Choose You This Day

If anyone has been reading my blog postings (to date) they may falsely accuse me of being homophobic and a bigot; they might wrongly conclude that I hate gay people and lack the love of Jesus that I’ve proclaimed for the past 37-years of ordained ministry.  If that is their best analysis, then they are no doubt those simple-minded people who take the words of Jesus out of context and love to proclaim – “Jesus loves everyone … regardless …” Really?  Think again!

 

Since the time in which Christ Jesus established His Church some 2000 years ago, the Church has distinguished between the ‘sin’ and the ‘sinner.’  We can say with certainty that Jesus loves all people; but righteously hates the sinful acts of a deprived humanity.  In fact, God came to earth in the person of His beloved Son to die for the homosexual (and every other sinner); to shed His sinless blood on Calvary’s cross for the redemption of every repentant human being; and there paid the price for our sins, and provide the free (for us) but costly (for Him) gift of salvation.  Clearly, Jesus loves gays and lesbians; but hates the abominable acts of homosexuality as contrary to the truth of God’s Holy Word.

 

Undeniably, the Christian biblical worldview runs against the grain of today’s progressive thinking.  Many of America's young have come to accept that homosexuality is a natural preference of a significant minority and ought to be accommodated; and same-sex unions ought to be treated as traditional marriages.

 

Case in point: At George Washington University, two students have demanded that Father Greg Shaffer of the Newman Center be removed for creating an environment hostile to gays.  The priest's offense:  When President Obama endorsed same-sex marriages, Shaffer posted a blog restating Catholic teaching condemning homosexual acts as unnatural and immoral.  In private sessions, Father Shaffer also counseled gay students to remain celibate for the rest of their lives.  One senior, Damian Legacy, says he was shaken by Father Greg's admonition that he was risking his soul and by his ouster from the Newman Center after the priest learned he was in a relationship with a male student.  Legacy and his partner have filed complaints against the Rev. Shaffer with the university Office for Diversity and Inclusion, alleging his homophobia has had a detrimental effect on the emotional health of gay students.

 

Though a minor collision in the cultural war, this clash at GWU may be a forerunner of what is coming … as the homosexual community seeks to have its agenda written into law and openly practiced in society.  The traditional Christianity's view … that homosexual acts are immoral and same-sex marriage an absurdity … cannot be reconciled with the view that homosexuality is natural and normal, and gay marriage a human right.  Like abortion, it is an issue on which both sides cannot be right.  Yet it is an issue of paramount importance both to devout Christians and to the homosexual rights movement in America.

 

While today’s culture war may seem as a little skirmish, we have not begun to see the magnitude of battle.  A new era of civil disobedience is being prepared among the true people of God.  Which side will you be found to enlist your faithful service?  Choose you this day whom you will serve.  Like Joshua, I will serve the LORD!

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel