Redeeming Life Archives - Page 25 of 31

This is a Christmas gift for the #1 fan and reader of this blog: my wife, Wendy. She is the best wife and mother anyone could have!

This present combines three of the things Wendy loves most: her daughters, music, and Christmas.

Her three daughters sang several Christmas carols for her, and I recorded them and am posting them here for her enjoyment!

We love you, Wendy! We love you, Mommy! All you have to do is click the play button for the audio player above. Enjoy!

Although the gift is for Wendy, the rest of you are free to enjoy it as well… Merry Christmas!

C. S. Lewis on Gay Marriage

By Jeremy Myers

46 Comments

As far I know, C. S. Lewis never directly wrote about gay marriage (but see the update note at bottom of this post). But he did write about whether or not the government should be involved in defining what is marriage and what is not.

In his classic book, Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis wrote something which directly applies to the question in our courts and churches today about defining marriage. Lewis was writing about marriage between divorced people, but the idea can equally be applied to marriage between two gay people.

Here is what he wrote:

Before leaving the question of divorce, I should like to distinguish two things which are very often confused. The Christian conception of marriage is one: the other is quite the different question—how far Christians, if they are voters or Members of Parliament, ought to try to force their views of marriage on the rest of the community by embodying them in the divorce laws. A great many people seem to think that if you are a Christian yourself you should try to make divorce difficult for every one. I do not think that. At least I know I should be very angry if the Mohammedans tried to prevent the rest of us from drinking wine.

My own view is that the Churches should frankly recognize that the majority of the British people are not Christian and, therefore, cannot be expected to live Christian lives. There ought to be two distinct kinds of marriage: one governed by the State with rules enforced on all citizens, the other governed by the church with rules enforced by her on her own members. The distinction ought to be quite sharp, so that a man knows which couples are married in a Christian sense and which are not.

Incidentally, Lewis’ view appears to be quite similar to my view on the gay marriage amendment. It is time for Christians to recognize that the United States Government (or any human government for that matter) is not the enforcer of biblical guidelines and laws. Governments make their own laws which they believe will help bring peace, safety, and security within their own lands, but these laws are often at odds with the instructions and commands of Scripture.

Even though the government makes something “legal,” this does not mean that it is now legal for Christians, for we must follow both the laws of God and the laws of our government, with the laws of our King taking precedent in our personal behavior over the laws of our land. And we must be wary about trying to get our government to enforce Biblical guidelines on all the people in a country, for if it can be done with “Christian” laws, it can also be done at a later time with “Muslim” laws, or “Mormon” laws, or whatever religion is in “power” at the time. C. S. Lewis gives the example of Muslims and their prohibition to drinking alcohol, but if Mormons ever came into power over the country, maybe they would put a law into effect prohibiting the drinking of coffee. Then where would we be? Just imagine if Romney had been elected President!!!

I’m joking, of course, for I doubt Mormons would ever do that. But in some countries Muslims are trying to enforce their Sharia law upon everybody in that country, just as here in the United States some Christians are trying to enforce some of our laws on all the people in our country. If anything has been learned from history, we know that it is bad for everybody when any religion picks up the sword of government and tries to enforce religious laws on anybody.

UPDATE: In re-reading The Four Loves recently, I discovered that Lewis did in fact write about homosexuality, but mainly in the context of male friendship. He scoffs at the idea that some modern proponents of homosexual marriage see homosexual behavior in the deep male friendships of ancient literature. Here is some of what he says:

It has actually become necessary in our time to rebut the theory that every firm and serious friendship is really homosexual (p. 245)

Which Lewis then goes on to do for the next page or two. He concludes with this:

Kisses, tears and embraces are not in themselves evidence of homosexuality. The implications would be, if nothing else, too comic. Hrothgar embracing Beowulf, Johnson embracing Boswell (a pretty flagrantly heterosexual couple) and all those hairy old toughs of centurions in Tacitus, clinging to one another and begging for last kisses when the legion was broken up… all pansies? [His word; not mine!!!] If you can believe that you can believe anything (p. 247).

So he did say a little something on the subject after all…

UPDATE 2: I have been reading the letters of C. S. Lewis compiled in Yours, Jack. C. S. Lewis wrote a letter to Sheldon Vanauken about homosexuality (p. 241). In it, he wrote this:

I take it for certain that the physical satisfaction of homosexual desires is sin. This leaves the homosexual no worse off than any normal person who is, for whatever reason, prevented from marrying. Second, our speculations on the cause of the abnormality are not what matters and we must be content with ignorance. The disciples were not told why the man was born blind (John 9:1-3): only the final cause: that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

… What should the positive life of the homosexual be? I wish I had a letter which a pious male homosexual, now dead, once wrote to me–but of course it was the sort of letter one takes care to destroy. He believed that his necessity could be turned to spiritual gain: that there were certain kinds of sympathy and understanding, a certain social role which mere men and mere women could not give. But it is all horribly vague–too long ago. Perhaps any homosexual who humbly accepts his cross and puts himself under divine guidance will be shown the way.

Did you like this post? Share it below! Also, you may like to read what Jesus taught about homosexuality.

In Favor of a Marriage Amendment

By Jeremy Myers

18 Comments

As the Supreme Court prepares to hear two cases about same-sex marriage, I wanted to weigh in on the subject of gay marriage and the attempt in many states to add a marriage amendment to their constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman. Many Christians and conservatives (I consider myself both) want to define marriage “biblically.” That is, based on the Bible’s definition of marriage, they want it to become the law of the land that two men (or two women) cannot be “married.” They want to ban same-sex marriage through the Defense of Marriage Act, or at least not allow such unions to be called “marriage.”

Marriage Amendment

I could be in favor of an amendment to the constitution defining marriage “biblically” IF we really defined it according to what the Bible says. If we are going to define marriage biblically, we should go all the way.

So the Bible says that marriage is between one man and one woman. Fine.

But it also says that marriage is between one man and one woman for life. So divorce is out. Anyone who has divorced and remarried cannot be defined as “married.”

Also, the marriage bed should be kept pure, so there can be no sexual activity outside of marriage., either before, during, or after marriage. Anyone who slept around before marriage or who had an affair also cannot be defined as “married.”

And depending on how rigorous we want to apply the definition, we might be able to say that anyone who has looked at another person lustfully has already committed adultery with them in their heart, and so they have technically had an affair also, and so they cannot be biblically defined as “married.”

When we take the entire Bible to define marriage (instead of just a few obscure passages, marriage is defined as “The union between a man and a woman for their entire life, with absolutely no sexual activity or thoughts outside of this union forever.”

If we are going to vote in a “biblical” marriage amendment, that is what it should be.

But no one in their right mind would vote for such an amendment.

Which is exactly the point.

Gay Marriage

Look. I believe that when God created humanity, He intended marriage to be between one man and one woman. This was His ideal. This is what He wanted. Anything that does not fall within this ideal is missing the mark, which is the definition of “sin.”

So sure, homosexual activity is missing the mark of God’s ideal.

But so is divorce.

So is premarital sex.

So is having an affair.

So is pornography.

So is hiring a prostitute.

So is lusting after another person in your heart.

All of these activities miss the mark of God’s ideal.

And the truth is that the Bible talks way more about these other behaviors than it does about homosexuality. The Bible mentions homosexuality six times at most, three times in the Old Testament and three times in the New Testament, and a couple of these are debatable depending on how the words are translated. But the Bible mentions divorce, and lust, and prostitution, and sexual activity outside of marriage hundreds of times.

Love and Forgiveness of God

But more than all this, God extends grace and forgiveness to all these areas that miss the mark of his ideal.

Does God love and forgive those who engage in prostitution? Of course!

Does God love and forgive those addicted to pornography? Of course!

Does God love and forgive those who have an affair? Of course!

Does God love and forgive those who have premarital sex? Of course!

Does God love and forgive those who get divorced? Of course!

So does God love and forgive those who are homosexual? The answer is simple: Of course!

Who are we to decide that one way of missing the mark is worse than all the others, especially when God seems more concerned about the ways which we ignore and overlook?

Look. If we are going to come up with a “biblical definition of marriage” we better make sure it is truly biblical.

And if we are not ready to truly define marriage biblically, then maybe we should just shut up and sit down and focus on the areas in our own life where we are missing the mark of God’s ideals.

The truth is that we have no business trying to impose our falsely fabricated morality on other people by claiming it is “biblical” when (1) it is not biblical and (2) when we don’t follow it ourselves.

So could I support a marriage amendment? Not really. Even if we defined marriage “biblically” such an amendment would never go anywhere because nearly all Christians are guilty of not having a biblical marriage. And furthermore, who are we to impose our biblical morality on others through the rule of law? Jesus never did this, and neither should we.

We are Ambassadors

We function in this world the same way Jesus functioned.

We are ambassadors in a foreign nation, and we help others live according to the rules of our kingdom not by trying to impose our rules upon them, but simply by living among them and showing them a different way. A way of love, generosity, service, kindness, and peace. We do not condemn the activities of those around us, for they are living according to the morality and laws of their kingdom. That is fine for them. It is not our way, but we have no right to insist that our way becomes everybody’s way.

If we want to win people over to our way of living, we do it by the lives we live, not by trying to get this foreign government we live under to adopt the ways and rules of the Kingdom we represent.

And this means hanging out with them, going to their parties, and being friends with the people of this foreign kingdom. We must love and accept them just as they are. This was the way of Jesus, and it must be our way as well.

How to hear the Voice of the Spirit

By Jeremy Myers

3 Comments

For many, the guidance of the Holy Spirit is a mystical and magical affair.

It is believed that listening to the Spirit is only for the most spiritual of Christians, and hearing the Spirit is often accompanied by strange experiences like dreams, visions, and speaking in tongues.

But such an approach to the Spirit does more damage than good.

It treats the Holy Spirit as some sort of pagan deity who must rely upon ecstatic utterances and erratic behavior to get his message across to people. Many false religions depend on such things, and believe that their particular deity cannot speak to them except through such strange behavior.

But our God is not like their gods.

The Spirit’s Voice

The Spirit’s voice is more like the still small voice of God which is most often mistaken for our very own thoughts.

Since all who have believed in Jesus are indwelled by the Spirit of God, we must take it on faith that the Spirit who empowered Jesus also empowers and guides us.

As we go about our days, seeking to follow Jesus and love others, we must recognize that many of the thoughts that “pop into” our minds regarding the needs and concerns of others, are probably not our own thoughts, but are rather due to the quiet, influencing guidance of the Holy Spirit.

[Read more…]

Practical Alternatives to Prayer Meetings

By Jeremy Myers

5 Comments

After we recognize the problems of prayer meetings, we can start taking practical steps to help people better understand what prayer is, how to pray, and how to become answers to our own prayers.

Cancel Prayer Meetings

You may want to cancel all your church prayer meetings, or at least the regularly-scheduled prayer meetings.

There is nothing wrong with having a time of corporate prayer on an occasional basis in response to a deep need or issue that is facing the entire congregation. But a regularly scheduled prayer meeting is most often unhealthy for the life of the church, and leads to many of the problems mentioned in previous posts. So cancel it.

But this does not mean we cancel prayer. Not at all!

Don’t Cancel Prayer

With some targeted teaching on prayer, and modeling of a healthy prayer life, pastors and church leaders can actually unleash the power of prayer within their congregation.

Rather than meet simply to pray, meet to go serve the community, and before you go, spend a few minutes in prayer for eyes to see and ears to hear the needs and issues that people in the neighborhood are dealing with.

Then remind the people that as they serve others, to maintain that prayerful communication with God to listen for what He might be leading His children to say and do. This sort of prayer can set a church on fire!

This is the active prayer life of the church.

This is the prayer of faith that moves mountains, feeds the multitudes, cleans up the city, and reaches thousands for Christ.

As a church moves out into the community with prayers of faith and acts of service, the true power of prayer is unleashed within the community of believers, and they begin to see prayer for what it is and how it works.

Let prayer meetings cease, not because prayer is unimportant, but because it is too important to be held hostage in a back room of the church building.

Do you want to pray like never before?

Do you what to talk to God like you talk to a friend? Do you want to see more answers to prayer?

If you have these (and other) questions about prayer, let me send you some teaching and instruction about prayer to your email inbox. You will receive one or two per week, absolutely free. Fill out the form below to get started.

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A Christmas Present for Wendy from her Girls

C. S. Lewis on Gay Marriage

In Favor of a Marriage Amendment

Marriage Amendment

Gay Marriage

Love and Forgiveness of God

We are Ambassadors

How to hear the Voice of the Spirit

The Spirit’s Voice

Practical Alternatives to Prayer Meetings

Cancel Prayer Meetings

Don’t Cancel Prayer

Do you want to pray like never before?

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