Replies

The big concern as a nation - The United States of America - when we start having our government change it's laws to actually condone sin then our nation is in serious trouble.

I also think there's a problem when we have our government making laws which criminalize sin.

Murder, robbery, assault, fraud, and the like are, of course, sinful, but they have the added characteristic of being sins which involve infringing upon the rights of others.

While certain sins may be abhorrent to some, outlawing those which don't violate others' rights, thus making a criminal out of the sinner, is Tyranny, plain and simple.

America should not be a nation of arbitrary law. Too many embrace such Tyranny because it overlaps with their worldview. The problem is, eventually something you do will be outlawed because of some real or imagined consensus of the People.

Majority Tyranny is still Tyranny...

I also think there's a problem when we have our government making laws which criminalize sin. Murder, robbery, assault, fraud, and the like are, of course, sinful, but they have the added characteristic of being sins which involve infringing upon the rights of others.

Well, sin means crime. The Bible is the laws of God, our laws are the laws of man. Sins can be against God or against man. The libertarian view tends to be if it's not hurting anyone else it's ok. However many libertarians only look at very direct consequences. With drug use, they say it doesn't matter to anyone else if they get high, but that's not the entire story; they don't admit the effects on society of the use of hard drugs, i.e., the existence of a hard drug industry, the fact that other people's young children are drawn to experiment and that some people can handle a lot of drugs and some can't handle them at all.

The fact that the whole Bible is not in our laws is a very astute point. We have no laws regarding idolatry, honoring parents, etc. While the Christian must live according to all the Bible, our laws are restricted to more of a minimalist interpretation: what people of all faiths as well as atheists would need to live peaceably in civil society. As you said, no killing, stealing, etc., but we can legally lie to each other as long as doing it does not break any laws that we do have.

I assume by "infringing upon rights of others" you're including "causes damages to others".

I was focusing more on the word condone, though. It certainly benefits us to not structure laws to condone idolatry, which would be a fairly nutty thing - like having a skull you worship in the backyard. While we don't need to outlaw idolatry to have a "bare-bones" framework for society, it certainly would not provide any benefit to pass laws encouraging idolatry while it would be encouraging behavior consistent with that which winds up causing harm.

The same with honoring parents; I would not want laws that make it more profitable for me to dishonor my parents than to honor them. Covetousness - we don't have laws against it, but I would not want laws that encourage it.

That's where our sodomy laws come in. Our laws now actually condone sodomy. They make it a crime to bring anything up in conversation with a coworker which might make them uncomfortable if they commit these acts. There are some particularly gruesome parades and festivals around the country, all condoned by our governments. And now the age limits... well, it depends on what state you're in, how old the "offender" is as to whether this a broken law or just good old fun - regardless of gender. Not a comforting feeling for parents desiring grandchildren instead of questionmarks and symbols on their family tree. We all know of the groups that are lobbying for legalization and encouragement of all sorts of debauchery. And what does the sodomy gain for us - really what is the gain ?

And to top it all off, our young children are propagandized into "partying" and accepting alternate "families" and "lifestyles" from the day they set foot in school. This is the law of the United States. It use to restrict deviancy, and now, instead of simply repealing that law so it is not addressed, it goes so far as to condone and even require acceptance of a deviancy which the Bible specifically commands us to refrain from.

The first settlers struggled to come here to escape burning at the stake for the sake of their faith and now it's come to this; God help us to turn to back to him.