Religion versus Theology

The issue of same sex marriage is heating up again in Washington state. A group is pushing Washington to become the seventh state in the country to legalize same sex marriages. Proponents claim the this is not a religious issue. They said yesterday, on the Ken Schram radio show, that they freely respect the rights of those who are opposed upon religious grounds to abstain from practicing same sex marriages. The example I heard on the radio show was from Schram's guest who said that he was Roman Catholic and completely understood that his priest would be unwilling to perform his wedding. Speaking of Ken Schram, (himself a professing Catholic) he chided his audience not to send him emails claiming that "God made Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve," calling that "trite."
So I began to think about the difference between a religious argument against homosexual marriage and a theological one. It is obvious that religious arguments are powerless in our day. Very few people these days care what any church thinks about any thing. Here were two Catholics aggressively opposed to the message of their own religion. They weren't even bothered that their religion comes out on the opposite side of a position they are passionate about. The position of their religion, though still their religion, just does not matter to them. Therefore a religious argument is a hopeless argument. But what about a theological one? What if we argued that God Himself is opposed to homosexuality?
I realize most people would not see the difference. For most people religion has replaced God. They do not know God, they only know their religion and they have come to see their religion as fallible. Their own opions are as good as any opinion of their church. So, in order for my proposal to have any effect, two things would have to happen:
First, religions would have to get out of the way of God. We would need some honest to goodness real believers who meet with the Lord and hear from Him day by day. We would have to find some Christians who worship the Lord when they assemble rather than merely practicing their church form.
Second we would need a message from God so we know His views on issues such as homosexuality and etc..
Oh yea, I have heard about some Christians like that. These were those that refused to join up with Constantine when first he proposed to put religion above God. These have been a hated and persecuted people since the crucifixion of Christ. But they have also been a tenacious people, persisting through flame and flood.
• They have worshiped God in barns and meat-houses.
• They have preached in cathedrals not built by human hands.
• They have met in secret places and heard their preacher in hushed tones.
• They would not enter into the established churches knowing that those places only smothered out the heart for God.
They are the Baptists.
Not those who like to use the Baptist name but are really just Protestants who immerse; I am speaking of those Baptists who have, through the ages, lived and died by this one rule; their faith was in a resurrected Saviour and not a system of religion.
Hey, and that same people did have a message from God. Their Bibles gave us a family of Biblical manuscripts that were untainted by the perversions of Romanism. They saw the Bible as more than an instrument to control the masses for their purposes, but as indeed the very word of God. That message has been faithfully preserved and passed down to in the King James Version of the Bible.
The Baptist people have the message Washington State needs to hear. It is not that our church that opposes homosexual marriages; it is that God Himself is offended when His creation defiles the order He created. He has clearly said so, not in a religious document that has been written and re-written by men, but in the breath of God, recorded and supernaturally preserved.
The state of Washington may very well legalize homosexual marriages. But they will do so in defiance, not of a church, but of the very God of heaven.
And God have mercy if they do.

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

Toward a Humble Orthodoxy

A recent blog entitled Updating and Refining the 1689 Baptist Confession: Toward a Humble Orthodoxy struck a chord with me, especially in consideration of my blog posted October 2. In the more recent blog the author, Bob Gonzales, a self professed Reformed Baptist, claims that those of his persuasion, "sometimes give the impression that we view ourselves as closer to historical Christian faith and practice than others in every respect." He goes on to state that, "Revising our Confession is a good opportunity to show our evangelical brothers that we don’t believe the illumination of the Holy Spirit ended with our Particular Baptist forefathers in the 17th century." And that, "…borrowing language or insights from their creeds where appropriate demonstrates a teachable and humble spirit on our part."
For my part I suggest that those who claim the Reformed position just admit that they are evangelicals rather than Baptist at all. To remind you of my previous blog, I quoted a missionary:
“… our English Baptist forefathers left their original position of "local church" proclaimed in their declaration of 1644 to embrace the reformation idea of the universal church to be "politically correct" in the second London Confession of 1689. They felt the need to be accepted as orthodox in their doctrine in order to be included in the Act of Toleration of 1689. From that time on we find Baptists struggling with this issue. On one hand we have the clear Bible teaching of the "ekklesia" and on the other hand the insatiable desire to be accepted by the protestant/evangelical community. May God help us to be faithful to Him and not to men.”
The last thing a Baptist needs to be as deemed "orthodox" by the Protestant powers that be. Just as Amos disavowed identification with the prophets of his day, the Baptist identification is one that is separate and distinct from those accepted orthodoxies of any age. We follow the Lord as He is revealed in the Word of God, not the orthodox standards of whichever age a Baptist may find himself. If a Baptist has a reason to exist it is as salt and light against the culture of our world, including those forms of Christianity that have morphed with the world.
Humility yes; but not before Protestant hierarchies. Our doctrine stands or falls in "the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

Is Teaching Obedience Bad?

I just finished reading Darin Hufford's blog condemning the last church his family attended. He said that the service was fine - nothing new, but nothing wrong. Until he and his wife picked up the kids from the children's church area. They were wired on sugar, excited about the services and toting a coloring page encouraging obedience. He and his wife shook their heads in disappointment. After all, Christians shouldn't have to be obedient, he intimates, they should just be.

The only real test whether this is simply Mr. Hufford's opinion or a truth churches ought to get hold of is the Bible. I doubt that Mr. Hufford would accept any of the myriad of Old Testament passages concerning obedience so I will stick with the New Testament and just one passage there; Hebrews 5:8. Jesus the Son of God, learned obedience.

There you have it. Unless Mr. Hufford and his family are something more than is our Savior, I would suggest that if Christ learned obedience it would behoove the Hufford's and it would behoove the rest of us?

It isn't difficult to understand why that simple Sunday school coloring sheet would offend the Hufford's. After all obedience smacks of submission. Obedience implies that there is someone over us. Obedience insists that we are not gods. To be sure there are some who force obedience upon us who are no better than us. And I will readily admit it happens too often in church. But this in no way negates the Christian's submission to the Lord or our responsibility to obey.

Mr. Hufford; you write about God's love. Love is to be a two way street and Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments."

Your children would do well to learn obedience.

Couldn't hurt you either.

Marvin McKenzie
In the fields

Buy the Boat

Life Is Short - Buy the Boat Recently, while traveling south on I-5, entering the Fife Washington area, I saw the brightly lit advertisement...