From the desk of the Tiger Lily.
We have all heard the phrase perpetrated and permeated throughout our culture of "I don't care what they do behind closed doors", "what they do in private is their business", "as long as they're not hurting other people", "what two consenting adults do is between them", and many variations on that theme. Homo Hannity repeats it often enough that one could add it to a shots game with their alcohol of choice, as much as that "Winter is coming" Game of Thrones abomination to de-sensitize society to incest. And on the face of it, the philosophy seems right, it seems American, it seems Constitutional in freedom and the pursuit of whatever makes one happy, and Mockingbird was very clever in that particular phrase creation.
For a Christian, that phrase is unacceptable as it is a lie from the pit of hell. In one of my Bible readings recently, the Holy Ghost showed me a passage from Romans, which I have read many times before, but not until then did He open my eyes to what this signifies.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom 5:12-21
(I know it's repetitious, and Paul wrote it that way to get it to stick in the minds of people.)
Adam was one man. Jesus was one man. Their actions here on earth affected much more than just themselves. And it is the same with every single person. Your decisions carry with them either the penalty of death or the Freedom of Grace through Salvation in Christ Jesus.
It is a very sober thing, and it is why every human being's actions matter. And THAT is why as a Christian, you should care what other people do behind closed doors, because it affects us all. The afore-mentioned Mockingbird deception is something every Christian cannot and must not support.
From a Constitutional standpoint, since it was written with freedom-loving, law-abiding Christians in mind, and since it is a framework for the Declaration's beautiful ending of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, keep in mind that the law should let every individual be free to choose their Life in God, their Liberty to choose to do what is Right according to God's Will, and the pursuit of true Happiness which is only found in Christ. The law should also discourage and punish those who go contrary to the will of God, due to the fact that the sin of one person degrades society in affecting the rest. Given that the current societal climate and interpretation of an "evolving" Constitutional document do not uphold what is right, it is up to the individual to do so.
One of my favorite authors, Louisa May Alcott, wrote of what used to be an acceptable societal method of discouraging the emergence or acceptance of licentiousness and profligates, and that was for Christians to refuse to make acquaintance with those of an established and well-known "bad character" which includes those such as alcoholics to fornicators to liars to adulterers to thieves to gays. Societal shunning is a great way to make the unrepentants and those that flaunt their abominable behavior understand that it is NOT acceptable and will not be tolerated. It also was a better check-rein to make people behave themselves than what we have now.
The alternative which has already been implemented in this country and tried to exhaustion of "loving them more" only leads to rampant corruption in the Church and in society. On an individual level, every Christian that I have seen getting cuddly with atheists and others that enjoy blatantly thumbing their noses at God end up hurt, questioning their Faith, and/or abandoning God to join the ones they couldn't beat. Your primary and only responsibility as a Christian is to maintain your relationship with God at all costs, as other relationships are not as important as what you have with Him (Matther 10:37). There are those who are specifically called by God to those who are lost and seeking Him, but there are too many that think they have to try to save everyone and that is another lie perpetrated by well-meaning pastors.
So, to summarize what I've been trying to say in this rambling post:
1) EVERY person's actions matter because each person affects everyone else.
2) The Constitution and the law of this land should support the Bible, which is what it was written for in the first place.
3) Societal shunning is still a good idea and better than what we have now.
4) Your relationship with God is more important than everything else.
God Bless the Good.
agtG
