When principles that run against our greatest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling and PEACE has become your sin. You must at the greatest price, lay your convictions bare before friend and foe, with all the fire of your faith. Abraham Kuyper (1837 –1920)
James Robert White is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, an evangelical Reformed Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is the author of more than 20 books and has engaged in numerous debates on issues of faith, morality and philosophy. Few days ago, he posted a controversial message to his social media regarding the destruction of marriage and subsequently the family unit:
To every duped supporter of the destruction of the institution of marriage:
I realize you are too busy watching Game of Thrones and checking your most recent Tweets, but I have a message for you: you have been duped. Big time. And by the time you realize it—it will be way, way too late.
You see, as you sit there observing the destruction of the liberties of Christians (and not being overly concerned because, hey, that movie you saw had a great gay actor in it, and besides, you think 1 out of 4 Americans are gay anyway [it is actually 1.6%, or one out of 45 people], so why should you care about those religious zealots anyway?) you are blissfully unaware that the massive government system that is growing day by day (and spending the life savings of your great grandchildren in the process) could really care less about homosexuality and homosexuals.
They are a convenient tool, a means of controlling—you, the dupes. You see, they could care less about how they get the power they crave, as long as they get it. And once they can force people to THINK the way they want them to think (beginning with forcing Christians to celebrate acts and lifestyles that their faith identifies as sinful, evil, and life-destroying), do you really think they will stop there, lay aside their new totalitarian power, and leave YOU alone?
Oh, you can avoid any problems with Big Brother alright—as long as you are willing to think as you are told, do as you are told, believe as you are told. But if you dare step out of line—well, you better bake that cake, celebrate that wedding, and LIKE IT, or Big Brother will deal with you. And he will do it with the power YOU gave him because you didn’t care about the cost of liberty in the first place. I’d say “wake up,” but I don’t think you will hear me over the volume of your 50 inch flatscreen.
As expected, Dr. White drew a lot of criticism from those who disagreed with his message and this is how he responded to the criticism in a follow up post:
Well, the responses to my note from last evening prove one thing: those who are duped LIKE being duped, and when faced with exposure AS duped, are unwilling to engage in critical thought. Which really looks like a fulfilment of, “If you refuse to love the truth, you will be caused to love a lie.”
I will not give a final detailed analysis regarding Dr. James White’s post on marriage, because it is quite easy to tear individual opinions out of context and thereby gain a one-sided view, but I will give readers the chance to reach their own conclusions.
As I wrote in one of my previous posts, the conflict between Church and State has escalated especially in the area of marriage. Recently, Dr. Michael Brown wrote an open letter asking President Obama who gave him the authority to lecture ministers. Was Dr. Michael Brown right in asking the president who gave him the spiritual authority to give such strong counsel and even criticise church leaders?
First of all, we are called to obey God rather than men. (See Acts 5:27-29) Christians should stand for truth with love, courage, consistence, grace, and humility against the gathering darkness and persecution like the disciples did when they were filled with the love and power of the Holy Spirit.
Power lies in speaking the truth in love and the truth has the power to set people free. Jesus said “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The Reformers, whether Luther or Calvin, taught that resistance is commanded where authorities are so badly perverted that they destroy the rights and basic ordering of human life in society-this includes marriage.
Secondly, in light of this battle that’s escalating day by day, we need to ask ourselves whether the church can effectively spread the gospel while fighting an unpopular battle for the survival of the family. The family is the most basic social institution established by God to bless all of society. In fact, anyone that has overcome a personal background of a broken and dysfunctional family can testify to how important a family is in a child’s life.
It is a foundational institution that predates all other institutions, God given or man made. Before there were nations, governments, churches, universities, or even businesses, there was the family unit instituted by God in Eden. And the foundation of the family unit is the marriage covenant between a husband and wife.
Every civilization in the history humanity has been built upon the family. In fact, the family is more important than the institutions of the church or the civil government.
Therefore, the survival of society depends on the institution of marriage. The devil knows that if he can destroy the institution of marriage, then he can destroy families; if he can destroy families, then he can destroy society; and if he can destroy society, then he can ultimately destroy humanity.
When you study the Bible and history carefully, you will notice that every society that has deviated from the sexual norms has eventually destroyed itself. The destruction of the family unit and sexual immorality of all types brings about the downfall of civilizations.
In his assessment on the rise and fall of civilizations, Oxford anthropologist, J.D. Unwin did a study of 86 human civilizations ranging from Rome to Tahiti. He found that a society’s destiny is tied intimately to the limits it imposes on sexual expression.
The highest levels of social development are reached only by cultures that practice what Unwin called “absolute monogamy, in which marriage is between one man and woman, sex outside marriage is not tolerated, and divorce is prohibited…..
Civilizations cease to grow within two to three generations after retreating from absolute monogamy. Moral standards erode when a society is aggravated at the discipline imposed by monogamy, and begin to gratify their personal desires without regard for the consequences inflicted on others.
Unwin found that every society, without exception, that rejects absolute monogamy either becomes a stagnant cultural backwater or collapses altogether.
Dr. Judith Riesman is the president of The Institute for Media Education. She has written extensively on the topic of pornography and the sexual revolution that is occurring today. She said that her upbringing as an atheist strongly shaped her awareness that the single source of civil society was the West’s origin as a Christian civilization:
In studying the question, “Can we be good without God? I found that for a short time, clinging to the coattails of past religious generations, yes. However, soon the arrogance and conceit inherent in the view as self as god, metastasizes into inexhaustible personal and cultural corruption. So, no, without God we cannot be good, we cannot be civil, we cannot be moral, we cannot be honorable for long.
Indeed, we begin to devour our own. We should take from the long and sexually volatile history of humanity the fact that holding fast to a moral compass, a Christian moral compass has been the most civilizing corrective, palliative, that humans have yet experienced.
The answer can only be found in the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It is God who created sex for procreation, enjoyment, and pleasure, and protected it by the commitment of marriage. He set parameters for this act because He understood the dangers of uncontrolled sexual passion; therefore, He had to design guardrails or laws to protect mankind from the consequences of misusing it.
For we also were once thoughtless and senseless, obstinate and disobedient, deluded and misled; [we too were once] slaves to all sorts of cravings and pleasures, wasting our days in malice and jealousy and envy, hateful (hated, detestable) and hating one another.
But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Savior to man [as man] appeared, He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but because of His own pity and mercy, by [the] cleansing [bath] of the new birth (regeneration) and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out [so] richly upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior.
[And He did it in order] that we might be justified by His grace (by His favor, wholly undeserved), [that we might be acknowledged and counted as conformed to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action], and that we might become heirs of eternal life according to [our] hope. (Titus 3:3-7 AMP)
