Today is the day to stand firm for the institution of marriage in the state of North Carolina by voting FOR the marriage amendment that adds protection for this precious union into our state constitution. In today’s post I want to make a final argument before we all head for the polls.
Consider how often great societies and cultures have broken down in the past. They seem to start out with unity, single-minded vision and even somewhat godly laws and governing principles. This is true of even secular societies. However, there is a mental and eventually physical laziness that creeps in that eventually leads to boredom and finally a moral breakdown followed by total collapse. This was certainly true of
- Babel
- Sodom and Gomorrah
- Babylon
- Assyria
- Greece
- Rome
- Each and every powerful nation in Europe
- And we’re watching this pattern play out right before our eyes in the United States of America
It starts with boredom and ends with destruction. And perhaps the most difficult part to take is how easily predictable and preventable this all is—yet, at the same time—seemingly unavoidable.
Does the Bible talk about this breakdown anywhere?
Yes, several places—and one is right in the book we are studying as a church right now—Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes 3:11 it says, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Every person understands innately, intuitively that he is an eternal creature. While he may suppress that knowledge (Romans 1), instinctively he knows that eternity is part of his spiritual DNA and understanding—a perception that there is more to this life than meets the eye.
But it’s the second half of that verse that causes problems for so many—the, “yet[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”—part. We may know that we are eternal beings and that there is more to life then just the here and now, but for a lot of people, the fact that we cannot figure out much more than that without faith is just too narrow-minded of God. So we strike out on our own to find answers rather than accepting God’s truth. And while we search anywhere and everywhere but God’s Word, we also keep fighting to push down the obvious, inherent knowledge of God within us all. And the modern catalyst for this rebellion seems to be nothing more than boredom. We get tired of the predictability of life and set out to spice things up a bit and sadly, most feel that can best be done when God’s not around (newsflash: He’s always around).
Once we give into this, the breakdown has begun—a domino affect has started and it’s very difficult to stop. Here’s the whole process in scriptural nutshell,
Romans 1:18-32
“18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
Pay careful attention to these 2 verses,
“26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.”
This is talking about the breakdown of one of God’s most cherished and holy institutions—marriage. Notice how there is first a rebellion against God. People started worshiping other gods. Next, it manifests itself in immorality—specifically, homosexuality.
In the end, even truth itself becomes a nebulous fog (today we call it relativism) and before you know it—anything goes. And friends, when ‘anything goes,’ it won’t be long before ‘everything goes.’
Satan’s not all that creative. The tricks and patterns have been the same since the very first man and woman in the garden. Yes, he’s not very creative, but he’s amazingly consistent and determined and he’ll keep executing the same game plan as long as the game plan keeps executing societies.
Today you can throw a wrench in his tried and true plan—at least as far as North Carolina is concerned. Go out today and vote FOR the amendment to the state constitution that protects marriage and let’s see if we can’t stem the tide at least a little bit longer.