my spirit when I read these terrible pieces. They are biblically false, logically vacuous, factually amiss, and spiritually deceptive. They might as well have been written by secular left homosexuals or atheists. Yet they claim to be penned by Christians. This is what really bothers me no end.
We expect those on the other side to run with every bit of falsehood, propaganda and misleading rhetoric they can find, but we sure do not expect folks who name the name of Christ to stand against their own Lord, their own Bible, and their own faith tradition as they peddle known nonsense, and as they rehash the deception of the militants.
The latest example of this is a real doozey. The author – who I never heard of before – claims to hold qualifications in theology. Yet the theological and biblical illiteracy of her piece is just staggering to behold. Indeed, written for an evangelical ethics organisation, there is not one speck of Scripture to be found in her entire piece.
It is simply yet another restatement of the shallow claims forever being made by the homosexual activists. It demonstrates no careful research or deep thinking. It simply rehashes all the old and oft-answered points made by the militants. Why do Christians even do this?
I have replied to so many of these lame pieces over the years in both books and articles that it gets real tiring, real fast. It is just the same old, same old which I and others have dealt with so often before. But they keep trotting out the same old stale “arguments” and trendy organisations keep running with them.
I hate to even draw attention to this atrocious piece, but I have been asked by a few Christians to answer it, so here it is. The link for it is found below. Here then are my brief replies to the six points she makes:
One. Um, words actually matter, and what they signify matters greatly. And the claim that marriage is all over the place, means anything to anyone, and has no fixed content and definition has long been claimed by the radical leftist social engineers. I have refuted this revisionism often. See for example the research I offer with 115 footnotes in chapter 4 of my book Strained Relations.
And we must always bear in mind that social engineering is always preceded by verbal engineering. Play fast and loose with language and you can play fast and loose with a culture and its institutions. Thus it is imperative that we be strong on the meaning of words and concepts, and not succumb to sloppy relativism here.
Two. Of course homosexuals already have all the same legal benefits and rights as anyone else, and they have been given plenty of relationship recognition as well. Which is why the plea for marriage is so meaningless. Most do not even want marriage, and they can publicly celebrate and promote their relationships now if they prefer.
They do not need to further undermine and destroy the institution of marriage by redefining it out of existence. And as I carefully document, many of them have admitted that what they mean by marriage has nothing to do with the normal understanding of marriage. But this writer and so many others like her are totally oblivious to all this.
So why do they need even more acknowledgement and recognition? Threesomes, polygamy, group marriage, and incestuous relationships, to name but a few “alternative lifestyles,” also already exist. Should we “acknowledge” all of them as well? Should we grant them marriage rights as well? If not, why not?
And please don’t tell me no one is demanding the full legalisation and public recognition of these other types of relationships. As I have carefully documented in various books and articles, they most certainly are. This is the slippery slope in action, the one that progressive Christians keep pretending does not exist.
Three, Oh good grief, here we go again with utterly foolish remarks about a theocracy, imposing our values, etc. I expect atheists and homosexuals to throw up such red herrings and straw men arguments, but certainly not folks claiming to be intelligent Christians.
To simply affirm the universal and historical definition of marriage over against those who want to radically alter it has absolutely nothing to do with Christians imposing their views on others. Plenty of non-Christians feel the same way, and in a democracy we all have the right to make our case in the public arena.
The militants always claim that we are forcing our morality on others when we simply want a voice on this issue, but when Christians make the same ridiculous charges, it bothers me greatly. But I have dealt with this foolishness far too many times already. See here for some mental and moral clarity on all this: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2015/07/20/are-christians-forcing-their-morality-on-others/
Four. Once again, this writer is utterly clueless about what is actually going on here. The claim that if we legalise homosexual marriage we will reduce homosexual suicide is completely and demonstrably false. Places which have fully embraced homosexuality and homosexual marriage still have very high suicide levels for homosexuals.
It has nothing to do with “homophobia” and the like. Again, I have this all fully documented in my books. Why don’t these people actually do some research instead of just blindly repeating homosexual propaganda and falsehoods? Why are they so mentally lazy that they simply regurgitate the false claims of the activists?
And just take one howler of a statement found here: “I am arguing for the preservation of human life, a deeply Christian concern. If legalising same-sex marriage will contribute to that, let us do it.” For heaven’s sake. Some rapists, murderers and thieves may also feel bad about what they have done and feel the lack of social acceptance and approval, and may therefore take their lives.
So according to this brilliant bit of reasoning, we as Christians must be fully in favour of abolishing all laws against rape, murder and theft to ensure that these people do not feel bad about themselves, do not feel social disapprobation, and do not self-harm. Oh Puh-leeese.
Five. God’s truth is applicable to everyone, not just to Christians. That is, God has given us general laws which apply to all people, via the state. God has created the institution of the state to curtail evil and administer justice, and he expects all people – saved or not – to abide by the laws so set up. It is foolish in the extreme to argue that only Christians should be expected to keep these laws.
One might as well argue that we cannot expect a non-Christian to observe speed limits, stop murdering people, refrain from running stop signs, or ease up on lying. Yeah right, try telling that to a judge. This idea that we have utterly nothing to say to unbelievers on moral and social issues is just ludicrous, as well as patently unbiblical.
And her unhelpful understanding of what our Christian mission is all about is really quite frightening. She says, “Our message to them ought not to be about the goodness of traditional marriage, but about the goodness, beauty, freedom, truth and comfort of the person of Jesus.”
Um no, you cannot separate these whatsoever. They are a package deal and they belong together. You might as well make a silly claim that we should talk to non-believers about the truth of Jesus but never mention his truth claims about things such as sin, morality, righteousness and so on.
The goodness and beauty and freedom of Jesus are all fully tied together with his actual teachings, including all of his ethical teachings. And as he made clear time and time again, if you claim to love him, you must obey him. And that includes obeying what he had to say about the institution of marriage.
Six. Witness? Are you kidding me? We are going to somehow offer a great witness to the world by siding with sin and immorality? We are going to offer a sterling witness to the world by effectively telling God he is wrong, and refusing to obey God’s word? Yeah right, great witness.
No wonder the church is dying all over the West. When you baptise sin, evil and unrighteousness, and simply run with the world’s faulty notions of tolerance and acceptance, you have already lost. Why not just stop all the Christian pretence and admit you think and act just like the pagans do?
Her concluding line is among the most disingenuous and damaging of her entire piece: “The injunctions to care for the vulnerable and to make Jesus known are critical, and move me towards a ‘yes’ vote.” Um, you do not help the vulnerable by lying to them. The most loving and Christlike thing we can tell a homosexual is they do not have to be this way, and Christ is able to set them free if they so desire.
But this gal refuses to give these people such biblical hope. She just wants them trapped in their dead-end and sinful lifestyle, heading to a lost eternity. That sure is not how I understand biblical compassion. And you are not making Jesus known to anyone when you twist his teachings, deny the Word of God, and side with the activists. That is actually hiding Jesus from others.
The truth is I have little time at all for such blatantly unbiblical, irrational and emotive pieces. As I say, I expect pagans to carry on with all this nonsense, but it grieves me greatly that people who say they are disciples of Christ run with this, and with organisations that claim to represent biblical ethics.
This is why we keep losing. With Christian friends like these, who needs enemies?
http://www.ethos.org.au/online-resources/Engage-Mail/six-reasons-to-vote-yes#.WZYAUFqzFVA.facebook
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