I Walk with The King

To Heavenly Land; the Kingdom of Right–the Pathway of Light…

Tag Archives: Government


by 4 Comments

Can a Christian Support the Homosexual Lifestyle?

You may be thinking, “Oh great. Another anti-gay rant by another Christian blogger. How original.” Please hear me out.

Our country is at a great moral crossroads concerning the SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage. Understandably, the question about the morality of homosexual behavior has been made the focal point in the dialogue. Is it morally correct to engage in homosexual behavior or not? Well–it depends… and it doesn’t. Here’s what I mean.

For many Christians, there are many moral absolutes. They accept them as Truth, and that they are True regardless if a person’s belief or non-belief. For most non-Christians, there are no/few moral absolutes, and assigning a moral value to a person’s sexual preference is ridiculous. So, for those readers who fall into the non-Christian group–we’re done here. From your perspective, the question is answered, and this debate is silly. You can do what you want to now, and support the cause you feel is best. It’s okay…and it’s not.

So, for the Christians out there, we can have the debate; and we need to, because the community of people who identify as Christians is divided on the subject. Paul asked “Is Christ divided?” in 1 Cor 1:13. It’s a rhetorical question–of course He isn’t. Two people cannot follow the same Master and go opposite directions. Jesus asked another question in Luke 6:46: “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” Great question, Lord. Why? The answer lies in the fact that many desire the emotional comfort of “being a Christian” without the hard work and sacrifice of really being a Christian. And part of that means taking the content of the Bible seriously and applying it consistently in the natural sense to one’s life. Hard stuff.

However, I can say “follow the Bible” all day long and it still doesn’t help move the debate along. The problem is that many Christians (and others) claim the Bible does not forbid homosexual behavior. These same people often claim that the sexual morality proscribed in the New Testament was for a different time, and that since homosexual behavior is widely accepted, that our application of that morality should change. But–was First Century A.D. mainstream culture very different than in 2015?

It wasn’t. Homosexual behavior was common among the Greeks, Romans and many other cultures. It’s depicted in their art and literature, and was socially acceptable even for powerful men in high standing. Repeatedly, the New Testament writers and Apostles discussed sexual morality. In these cases, the message of Jesus, Peter and Paul was not one that conformed to the prevailing culture, but was counter-culture. If there ever was a time to moderate Christianity’s stances on sexual morality to for the sake of inclusivity, it would have been 2,000 years ago!

So, what does the New Testament actually teach? First, it teaches that a thing called “sexual immorality” does exist: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality…” (1 Thess. 4:3). This tells me that some sexual behaviors are against God’s will. Such as homosexuality.

…God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. Romans 1:26-28 ESV

If the above mentioned behaviors do not fall into the category of “sexual immorality” then what does? Rape? Incest? Pedophilia? Bestiality? What happens when these become mainstream? Should Christians accept them, too?

Look, if you want to support the cause of homosexual behavior–fine. Do it from the non-Christian camp. Please don’t confuse people by claiming to be a Jesus-follower AND follow mainstream sexual morality. They aren’t compatible. As a follow-up from the passage above:

“Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:32 ESV

Before you jump to the conclusion about the “deserve to die” line, I’m not promoting violence. As indicated by verse 18, “God’s wrath will be revealed from Heaven,” not carried out by humans. Also, there are plenty of sins that incur this wrath, so I’m not singling this one issue out. I bring up this passage to make my point clear: If you are a Christian, you are forbidden from engaging in homosexual behavior, and forbidden from giving approval of those who do. So please either remove the rainbow colors from your profile picture, or remove your “Christian” label.


by 2 Comments

A Nation of Cowards

I learned something important about America today: we are a nation of cowards. I caught bits of news today as we all learned that the older brother of the Boston Marathon bombers died in a shootout with police, while his younger brother continued to evade arrest. The officials in Boston and the surrounding municipalities put a major U.S. city of approximately 2 million people on a lockdown because of one killer on the loose. One.

A scared 19-year-old kid who felt the entire weight of the United States law enforecement agencies bearing down on him hid in a boat. And 2 million Americans hid in their homes. Our fear-filled response to even small-scale attack (yes–this attack was small-scale) is that we allow other terrorists to witness validation that all they have to do is kill a half dozen of us, injure a few hundred, and the rest hunker and hide. With such a predictable effect, it’s no wonder that enemies of the American people persist in these same tactics, even when fighting overseas.

In difficult times, I tend to seek the words of Jesus Christ for guidence and answers to tough questions. How would Jesus have us respond to acts of terrorism?

“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”  Matthew 10:28 NKJV

See it now? Our response to acts of terrorism is totally opposite of what Jesus commands. There are two commands for us here. First, Jesus commands us not to fear anyone who has the ability to kill our bodies, but have no power over our eternal being. Second, Jesus commands us to fear God; who, if He wishes, can kill the body, but can also condemn us to total, eternal destruction in Hell.

In America, we cower before those evil people who use violence against our lives and the threat of such violence to control and manipulate us. And it works. Every time. At the same time, we pro-actively demonstrate our hatred for God, and deny His power over our very lives and souls. He hate His Word, we hate His ways, we hate His followers.

In the coming days, our citizens and elected officials will join in a debate over the balance between personal freedom and public safety; between government control and national security. I pray that in making decisions about America’s response to future threats, that our leaders will stand tall before our enemies and bow low before God. Until then, I will be no coward. What will you decide?


by Leave a comment

Rights vs. Righteousness – Politics and Religion: Part 2

We have rights. In the U.S.A our rights are more sacred than baseball and apple pie. Our constitution contains a bill of rights. The very core of what the founding fathers believed was based on the rights of the citizenry. I don’t know about you but I’m thankful and proud to be an American and to be able to take part in the rights the constitution guarantees me.

However, I often have to remind myself of my true citizenship. I sometimes forget that though I have rights as an American citizen, my duty as a citizen of God’s Kingdom may not always align with those rights.

“ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.” Eph. 2:19

As an example, let’s consider the Apostle Paul and his missionary partner Silas as they preached in the city of Philippi in Acts 16. They encounter a woman there who was possessed by a “spirit of divination.” Some local men were making a lot money by her fortune telling, and after Paul (by the power of Christ) cast the spirit out these men arranged for the arrest of Paul and Silas.

They were beaten and thrown in to prison, and what follows is a beautiful story of the conversion of the jailor and his family. The next morning the magistrates sent word to release them secretly and Paul had a few choice words to say about the matter.

“ But Paul said to them, ‘They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.’” Acts 16:37

Paul exercised his rights as a Roman citizen, but notice when he did it. He could have done this the day before and saved himself and Silas a beating. But for whatever reason he allowed their arrest and as a result a man and his family were led to Christ.

I don’t pretend to know the reasons Paul did what he did, but I do know that in some cases our rights as U.S. citizens may need to take a back-seat in favor of doing God’s will. It’s the difference between exercising our rights and being righteous.


by Leave a comment

Politics and Religion: Part 1

We live in a culture that is both politically and religiously charged.  As Christians, how are we to conduct our lives in the midst of so much controversy and strife?  What is the separation between our duties to the kingdom of God and duty to our Government? In Matthew 22:17-21, the Pharisees sent their servants to ask Jesus this very question, in an attempt to trap Him by His own words.

“17Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

The wise answer of our Lord served the dual purposes of both answering their question, and exposing their hypocrisy.

18But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? 19“Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius. 20And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” 21They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

I think the main problem is that we try to compartmentalize our lives; our Christian life, our work life, our family life, our political life. But Jesus makes it much simpler for us. Instead, there should be only our lives as Christians. Our service to God and to our government need not, and indeed should not, be mutually exclusive. The two go hand in hand together.

Over the course of my next several blog posts I will explore in greater detail what the Bible has to say about this subject, and how we can incorporate the advice of Jesus into our lives.