And We Know That in All Things God Works...

I've been reading 1st Samuel along with a commentary on the following website:

http://www.enduringword.com/

It is an excellent commentary.  I naturally don't agree with everything said because the person writing it IS a fallible person, and the many people he quotes are also fallible people.

But it is wonderful because while I've read every word of the Bible more than once, reading a commentary like this helps me think through the history and the geography and the theology in a new and fresh way.

So I'm reading about King Saul.  Much is said in the commentary about how the people of Israel wanted a king for all the wrong reasons...they wanted "to be like other nations."  In spite of Samuel's solemn warnings, they said they wanted a king and the Lord gave them...King Saul.

Saul wasn't a roaring success. He started well and then turned away from the Lord from fear, arrogance, and pride.

I've not discussed politics in this blog and I won't very much, but I am deeply troubled by our election. I'm not enamored with Romney but Obama is much farther away from my core political concerns. The issue of abortion is my litmus test issue, and Obama is a darling of Planned Parenthood.  And then there is the fact that Obamacare tramples on religious rights.  And Obama's campaign included an ad that correlated losing your virginity to voting for Obama and how both change a female from being a girl to being a woman.  Ok...so random sexual relations make you a "real" woman.  GREAT message to all the precious girls in our country.

It is tempting for me to be fearful about the future of our country.  And...we may be going down the tubes.  Or maybe we aren't.  Actually, for all that people wail about the state of our country, it is true that in times past there were seriously horrific things going on.  Slavery comes to mind.  Horrible.  Rampant racism earlier in the last century.  Dreadful.  Painful, insidious, constant political corruption -- just reading about Teddy Roosevelt and his fight against the "machine" in New York City (I think that was the city) is very eye opening.  Yes, we have plenty of corruption but it isn't nearly as open and blatant than it was at the end of the 1800's.

How about the Cherokee Trail of Tears?  (Hmmm, racism issues are popping up a lot in my memory of awful things in our country.)

So, sin is nothing new in our country.  And of course, as the country goes, so goes the president.  We are living in a season of our country's consciousness when there is a strong move towards "freedom" -- to abort our babies, to have sexual relationships outside of marriage with as few consequences as possible (though the spiritual consequences are ALWAYs there), to allow gays to "marry"when marriage has always been between a man and a woman.  There are plenty who argue that gays should be allowed to marry, but the reality is that marriage gives certain privileges like health insurance and the right to adopt children, and the issue of the children disturbs me in particular.  Yes, there are plenty of kind homosexual people.  But the ideal in God's plan is for a child to have a mother and a father, and mothers aren't like fathers and fathers aren't like mothers.  I don't believe gay couples can provide the best environment for children.

I have Christian friends who believe that God is peaceful about gay unions.  Well, as I said above, I've read the Bible from cover to cover.  And I cannot find ANY justification for that view.  It would, frankly, be a lot easier to accept gay unions.  The cultural tide is moving in that direction, and we who stand against it are accused of being bigoted and cruel and narrow minded. 

But God is God.  He is the One who created us.  He has the right to say that sexual relations belong ONLY within a marriage between a man and a woman, even if many people want to believe differently.

I am not of the view that we can force morality.  Of course, we cannot. But to force employers to pay healthy insurance for gay couples is a violation of religious freedom. 

I'm aware that there are plenty of areas of honest disagreement about how best to tackle our country's problems.  I believe our country chose the wrong person last night, but ... to God be the glory. 

Romans 8:28

New International Version (NIV)

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose.