Last week, as I worshipped in Santo Domingo at Iglesia\nBautista Internacional, I was reminded that the assault on morality, marriage\nand family is not limited to the borders of the United States. Church leadership at LaIBI described recent\nefforts, initiated by the government, at indoctrination of children through the\neducational system in regards to sexuality, which stand in opposition to the\nWord of God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While certainly disappointing, these developments should not\nbe confusing for believers, particularly for Americans, as we consider both\nScripture and recent developments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, when we look at Romans 1 we can clearly see the\nprogression of immorality from fornication (heterosexual promiscuity) to sexual\nperversion (homosexuality\/gender confusion):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ROMANS CHAPTER 1-5 OUTLINE:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chapters 1\u20133:20 – The Problem of Righteousness<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– The Guilt of the Gentiles (Romans 1:18-32)
– The Guilt of the Jews (Romans 2-3:8)
– The Guilt of all men (Romans 3:9-20)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chapters 3:21\u20135:21 – The Provision of Righteousness<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we look closely at Romans 1:18-32 we see: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reasons for Condemnation (v18-23)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– For suppressing God\u2019s truth (v18)
– For ignoring God\u2019s revelation (v19-20)
– For perverting God\u2019s glory (v21-23)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Results of Condemnation (v24-32) \u2013 \u201cGod gave them over\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Abandoned to fornication (v24-25)
– Abandoned to sexual perversion (v26-27)
– Abandoned to depraved lifestyle (v28-32)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, Denny Burke in the article below, explains the\nDomino Effect that has taken place, specifically within the United States in\nrecent years, beginning with the Sexual Revolution and culminating in our\ncurrent moral free fall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs\nI\u2019ve said in this space many times, the gay marriage campaign succeeded so\nthoroughly and so rapidly in large part because it built on what heterosexuals\nhad already come to believe was true about sex and marriage. Gay marriage was\ninevitable, because straights had already queered sex and marriage via the\nSexual Revolution. Yet gay marriage was a Rubicon for our society because it\ntook those radical shifts past the breaking point, and locked them in to law\nand culture. All that followed was predictable, and it was in fact predicted,\nnot because anybody had a crystal ball, but because it made logical sense.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So what should our response be, as followers of Christ? <\/p>\n\n\n\n I think the following article from Ligonier Ministries by Al\nMohler can be of great assistance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nless than a generation, homosexuality has gone from being almost universally\ncondemned to being almost fully normalized in the larger society.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\nare facing a true moral inversion \u2014 a system of moral understandings turned\nupside down. Where homosexuality was even recently condemned by the society,\nnow it is considered a sin to believe that homosexuality is wrong in any way. A\nnew sexual morality has replaced the old, and those who hold to the old\nmorality are considered morally deficient. The new moral authorities have one\ncentral demand for the church: get with the new program.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nputs the true church, committed to the authority of God\u2019s Word, in a very\ndifficult cultural position. Put simply, we cannot join the larger culture in\nnormalizing homosexuality and restructuring society to match this new morality.\nRecognizing same-sex unions and legalizing same-sex marriage is central to this\nproject.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Liberal\nchurches and denominations are joining the project, some more quickly and\neagerly than others. The cultural pressure is formidable, and only churches\nthat are truly committed to Scripture will withstand the pressure to\naccommodate themselves and their message to the new morality.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What,\nthen, is the true church to do?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n First, we must stand without\ncompromise on the authority of the Bible and the principles of sexual conduct\nand morality that God has revealed so clearly in His Word.<\/em><\/strong> The Bible\u2019s sexual morality is grounded in\nthe creation of humanity in God\u2019s image; we are created as male and female and\ngiven the gift of sex within the marriage covenant \u2014 and only within the\nmarriage covenant between one man and one woman for as long they both shall\nlive.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The\neasiest way to summarize the Bible\u2019s teaching on sexuality is to begin with\nGod\u2019s blessing of sex only within the marriage covenant between a man and a\nwoman. Then, just remember that sex outside of that covenant relationship,\nwhatever its form or expression, is explicitly forbidden. Christians know that\nthese prohibitions are for our good and that rejecting them is tantamount to a\nmoral rebellion against God Himself. We also know that the Bible forbids all\nsame-sex sexual acts and behaviors. Thus, we know that homosexuality is a sin,\nthat blessing it in any way is also sin, and that normalizing sin cannot lead\nto human happiness.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, we must realize what is\nat stake.<\/em><\/strong> Marriage is first and\nforemost a public institution. It has always been so. Throughout history,\nsocieties have granted special recognition and privileges to marriage because\nit is the central organizing institution of human culture. Marriage regulates\nrelationships, sexuality, human reproduction, lineage, kinship, and family\nstructure. But marriage has also performed another crucial function \u2014 it has\nregulated morality.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This\nis why the challenge of samesex unions is so urgent and important. Redefining\nmarriage is never simply about marriage. It leads to the redefinition of\nreproduction and parenthood, produces a legal revolution with vast\nconsequences, replaces an old social order with something completely new, and\nforces the adoption of a new morality. This last point is especially important.\nMarriage teaches morality by its very centrality to the culture. With a new\nconcept of marriage comes a new morality, enforced by incredible social\npressure and, eventually, legal threats.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Third, we must act quickly to\nteach Christians the truth about marriage and God\u2019s plan for sexuality in all\nits fullness and beauty.<\/em><\/strong> We must\ndevelop pastoral approaches that are faithful to Scripture and arm this\ngeneration of believers to withstand the cultural pressure and respond in ways\nthat are truly Christian.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fourth, and most important, this\nchallenge must drive us to the gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/em><\/strong> Christians must be the first to understand\nthis challenge in light of the gospel. After all, we know spiritual rebellion\nwhen we see it, for we ourselves were rebels before God\u2019s grace conquered us.\nWe know what moral confusion means because without the light of God\u2019s Word, we\nare just as confused.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\nis no rescue from the self-deception of sin except for the salvation that is\nours in Jesus Christ. While doing everything else required of us in this\nchallenge, the faithful church must center its energies on the one thing that\nwe know we must do above all else \u2014 preach, teach, and live the gospel of Jesus\nChrist.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last week, as I worshipped in Santo Domingo at Iglesia Bautista Internacional, I was reminded that the assault on morality, marriage and family is not limited to the borders of the United States. Church leadership at LaIBI described recent efforts, initiated by the government, at indoctrination of children through the educational system in regards to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-living","category-theology"],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/truth-600x300.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/truth-600x300.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Kent Husted","author_link":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/author\/khusted\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empoweringaction.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}