You gotta serve somebody

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

II Timothy 3:1-5 (KJV)

The election by Episcopalians in New Hampshire of an openly homosexual bishop is a sign of the times.

The world is living in a moral vacuum – and much of the church knows no better.

Last weekend, the Rev. V. Gene Robinson was elected bishop coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire. The leadership of the national Episcopal Church, representing some 2.5 million members, must ratify Robinson’s election during a general convention meeting in Minneapolis next month.

Robinson is the father of two grown daughters and now lives with his male partner. He was in a heterosexual marriage when he acknowledged his homosexuality in the mid-1980s.

I have a question for Robinson and the Episcopalians who voted for him: If an open and practicing homosexual is qualified to be ordained and given a leadership position in the church, is there any reason an open and practicing adulterer should be held back from such a position?

Homosexuals don’t like to be equated with adulterers, but, let’s face it: From a theological and moral position, they are both sexual sinners. Both activities are condemned as sin in the Old and New Testaments. From Moses to the Apostle Paul, the idea of same-sex unions is condemned as “abomination” in God’s eyes. Despite what a few theological wishful thinkers might say, the Bible doesn’t leave much wiggle room on the issue of homosexuality.

What the Episcopalians are doing in New Hampshire is celebrating sin – glorifying it. And when a church does that, it ceases to serve God.

Bob Dylan wrote a song many years ago called, “Gotta Serve Somebody.” It explains every person has to serve someone – either the Lord or the Devil. There is no neutral ground in spiritual warfare.

If that’s true, and I believe it is, whom do you think is served by the actions of the Episcopalians in New Hampshire? Whose standards are they attacking? Whose worldview are they undermining?

My Bible says God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Yet, some in the church suggest the Bible no longer means what it says on fundamental moral issues. If that’s the case, the basis of Western civilization must be questioned.

If homosexual activity represents just another alternative lifestyle rather than sin condemned by God, then how do we know murder is really wrong? How do we know stealing is really wrong? Where is the basis for our Judeo-Christian laws?

Further, if homosexual activity is to be celebrated and glorified in the church, will the body of Christ also abandon its commitment to monogamy? If not, why not? Will the church now begin winking at incest? If not, why not? Surely cross-dressing priests and transsexuals will soon be elevated to the pulpit and church leadership. If not, why not?

You see where this brave new world is heading?

When the church abandons its tenets, when it refuses to recognize sin, when it glorifies immorality, when it compromises on the word of God, when it becomes a tool of political correctness, it becomes a tool of evil. It becomes an abomination.