Posted on 07/12/2014 8:08:31 AM PDT by ReformationFan
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP) -- There are atheists and liberals, some who are both, who believe there is no need for God in order for morality to be maintained in a society. They argue that people can act morally apart from a supreme authority.
I agree that people can act morally apart from God's standard. However, the real question is why should they? If there is no supreme authority -- no God -- then why behave morally?
If there is no God, there are no objective standards for moral behavior. The logical progression leads to anarchy. Everyone does what is right in his or her eyes. This is clearly seen in the area of sexual expression.
If there is no God, then there is no objective, authoritative standard when it comes to sexual expression. The logical result is sexual anarchy.
I attended a debate in downtown Portland, Ore., more than a decade ago regarding whether it was appropriate for Oregon public schools to promote homosexuality as natural, normal and healthy.
At some point during the discussion someone suggested homosexuality and incest were morally equivalent.
When the debate ended, I was confronted by a woman who identified herself as a lesbian. She was furious that we "Bible-thumpers" were ignorant enough to equate incest with homosexuality.
I listened to her tirade until she paused to take a breath. Then I asked her, "Why are you so upset with homosexuality and incest being morally equivalent."
"Because of the use of power by an adult authority figure to manipulate a younger person for the purpose of gaining sex," she replied.
"That is not incest," I said. "You have described pedophilia (sex with children) or ephebophilia (sex with teens) but not incest."
I continued, "Incest is persons who are related to one another having sexual relations. Why do you care if two adults who are in the same family consent to a sexual relationship?"
"It is just wrong," the woman said. "It is not natural!"
"Really?" I said. "I agree with you that it is not natural for the same reason your sexual behavior is not natural, because the Bible indicates what is natural, normal and healthy."
The woman glared at me.
"If we reject God's standards, we are left with nothing more than subjective criteria," I said. "Incest might be wrong for you but there is no way you can say it is wrong for anyone else."
I continued, "So you are judging those who pursue incest by your own subjective ethic -- the same thing you accuse us 'Bible-thumpers' of doing."
The woman stomped off.
The evidence of a sexual anarchy is all around us. It is the result of rejecting God's authoritative standards and embracing a subjective morality.
The sexual expressions of homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism were once deemed to be aberrant and perverse. Not anymore. These behaviors are now celebrated by many around the world as natural, normal and healthy.
Children as young as 5 who say they were born the "wrong" sex are encouraged by parents to pursue their feelings. Some are even given drugs to impede the onset of puberty.
Sexual anarchy is progressing toward the acceptance of more and more perverse behavior. Adult incest, which the lesbian in Portland believed to be unnatural, is already accepted in many countries.
Among the countries that do not punish consensual adult incest are Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, Turkey, Russia, India, Israel, China, Sweden, Brazil and Japan.
A judge in Australia recently said that adult "incest may no longer be a taboo and the only reason it is criminal is potential birth abnormalities, which can be solved by abortion," London's Daily Telegraph reported.
If there ever were a case of two wrongs not making a right, it is the judge's linking of incest with abortion. It is moral anarchy on steroids.
Another form of sexual expression that some regard as acceptable is pedophilia.
Consider the following:
In an article titled "Mental Health's Cold Shoulder Treatment of Pedophilia" from "Behavioral Health Management," Douglas Edwards cited Fred Berlin of the Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry: "Dr. Berlin discounts the common view that pedophilia is a conscious choice. He regards pedophilia as a lifelong sexual orientation, just as hetero- and homosexuality, and he says patients can be terrified by the discovery of pedophilic cravings."
Richard Gardner, the late clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, argued that America's attitude toward child sexual encounters was out of step with the cultures of the world. In his book "True and False Accusations of Child Sex Abuse," Gardner blamed the oppressive morality of the Bible for the American view of pedophilia. He also wrote, "It is of interest that of all the ancient peoples it may very well be that the Jews were the only ones who were punitive toward pedophiles.""
These are just two of several dozen so-called scholarly articles advocating pedophilia as a natural, normal and healthy sexual expression.
Sexual anarchy is unfolding before our very eyes and it will continue until our culture once again recognizes God as the supreme authority for sexual morality. Until then, sexual expression will become even more perverse. You ain't seen nothing yet. --30-- Kelly Boggs is a weekly columnist for Baptist Press, director of the Louisiana Baptist Convention's office of public affairs, and editor of the Baptist Message (www.baptistmessage.com), newsjournal of the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).
Wait until the politicians see how this will impact the estate tax.
This is the reason you lose when your argue the the Bible and God with the world..then don't care then think is just an opinion.
You need to argue nature truth logic and reason and you.need know there truth and God are one and the same..
People sell God short went this say God is love..because first God is living truth..it the love that saves us because we fall short of truth
We know intuitively when some-thing’s not natural because its not truth..the people just have to connect the dots the truth is what God is
The First Fag has now put out guidelines on how to care for senior sodomites. Like a 75 year old homosexual is any different in the way he’s treated in a nursing home than a straight man. Ground control to the First Fag, most “senior” homosexuals keep their sexuality to themselves. They are not like the radical nazi sodomites that control the First Fag administration.
Right. This joker tripped right out of the starting gate with that bonehead statement.
That is, to say, we haven't changed one iota. The very same deviance that exists today and tomorrow were ALWAYS existent in the human race. Always.
We live longer, have better health and education and have more money perhaps, but we are not ONE IOTA happier, sadder, smarter, dumber, nicer or meaner than our ancestors of the cave.
Our human nature remains UNCHANGED.
>>Among the countries that do not punish consensual adult incest are Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Luxembourg, Turkey, Russia, India, Israel, China, Sweden, Brazil and Japan. <<
I can understand China because of the imbalance of men and women. What’s going on in Israel? Have they tossed the Ten Commandments out the door?
The Bible says the man/woman can be changed—his/her heart, mind, spirit.
We were not created by God with a sinful nature. On the day that Adam and Eve sinned in the garden the whole human race came under the dominion and condemnation of sin, because the whole human race was in Adam. Adam is our federal head. God made a promise to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:14-15 of a deliverer, called “the seed of the woman,” who would bruise the serpent on the head, and the serpent would bruise him on the heel. This was spoken by God to the serpent, who was the devil himself, and it was spoken about the Lord Jesus Christ, speaking of His crucifixion (bruising on the heel) and His victory over Satan.
When Jesus was victorious over the devil by His substitionary death for you and me, and His burial, resurrection, and ascension to the Father—He was victorious over the devil, over sin, and death. That victory is what the believer in Christ lives in when he believes in Him and repents for the forgiveness of his sins.
He becomes a NEW CREATION, the “old man in Adam” has died and he is a NEW CREATION in Christ. He has a new nature, a new spirit, a new mind, a new heart, and God puts His Spirit in him to cause him to walk in His commandments. Read Jeremiah 31:31-34; the New Covenant. It is Israel’s promise of the New Covenant—the same New Covenant that Jesus Christ initiated when He shed His blood on the cross for the forgiveness of the sins of the world.
True believers are no longer under the dominion and condemnation of sin. Sin no longer rules over them. We are to put to death the deeds of the flesh. That means as a way of life, we are to believe God and obey Him in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
So, when believers sin, they confess their sins and keep on trusting God to do His work in them through the power of the Holy Spirit. He no longer sins as a way of life, as the old way of life in the old man. HE HAS BEEN CHANGED FROM WITHIN. He no longer desires to sin. Read Ephesians 2:1-10 to see what being made alive in Christ looks like.
If there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness.
If there is no lifestyle change, there is no salvation.
The Bible is the book God has given man both to see Who God is and to live in obedience to what God says.
Indeed. I fully support Israel’s right to exist as a nation and to defend itself against its enemies but its government has sadly supported some of the worst anti-Biblical policies on sexuality and abortions.
Well put, TL.
Honest question: Why has Israel's government done that, do you suppose?
People get the governments they deserve. Right now that’s the problem with America. I didn’t realize that Israel had dropped into the sewer too. If they support having sex with family members then they deserve whatever happens to them as far as I’m concerned.
Therefore we should all just get it on any way we please. Got it. </s>
You see it all of the time right here on F.R, some people seem to be against homosexuality only because it might lead to polygamy or incest.
They are God’s words, all in the Bible. One must take the first step of obedience—the obedience of faith in the Savior for the forgiveness of our sins—in order to know and live by the rest. It is a lifetime of trust, but it begins with repentance and acknowledgment of Who He is as revealed in His Word.
And it is this world’s ONLY HOPE.
That is a very accurate statement, but perhaps misunderstood. People who do not believe in God can and do commit moral acts, and are more prone to do so in a society that is influenced by the "salt and light" of believers who carry the presence of the Holy Spirit. But this doesn't mean that unbelievers are therefore moral or that acting morally is their default position. Paul clearly teaches that unbelievers are slaves to sin and that Sin is their default position from which they might choose to do right in certain circumstances. On the other hand, believers become slaves to God so that Obedience becomes the default standard from which a believer might (and often does) choose to sin in given circumstances.
The writer's point is clear and accurate: Apart from belief in God and the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit, there is no objective and enduring standard of behavior, and a Godless society will eventually collapse into every kind of anarchy, suffering and destruction. That is the reality of the ugly sin that Jesus dies and rose again to save us from.
dies = died
Pingworthy but I’m away from my M/A and H/A pinglist right now.
Which should be a felony. Why don't states make that a felony?
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