(Exo 14:23 NKJV) And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the
midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
In the
aftermath of the legalization of gay marriage in New York, the Christian
Right seems to be revitalised with loud noises from John Piper (Reformed
Baptist), Albert Mohler of Southern Baptist, Family Research Council,
NOM, and the Catholic Bishops.
It gets absurd as the mutual love between two gay person (not
impacting anyone else) is called terrorism by Mohler, and a “new
calamity”by Piper eg
natural disaster, drought, foreign invasion. Yet, there may be some
truth that we may be in calamity because when we sow harm, we will in
turn reap the harm sowed.
The Rev John Piper, the
well-known Baptist Pastor of Bethlehem Methodist Church and author of
more than 30 books talks about gay marriage being the “new calamity”.
Perhaps he is afraid that a gay man will somehow seduce his wife. He
took more than 8 months of his ministry in 2010 to work on his marriage.
Gay men however have no interest in Piper nor his wife. Yet, we are
selfish to deny gays of marriage to seal their love and commitment to
each other even when many straight people are
suffering and contemplating divorce hence causing a breakdown in the
marriage institution.
We are coming towards a “moral
revolution” says Albert Mohler the President of the Southern Baptist
theological Seminary. Perhaps the only immorality is the insistence by
the church to perpetuate harm. Our immoral actions to harm others
causing death and suffering to put gays in closets in the name of
religion and purely for our own religious construction should no longer
be tolerated in a modern society where social justice prevail rather
than the barbarian rule of orthodox
Catholicism of the middle ages.
Dr Albert Mohler is trying to
blow the gay marriage house down like a bad old wolf but the
house which the Lord has built will not fall.
We are asked to not only follow Jesus, but the bible where same
sex orientation was an exception marred by the unfortunate association
with religious demonic worship by the Jews. How long will the likes of
Mohler and Piper rage against gays? when it is an empty issue which only
exemplifies our self-righteousness and legalism, and do nothing to
reveal the love, grace and mercy of God as revealed in the bible towards
the least and most persecuted in society.
In the bible, much to the dismay
of some queer theologians idea of a loving
God, God seemed to harden the resolve of the Pharaoh to maintain his
hard-line position and not let go the Jewish people. As a result, he and
the nation lost their first born and had to give to the Jews their
expensive jewellery as they departed from Egypt. There seem to be a line
of no return beyond which we will go beyond the grace of God and reap
the harm due just as Pharaoh was taken to task for the 400 years he had
put the Jews in bondage. We have put gays in the closet much longer.
One would have thought that God
would soften the heart of the Pharaoh so that he would listen to Moses
and let the Jews depart from their closets. Yet, God did the opposite.
He made Pharaoh mad that he even went after the Jews with his army
drowned in the Red Sea. Sometimes when our
hearts are so full of hatred and without grace and mercy, God affirms it
so that when we act it out we receive the maximum judgement due.
In the aftermath of the Gay
marriage legalization in New York, you would see the Reformed Baptist,
Southern Baptists, Family Research Council, Catholic church, Focus on
the Family and NOM preparing for the next battle in Maine, New
Hampshire, California, etc, with vicious rhetoric and urgency. Even in
Singapore, the FOTF has begun sending their anti-gay literature
to the churches. God appears to be hardening their hearts to step up to
the next gear to prevent gay marriage in other states. The more vile and
vicious it gets, the more the weight of judgement is due.
God works mysteriously, in that
when more is the opposition coming against gay marriage, more the grace
and mercy of God will arise to do the unexpected miracle just as
happened in New York. The flood gates are opened and God is hardening
the hearts of the Christian Right so that as the army comes against the
Lord of Hosts, the banner of God will arise to meet the foes. ie the
more hype and battle line drawn against gays, the faster gay marriage
will come into reality. God likes to fight for the under-dog, the large
resources and majority standing of the Church not being able to defeat
the small gay minority.
We believe that God is stirring
up the Christian Right to put it on the election ballot the issue of gay
rights, to make it an election issue, so that it could backfire and
those who charged their spears to limit the basic rights of gays will
find themselves facing the flood of water.
The strong reaction to Gay
marriage by the Christian Right will revitalise the GLBT groups in each
of the battle fronts, which has shifted from a single front such as New
York or California to many battle fronts at the same time. The Christian
Right is fighting for a fictitious issue that does not concern them for
their rights and marriage is not impacted and when the battle gets
tough, the truth of the issue will arise. Gays are fighting for their
own basic rights and freedom; whilst the Christian Right is fighting a
make believe Gay agenda to “destroy” straight marriage.
Strength is drawn because the
issue is very personnel for gays. It is much more difficult for an army
to invade a foreign land far away than for those defending to give it
all for their freedom is at stake. With the legalization of the New York
gay marriage, a hope arises and they could see the light of dawn not too
far away. And there will be new energy and passion to run after this
vision. On the contrary, it is a fight of diminishing returns for
Reformed Baptists, Southern Baptists, Family Research Council, Catholic
church, FOTF, and NOM.
Therefore, when we see the large
army of anti-gay troopers ready to march on, with loud shouts and
insults, know that righteousness and justice will flow like a mighty
river to drown the opposing armies. We need not do anything for the
flood gates are opened.
The more the Christian Right
make gay marriage an issue in America, the more likely Obama gets
re-elected for people will see the absurdity of the Republicans fighting
a non-issue whilst the country is burning due to economic strive with
escalating war costs, big business bailed out,
and generous tax breaks, where the rich have lots of tax breaks whilst
the poor struggle to meet their daily needs and in danger of having
their basic health protection taken away from them.
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