Praise and protest broke out in Iowa this week as the Supreme Court in that state ruled to legalize homosexual marriage; proof that a law degree and an appointment to the Supreme Court does not an intellectual giant make.

For all the places we disagree, God Bless the four Catholic Bishops of Iowa who issued a wise statement saying in part:

This decision rejects the wisdom of thousands of years of human history. It implements a novel understanding of marriage, which will grievously harm families and children.

This unwarranted social engineering attacks the good that marriage offers to society, especially the good of children, and weakens the critical relationship between marriage and parenting.

Let’s set one thing straight. I am not anti-homosexual. I am anti-homosexual behavior & practice. I understand that people have “issues” in their life that are confusing and troublesome, and propensities that if unrestrained lead to unacceptable behaviors. But those issues and propensities are no license to sin. If they were, we’d probably all have murdered someone long ago, we men of presently understood good character would spread our genes with wanton abandon, and drowning your sorrows in your chemical of choice would be accepted as “the right way” to deal with your issue.

It is my understanding of scripture (the Bible, which I hold to be authoritative in the matters of morality to which it speaks—and if you don’t that might explain why you could disagree with me on this issue. So what is your source of authority? Really? Does it extend outside of yourself? Is it decided by popular vote? Where does the buck stop? Is that your final answer? Or, is it still subject to change?) that homosexual behavior is sinful, as are stealing, gluttony, drunkenness, divisive behavior, fits of anger, and gossip to name a few. There is no ranking of better or worse among them. These are sins; a manifestation of the chaos which ensues when man declares himself independent of God.

Unfortunately, people of otherwise good sense have grown weak on this issue; first weak in their minds, and then in their resolve. In a misdirected spirit of cooperation and in effort to get along with others we’ve too quickly chosen to embrace the mantra “live and let live.” As a result, we who know better find ourselves sleepily sliding into an attitude of “Ah, if they wanna get married, let ‘em. Who cares?” And that my friend, is a problem. If you are guilty of it you need to repent (that means “turn around”) and stand up for what is simply right.

It stands to reason that for something to be “endorsed by a society” it must be acceptable if everyone in a society did the thing. With regard to this issue, if everyone practiced homosexuality the species would die out. To a simple mind like mine, that’s proof enough that it’s not part of God’s design or intent for those He created, any more than it was his intent that the Shakers abstain from sexual relations. That particular approach hasn’t served them very well (though some of us inherited fine furniture when the Shakers died out thanks to their warped notion.)

The old jokes about God making Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve aside, it is simply a fact that marriage between a man and a woman is woven into the fabric of society throughout human history. Husbands and wives having children, raising families, working, producing in the economy, seeking a better life, taking care of their neighbor——-that’s the foundation of our culture in America. Beyond our shores, a husband and a wife is the very building block of human culture.

Homosexuals don’t like it when we ask “What’s next? Marrying your pet? It stands to reason since I know you love him.” The pro-homosexuality movement believes this to be talking down to them. It isn’t. It isn’t even about them. It’s about the slippery slope humans find themselves on when they abandon logic, common sense, and the moral underpinnings of human history.

If in our enlightenment we decide that this suddenly isn’t a moral wrong, then what keeps us in the future from changing other bedrock principles of human dignity from overtly wrong, to suddenly right? What keeps us from deciding that euthanizing the infirm isn’t wrong? We’ve all seen situations where death was welcome. Why not hasten it? And if euthanasia is good for us, what about people whose medical care is deemed “too expensive” or those who are no longer productive in our society. Wouldn’t it be alright to exterminate them as well? Now that I think about it, there are people of a different political and philosophical persuasion than me. I don’t think they are good for America. Let’s exterminate them.

Where does it stop? Why does it stop? If there are no moral absolutes, then there are no moral absolutes. If there are absolutes, from where do they come? It must be from some source other than yourself, otherwise my absolute can trump your absolute and ultimately it comes down to the biggest bully wins.

Think about this: I don’t like my neighbor. Why can’t I kill him? He’s no different than a rabid dog to me. Shoot him!

Oh, but wait. I can’t do that. Why not? It’s wrong! What makes it wrong? Why is it wrong? I just want to live in peace and I can’t as long as he’s my neighbor, so get him out of the way. Don’t I have a right to the pursuit of happiness?

You see, you do believe there is right and wrong. You wouldn’t let me shoot my neighbor. A sense of right and wrong is internal to all humans, sharpened by teaching and enlightenment. In fact, enlightenment should provide greater clarity regarding morality, rather than plunging us into murky darkness which envelopes those for whom there are no absolutes.

What’s required in times like these, and really in all times, is for good men and women of sound character and intellect to stand and speak truth. With regard to this issue the truth is homosexual desire and behavior is not in the natural order of things. The truth is homosexual activity is sin. The truth is there are absolutes. The truth is no other sexual behavior in human history is formally codified as acceptable. We do it, but we don’t have a law that says we can do it. In fact, laws are about taking rights away, not giving them. We don’t pass laws to give rights. In his comparatively primitive day Thomas Jefferson knew rights were “unalienable.”

I encourage you when this topic comes up around the water cooler, at the mailbox, or over the lunch table to lovingly and non-rabidly, with great gentleness, speak the simple truth. Be a leader who is strong for that which is good and right. It is much easier to just not say anything, or to acquiesce to the militant demands of those who want us to agree with them. It’s easier to tickle their ears in agreement than to risk their scorn in disagreement. Yet I am convinced that only weak men and women always agree. People of strength and leadership are unafraid to engage disagreement because they recognize that such discourse is necessary for the working out, dusting off, and mining from the earth of human thought those concepts and ideas that are best and right for themselves and all the people they represent and to whom they’ll leave the world.

In human relations there are areas that are gray and murky where we may be forced to come to “best effort” conclusions that may in fact miss the mark. But let us not be confused on something as simple and foundational as the understanding that marriage is between one man and one woman. You and I must be men and women of gracious leadership who stand strong in the face of criticism and insist that there are indeed some things that are wrong and some things that are right. Though flawed ourselves, we are able to discern the difference. Will we have the courage to speak the truth?

Go make a difference!

(March 8, 2009 in the air somewhere over Oklahoma) The 9:00 a.m. news today bore the story of a man I knew. Pastor Fred Winters was shot to death this morning in the pulpit of the church he pastored in Maryville, IL.

Fred and I weren’t friends. I hadn’t seen him in over 20 years; since we used to sit in the same small classes in seminary. But I knew him. These tragedies always seem to happen elsewhere to someone you don’t know. But this time……I knew him.

The Apostle Peter said in chapter 5 of his first epistle that the devil is our opponent, and that he is roaming about like a roaring lion seeking people to devour. This time it was Fred. In devouring Fred he certainly scarred the Winters family, the Maryville church, the citizens of that area, and to a much lesser degree all of us.

It has become popular these days to pooh-pooh talk of evil verses good, or to mislabel the imperfect actions of well-intentioned men (GWB) as evil. Those of us who know the difference between good and evil must speak into the wisdom-vacuum on this topic and call it what it is: the work of our enemy.

I’m not the kind of Christian who sees a Boogie-man behind ever bush, or evil in every person who simply disagrees with me. But I do know the enemy has waited in hiding for me and struck my life in various ways and times, and that I was ill equipped to respond or even to recognize his threats.

I don’t recall in 46 years of church-going, Bible study, or seminary ever being taught how to engage the devil, or protect against him, let alone attack turf that he controls. Yet the Bible clearly states that the defensive gates of hell shall not prevail against those of us who are the Church.

When locked in battle, like the one Fred Winters lost today, or the micro battles we fight daily even with the ones that we love, we must remember the Apostle Paul’s wisdom to us Ephesians 6, that we battle not against flesh and blood, but against world forces of darkness, against spiritual forces in heavenly places. In Maryville, IL a gunman held the weapon, but Satan pulled the trigger.

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal (of the weak flesh) but mighty, for the destruction of strongholds the enemy has in the lives of people (II Cor 10:2). We have the power, but we don’t use it well, and often not at all.

Wise up! Don’t be afraid, but also don’t remain unaware. The Kingdom of Darkness is always trying to steal from the Kingdom of Light.

Speak up! Call evil what it is.

Man up! Speak clearly. Address Satan verbally (aloud), forcefully, and clearly. Leave no mistake about what’s God’s and command him to keep his hands off. The Bible promises in James 4 that if we resist (that’s being active, not passive) the Devil he will flee, and that if we draw near to God (again, action on our part) that God will draw near to us.

To Hell with the devil. And God bless the family of Fred Winters and the First Baptist Church of Maryville, IL.