What did She Say Wrong?

My hat is off to Sarah Crank. A few weeks ago, on her fourteenth birthday, This home-schooled girl had the courage to appear before a committee of the Maryland State Senate and testify in opposition to the bill to legalize same-sex marriage (That bill has since passed). Because of her courage, she has been viciously attacked by the homosexual community and has even received death threats for her "hate speech."

But what did she say wrong? I listened to her testimony (It is available on You Tube) to see. This is a transcript of what she said:

"I really feel bad for kids who have two parents of the same gender. Even though some kids think it's fine, they have no idea what kind of wonderful experience they miss out on. I don't want any more kids to get confused about what's right and OK. I really don't want to grow up in a world where marriage isn't such a special thing anymore. It's rather scary to think that when I grow up, the legislature or the courts can change any definition they want. If they can change the definition of marriage, they can change the definition of any word. People say they were born that way, but I've met many adults who have changed."

Then she urged the legislature to defeat the bill, and she was congratulated by them for her "very good testimony."

But, as a result of her testimony, the Internet lit up with hate comments against her - most of them so malicious and vile we could not print them - but they included death threats against both her and her parents. Some demanded that parents not be allowed to "brainwash" their children with religious and bigoted teaching against homosexuals. Did they hear the same testimony I did? Don't they know it is the parent's job to train their children in moral virtue?

Sarah, I couldn't be more proud of you if you were my own daughter. We need more people of conviction and courage like you who can speak the truth in love. And Sarah, let me offer these words to you from Jesus. In Matthew 5:11, Jesus said, "Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake." May God truly bless you, Sarah. You have done nothing wrong to warrant this kind of hatred against you. What you did was right.

But that brings up a question: In this day and age of so-called tolerance, where is the homosexual's tolerance for competing views? Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council writes,

"The goal is to bully and marginalize Christians. And the left, teamed up with the media, knows that as soon as Conservatives stop talking, liberals can take over."

Yes, the goal is to silence us, and especially to silence the Scriptures we believe.

As Byron Babione wrote,

"Ever notice how leftists like to argue for everyone to have an opinion and the freedom to express it until a person has and expresses an opinion that runs counter to theirs? Once that point is reached, the individual is accused of espousing hatred."

That is what happened to Sarah Crank.

Kirk Cameron, the child star of Growing Pains, and now a born-again Christian who starred in Fireproof and the Left Behind movies, was also attacked recently. He appeared on CNN's Piers Morgan show to talk about his new movie, Monumental, which deals with the founding principles of our nation. The host, however, wanted to press him for his views on same-sex marriage. In response, he referred to Scripture. "Marriage is almost as old as dirt," he said. "and it was defined in the garden between Adam and Eve." Then he added that the definition of marriage should be "one man, one woman for life till death do you part." He also added that same-sex marriage was "unnatural" and "detrimental" to society; which it is.

But what did Kirk Cameron say wrong? Among another barrage of hate against him, Herndon Graddick, director of programs for GLAAD, accused Cameron of being "out of step with the growing majority of Americans." Cameron is not out of step with either the Old or New Testaments of the Bible, so I will stick with Him no matter what a majority may say. Als, eOnline claimed Cameron was, "spewing anti-gay rhetoric," but listen to the transcript. He did no such thing. He merely expressed the viewpoint of the majority of Bible-believing Christians.

Joseph Farah writes,

"A simple public comment expressing objection to the idea based on the Bible is considered heretical to the secular priests of the Big Media. It's now dangerous to do what Kirk Cameron did on CNN - dangerous to careers, dangerous to reputations, even potentially dangerous to one's well being."

No, the hatred isn't coming from Kirk Cameron or Sarah Crank. But plenty of hatred is coming from the other side. Michele Bachmann is right when she said,

"The rhetoric is far worse against those who stand for traditional marriage. If anyone gets attacked in this country, it's people who stand for traditional marriage."

This is troubling because we in Maine face another campaign to legalize same-sex marriage. The proponents will try to silence us. If we dare speak out against legalizing same-sex marriage, we can expect the same tactics of slander and threats to be used against us and our children as was used against Sarah Crank and Kirk Cameron. But speak we must.

Everywhere people have a chance to vote, the majority vote against same-sex marriage, yet few will make a public stand. We need to. We are not alone, and others need to know they are not alone. Don't be intimidated. Speak out.

TIME TO DEFEND MARRIAGE - AGAIN!

Credit where credit is due, I say. So today, even before challenging the church, I give credit to those who again push same-sex marriage. Even though I oppose your agenda with every fiber of my being, I take my hat off to you for a number of reasons.

I do so first for the way you stick to it. Your unwillingness to give up in the face of repeated defeats is impressive. Ann Coulter says that there is never a permanent victory over a liberal. She's right. You keep trying and trying, and you've even won some victories, especially through the courts imposing your "new morality" on a few states.

That's why, following your legislative victory in New York allowing same-sex marriage, I expected you to begin the petition drive here in Maine again within the week. No matter that the voters in 2009 rejected same-sex marriage by a hefty 53 to 47 percent margin, or the fact that every time people get to vote you lose, I knew you would try again. Sure enough, last Thursday, June 7Th, you began your petition drive to get the issue on the ballot again in 2012.

Now on Wednesday,August 17th, the Maine Secretary of State approved language for your citizen's initiative. You are off and running. The political battle is on again.

We in the church can learn from you. We finish a battle then get back to our normal lives, usually exhausted. I doubt that Bishop Malone or Pastor Bob Emrich feel up to spearheading another protracted political fight. Nor are the people of Maine. Marc Mutty of the Portland diocese of the Roman Catholic Church said,

"The people of this state rejected same-sex marriage in November of 2009 and should not be put through what will likely be another diivisive, drawn out campaign."

You know that. Yet, as the church, WE MUST AGAIN MOBILIZE to defend Biblical marriage. We need your ability to stick-to-it.

My hat is also off to your public relations campaign. Almost daily your cheerleaders in the Bangor Daily News make absurd claims with no references to sources. Claims that 10 to 15% of the population are homosexual when any legitimate survey can find only about 2%. Claims there is a gay gene in the DNA code predetermining homosexuality, when no gene can ever be identified. Claims that children are just as well off with two aprents of the same sex in spite of many studies to the contrary.

And, of course, equating your behavioral choice to the racial struggle for equality was a stroke of genius. Who can be against equality, right? Even your name, Equality Maine, makes it hard to resist. And that allows you to tell us we are on the wrong side of the moral issue, and call us homophobes and hate-mongers if we oppose your so-called equality. Yet, the real issue isn't equality, but morality, and same-sex marriage is simply, morally wrong. Michael Youssef claims, "Every issue is a moral issue." This one certainly is.

You've claimed your cause is similar to the court case of Loving versus Virginia. Virginia law made it a crime for Mildred and Richard Loving to marry because they were an interracial couple. However, they were fighting for the right to become a traditional marriage between one man and one woman, not trying to redefine the very definition of marriage. When the Supreme Court upheld their right in June of 1967, they ruled in favor of traditional marriage, not against it. I'm surproised that the black community isn't up in arms over the way you try to make your case equilivilent to thiers.

The Supreme Court understood then that the essential public purpose of marriage was to bind one male and one female together and to the children their sexual activity might produce, knowing that children do better in a home with a mother and a father. That is still true and the reason traditional, Biblical marriage is worth defending.

Same-sex marriage disconnects marriage from its most basic purpose. Quoting Jeff Jacoby,

"Marriage - male female marriage - is indispensable to human welfare. That is why it has existed in virtually every known human society. And why it cannot, and will not, be permanently redefined."

Thousands of years of collected wisdom shouldn't be thrown overboard, and no society until now has ever established same-sex marriage.

I also take my hat off to you for your effective use of questionable polling data. As they say, figures don't lie, but liars figure. Polling data can be fertile ground for liars. We repeatedly hear nowadays that a majority of people approve same-sex marriage. Really? If you say something over and over and over again, it doesn't make it so. When the Alliance Defense Fund and Public Opinion Strategies conducted a scientific national poll from May 16Th through 19Th of this year, they got entirely different results. They found that 62%, a solid majority in any body's reckoning, believed that, "marriage should be defined as a union between one man and one woman." These findings line up well with the actual results when voters go to the polls.

People, we need to think right. Proverbs 1:7 says,

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge , but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

Without beginning with the fear of the Lord, it's amazing where our human reasoning will take us - yes, even to calling thoise standing for Biblical morality bigoted hate-mongers while demanding a complete remaking of the definition of marriage. Now we see Isaiah 5:20 lived out before our eyes. It says, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil." We cannot stand by and allow them to stand moralitiy on its head.

Now to address the church (and all who believe traditional marriage is worth defending), I quote the hymn of William P. Merrill,

"Rise up, O church of God! Have done with lesser things. Give heart and mind and soul and strength to serve the King of Kings."

We can win this battle again. Thirty two states have put marriage protection on the ballot, and all thirty two have won. In the ten states of the south where people have voted, traditional marriage won by an average of 71.44%. Even in Ohio, in 2004 they passed a state constituional amendment by 62% protecting marriage. We've alredy won once in Maine.

Back in 1973, when the Supreme Court ruled in Roe versus Wade that unborn babies could be deprived of their right to life and be killed in the womb, the church mostly remained silent. In their generation, they abdicated the fight over the biggest moral issue of their day. Same-sex marriage is the biggest moral issue of our day. Don't let our children and grandchildren have to ask us why we sat out the fight, if we lose anther great battle. This battle can be won. It will be, if we rise up and get to work.

God Isn't Divided, Why Are His Spokesmen?

In the debate about same-sex marriage, I am constantly amazed by the number of articles I read about clergy who promote it. On Monday, for instance, another article appeared in the Bangor Daily News with the title, "Some Methodist Clergy Defy Ban on Gay Marriage." The opening line read,

"A growing number of pastors in the United Methodist Church say they are no longer willing to obey a church rule that prohibits them from officiating at same-sex marriages, despite the potential threat of being disciplined or dismissed from the church."

Even if they are willing to defy their denomination, my question is, why are they willing to defy God?

The final line of the article reads,

"Hundreds of pastors from areas including Illinois, Minnesota, New York, and the northeastern New England states have signed statements in recent weeks asserting their willingness to defy the rule."

It is obvious from reading the many articles that have appeared that there are many clergy on both sides of the "homosexual Rights" movement, including the debate about same-sex marriage.

The liberal media love to quote favorably those clergy who promote same-sex marriage, while they cast doubt on those clergy who stick with the traditional viewpoint. But can both sides truly be speaking for God? If both sides are representing God's viewpoint, God must be awfully confused and not all-knowing and all-wise as we believe.

No! The truth is, God has spoken, and He has spoken clearly through His word. God's word is the Bible, the source document for our Christian faith. Those who proclaim the Bible speak for God. Those who deny the clear teaching of the Bible speak for themselves.

In Jeremiah 23:16, God said, "They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord." God is warning the Israelites not to listen to those false prophets who proclaim their own ideas. They are liars if they claim to speak for Him. Only those who proclaim the revelation of God are legitimate spokesmen.

The same warning is valid for us today. Don't listen to false prophets who proclaim their own human reasoning rather than the truth of God's word. We should never consider them spokesmen for God any more than we would consider someone a spokesman for Islam who denied the Koran. Could we even consider them Muslim if they denied the Koran? Can we even consider those Christian who deny the Bible? Yet they are precisely the ones the liberal media go to for the Christian position. I deny they can possibly speak for God.

God's word is clear. God created men and women with uniquely different bodies, which allows sexual reproduction, and with different temperaments, which allows them to fulfill their different roles as fathers and mothers. God Himself brought that first man and woman together and joined them in the first marriage.

Adam didn't need just a companion, or God could have given him a dog. Adam didn't need just an economic partner, or God could have given him another man. But in order for them to obey God's command to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, Adam needed a woman. This is why the first marriage was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.

God further stated His purpose for marriage in Malachi 2:15, "But did He not make them one. . .and why one? He seeks godly offspring." Obviously, this refers back to the creation account of Adam and Eve, and by implication, to us as well. And the question asked is the very one we are debating today. Why is there marriage? The answer is simple. God wants to see the birth and nurture of godly offspring. This takes a father and a mother. God's commentary of that first marriage is found in Genesis 2:24, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."

God intended marriage to be a safe place where a loving couple, a man and a woman, could bear and raise children. This has provided the definition of marriage from the beginning, and remains the definition today. Any other arrangement is not marriage - not according to God. Anyone, including any clergy, who says otherwise is speaking on their own behalf, not God's, and he is doing so in clear defiance of the word of God. They are not the voice of God. They do not speak for God. They are false prophets and shouldn't be listened to.