October 2, 2008

Marriages in America: Changes Needed

(by Email from a San Jose State University Grad Student)

My Friend's Recent Response to his Aunt:

This same sex marriage issue always leads me to recall two specific chapters from Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. Chapter 5 on Sexual Morality, and Chapter 6 on Christian Marriage (here <goog_1222968263550 is a link to the entire text <http://lib.ru/LEWISCL/mere_engl.txt ). These chapters were written during the time when contraceptives were making sex outside of marriage safer (with public opinion growing more accepting of the indulgence), and when divorce was beginning to be seen as an acceptable way to solve marriage difficulties. However, the truths behind what he wrote in those chapters are valid to this same sex marriage issue, which I'd like to discuss in a minute.

What got me thinking about all this was a line from that Prop.8 video embedded in your email, one of the last lines actually, that said, "If Prop. 8 fails, every household with children will find themselves talking to their children about same sex marriage." At first, I didn't see this as a problem. I thought airing out the subject is a great idea. I mean, if you really think that same sex marriage is going to be the ruin of the U.S., then why wouldn't you bring it up with your children. But Lewis writes:

"They tell you sex has become a mess because it was hushed up. But for the last twenty years it has not been hushed up. It has been chattered about all day long. Yet it is still in a mess. If hushing up had been the cause of the trouble, ventilation would have set it right. But it has not. I think it is the other way round. I think the human race originally hushed it up because it had become such a mess....I think that [the current state of sex] is everything to be ashamed of."

He goes on to write about how our sexual drives and instincts have become a wrong kind of appetite. It has become a broken appetite, treating sex like the animals treat it, without any kind of reverence. However, Lewis goes on to write:

"Finally, though I have had to speak at some length about sex, I want to make it as clear as I possibly can that the center of Christian morality is not here. If anyone thinks that Christians regard unchastity as the supreme vice, he is quite wrong. The sins of the flesh are bad, but they are the least bad of all sins. All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back-biting; the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two things inside me, competing with the human self which I must try to become. They are the Animal self, and the Diabolical self. The Diabolical self is the worse of the two. That is why a cold, self-righteous prig who goes regularly to church may be far nearer to hell than a prostitute. But, of course, it is better to be neither."

It was the next chapter on divorce and marriage that shaped my current view about same sex marriage. Lewis writes:

"A great many people seem to think that if you are a Christian yourself you should try to make divorce difficult for every one. I do not think that. At least I know I should be very angry if the Mohammedans tried to prevent the rest of us from drinking wine. My own view is that the Churches should frankly recognize that the majority of the British people are not Christians and, therefore, cannot be expected to live Christian lives. There ought to be two distinct kinds of marriage: one governed by the State with rules enforced on all citizens, the other governed by the Church with rules enforced by her on her own members. The distinction ought to be quite sharp, so that a man knows which couples are married in a Christian sense and which are not."

How can we expect anyone who is not a Christian to live a life based on biblical values? It would be like aliens coming down and telling us that we have to live according to their laws. But as you know, we're the aliens here. We are the strangers in a strange land. Personally, I'm surprised that the parents in the Massachusetts case were surprised to find out that questionable things are being taught in public schools. I was even more surprised to hear that the father was surprised when he found himself being arrested for disorderly conduct when he tried to bully the teaching faculty into giving him his way.

Without the Spirit of God in us, convicting us, guiding us (and then forgiving us) how the heck could we even dream of living Christ-like? Yet some Christians want to use law to make others live a Godly life. This just won't work. How is this kind of law any different than the law of the synagogue leaders 2000 years ago? Like us, the synagogue leaders had the original word of God, but, also like us, they overlooked the greatest law which is to love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, and mind and the second greatest law to love you neighbor as yourself.

With that said, if you can convince me that God the Father, Son, and Spirit are the authors of Proposition 8, then I will vote YES on it. However, if He can't be shown to be this law's author, then I will consider Proposition 8 to be no different than one of the laws flowing out of the synagogue during 30 A.D.

If someone just doesn't like gay people or the idea of gay people, and doesn't want them to get married, then that person also has the freedom and right to vote YES on Proposition 8. But calling the church to rally for a law that forces non-church goers to follow church laws is like rallying for a law that will force a cat to bark like a dog.

What I WOULD vote "YES ON" is for a law that would require born-again Christians to love the Lord and their neighbors. But, as you know, this law has already been written and "executed" nearly 2000 years ago. It's a law that is already in effect.

Because I know that the most important moral-compass-pointing law is already being broken by us, it's hard to take it seriously when someone tells me that these marriages are destroying America's values. I wish I could be in San Diego on November 1st to stand there and beg the Christians not to use same sex marriages as the scape-goat for the guilt of the laws we've already broken.

Original Email from an Aunt:

This is breaking my heart. Please watch the video that is referred to in the message.

Note: forwarded message attached.

Attached Message:

From: "MorningStar Ministries" <noreply@morningstarministries.org
Subject: Urgent Summons - A Message from Lou Engle

***Please help us spread the word by forwarding this message***
Urgent Summons to California - A Message from Lou Engle:

Dear Friends of TheCall,

Once again, as you know, we are in a moment of extraordinary crisis in America. These elections will shape the future of our nation for the next 40 years. The future of millions of unborn children and wounded mothers is at stake. The judges that will be appointed by the next president will help determine whether or not America will fully turn away from the fixed moral standards of God's loving laws.

If that were not enough, California has now legalized same-sex marriage and the implications of this ruling are so far-reaching that it demands an immediate and urgent response from the church. I am emailing our entire email list this most profound video describing a true incident that has taken place in Massachusetts, the only other state that has legalized same-sex marriage. When you watch it, you will understand that we are in a spiritual battle that calls for desperate fasting and prayer.

On November 1, we are summoning the church from across California and the nation to gather together in united fasting and prayer at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego to take a stand for marriage in California.

As California goes, in many ways, so goes the nation. A major prayer leader from Egypt spoke to me and said that he had been weeping over California because he knew that if this law is not reversed by the vote of Californians on November 4, a spirit will spread across the world that will be stronger than Islam. It is a spirit of lawlessness, and that spirit will affect every nation. He said, "Lou, please call the whole world to pray for California on November 1 through God TV."

My brothers and sisters, many of my friends are saying that TheCall California will be the most significant Call we have ever done. It is not just about California it is about the whole nation.

I am appealing to you who have stood by TheCall these years to drop everything to come to Qualcomm Stadium and join this mighty prayer battle that is going on. Nehemiah, in a time of spiritual warfare said, "We are widely divided along this wall, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, gather to me there, and there the Lord will fight for us." There are certain spiritual powers of darkness that will not be restrained unless we are willing to gather. God promises if we will do that, He will fight for us. "This kind does not come out but by prayer and fasting."

Please do not skip over this email lightly right now. Please, watch the video now and be stirred to take a stand.

Consumed by TheCall,

Lou Engle

Click here to watch this important video

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November 1, 2008
Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA
If you plan to come to TheCall California, please help us by registering.
Registration is required for planning and logistical purposes.

In California? Click here for a list of upcoming Pre-Call Rallies in your area!

________________________________
40 Days of Prayer & Fasting: Sept 24 - Nov 2

For 40 days, there will be two strategic prayer strikes coordinated on both coasts. TheCall is leading the 40 days in California with a strong focus on the marriage amendment facing California voters on November 4th. At the same time, Bound4LIFE is leading 40 days in Washington, DC with an intensified focus on the presidential election and righteous judges on the Supreme Court.

We believe that the fate of the nation hangs in the balance between these two seats of power and influence. History belongs to the intercessor! Will you join with us these 40 days?

Visit www.TheCall.com/FaceDown40 <http://www.TheCall.com/FaceDown40 for more information and daily devotionals.

lambert@ldolphin.org