Looking at our world from a theological perspective, this is The Theology Central Podcast, making theology central. Good afternoon, everyone. It is Wednesday, November 30, 2022. It is currently 3.51 p.m. Central Time, and I'm coming to you live from The Theology Central studio, located right here in Abilene, Texas. Well, at thechristianpost.com, christianpost.com, there is an article that was published today that I am sure every Christian, every person who goes to church, every church member, every pastor, every deacon, every Sunday school teacher, everyone is going to have very strong opinions about. and we will definitely make it a point of focus maybe over the next day or so here on the Theology Central podcast. For now, I just wanted to turn on the microphone just to make sure everyone is aware of it. I'm sure you are because this happened yesterday, but it's now showing up on some Christian websites today. So I haven't been following this story that much, and here's the thing. some of you are going to be very upset with me when you hear what this story is to find out that i haven't been following it because i haven't been bothered i haven't been worried i haven't been concerned because it really doesn't matter to me now when i say that you're going to be like how dare he says how dare he would say that that is horrible he should be concerned he should be worried this is the sign of the end there's gonna my reaction is going to be basically 100 opposite to how most christians are going to react and because my reaction is so different many are going to perceive that in a way that that is not an actual reflection of my thoughts but I'm going to at least give you the information. I would love to get your thoughts. You can email them to me, newsifatyahoo.com, newsifatyahoo.com. I'm going to just throw out a couple of thoughts, and then we will talk about this in a later episode where I have a little bit more time. But I saw this show up on the Christian post at christianpost.com, and I'm like, okay, we have to at least mention it. So here we go. Here's the headline. Historic day or undeniable harm. So something happened. Was it a historic day, a day that everyone will remember and it's amazing and everyone should celebrate, or is it a day that did undeniable harm? Five reactions to Senate passing same-sex marriage bill. So this article contains five reactions to the Senate passing the same-sex marriage bill. Now, I'm not going to go through all five of the reactions in this episode, but we will work through them to see if any one of those five are anywhere close to mine, all right? But I'm just going to give you right from the very start. In fact, let me read the first line here. The United States Senate passed legislation on Tuesday that would codify federal legal protections for same-sex marriage despite religious liberty concerns voiced by many. Known as the Respect for Marriage Act, the legislation was passed in a vote of 61 to 36, with 12 Republicans joining all Senate Democrats and supporting the measure. The measure is expected to eventually be signed into law by President Joe Biden. The passage of the act, putting it one step closer to being enacted, garnered support from progressive groups while getting denunciations from socially conservative organizations. All right, now, Well, stop right there. I'm not going to go through the whole article because I don't want to get into the five reactions right now. I just want to offer some of my thoughts. And I'm going to say this, and I know Christians get very angry with me, but that's okay. I'm going to say this. I don't care that lost people want to have a basically a legal certified marriage, a civil recognized marriage between two men or two women. It doesn't bother me. It doesn't hurt me. It doesn't do anything for me. It doesn't mean anything to me. Here, they just want a civil, they want their marriage to be recognized by the law, by the court, by society that, hey, these two people are married. It doesn't bother me in any way, shape or form. It has no... Look, here's the thing. You know what I expect the lost world to do? To live like lost people. To live like sinners. Why am I want to force lost people to try to abide by religious law or religious rule or scripture? They are lost. They don't need law. They need salvation. The only thing they need the law for is to see their sin. be broken over that sin, cry out to God for mercy. Once they place their faith in Jesus Christ, then they're taught to obey. But many Christians want to impose biblical morality upon lost people. Two men, two women get married today. What does it do for me? It doesn't impact me in any way, shape, or form. It has no bearing on me. This is what blows my mind about Christians in this thing. People have been getting married. Like, if you look at the biblical teaching, there's obviously clear situations where someone could get divorced, get remarried, and then that relationship would be considered adultery. The Bible seems to clearly indicate that. So there's been people doing that for years, forever. They got married, they got divorced, they got remarried. So that would supposedly be adultery, right? Well, Christians don't care. Why didn't you pass a law to stop no one whose divorced can get remarried? Well, that would wipe out 90% of your church, right? So no, no, no, you don't do anything about that. But two men, two women, now, now we got a problem. Now we got a problem. Why do we make such an exception there? People are going to do this. It doesn't change anything. Whether they're married, whether they're not married, they're going to be in a relationship, they're going to be engaged in the activity. What are you trying to do? You just want everything to look good? You just want an external, visible perception of morality? It doesn't bother me at all. It doesn't destroy marriage in any way, shape, or form. Look, here's the way, I think there's two aspects of marriage. There is the civil aspect of marriage, the civil union, the legally recognized coming together of two people, and so they have all of the privileges and responsibility of married people, and all the different things that come with it. Okay, fine, that has nothing to do within the spiritual, the biblical concept of marriage, whereas two people come together in a covenant relationship together, before God, all right? Guess what? What they do doesn't impact what we do. The two are not connected. We see it as something biblical, that two people are coming together before God. The church can still practice that and still only participate in biblical marriage, and whatever the government does is irregardless. It doesn't matter. It doesn't impact us in any way. It doesn't hurt us. It doesn't do anything. And you say, well, but sin is a reproach to God. Okay, well, just think of all the other sin that takes place. And you're worried about that? Here's the thing, you want to change the sin in society. It's not by forcing people to obey a law, it's by giving them the gospel. That's the way to transform society. But Christians don't want the gospel. We want, you will do what we tell you. You will live the way we will tell you. You will do what we tell you. You will act the way we tell you. Who are you to tell other people how to act? Now, I understand all law has a level of morality to it. I am very aware of that. I understand that. And we want to pass laws that protect people's property, protects their life. We want law to protect and to try to restrain wrong from occurring. But in this particular case, it's not hurting me. It's not hurting you. They wanna do so, they do so. So it doesn't bother me. I don't know why Christians just like lose their mind over this, okay? And look, I said that this was gonna become the law of the land. I don't even know, 15 years ago, I was doing podcasting before podcasting, and I told churches what they needed to do to be prepared for this. I've told everyone what they needed to do. It's just simple. Here's what Christians need to do. Your church, Number one stop renting out your building as you're like you're a business so that people can get married in your sanctuary You're not a business. You're not a wedding business. You're a church for crying out loud If you want to marry someone in your church, it should only be married So one stop renting it out because if you rent it out That always puts the church at risk, right? Because you're acting like a business. So then anyone can say, well, we would like to rent out your building. I'm sorry, you can't get married in here. That puts you in possible danger. Just stop renting out your building. It's not, you're not a business, you're a church. Second, only marry people who are members of your church. There you go, unless you remember, you have to make a profession of faith in Christ, there you go. And then clearly, you can say we will only practice, at this church, we only marry people who meet the biblical requirements for a biblical marriage would be a man and a woman. There you go, and then you just, I'm not gonna say it's 1,000%, you know, never will be a problem in the history of our country, depending on the direction we're going, but that just keeps you out of it. Someone calls you, we would like to get married in your building. I'm sorry, we don't rent out our building for anything, right? Because it's a church, it's not a business. Okay, number, would you marry us? I'm sorry, I only marry members of my church. And now typically that's the end of the phone call. So on one hand, it doesn't, I don't know why Christians are so upset about it. Okay, so they're gonna, it's gonna codify into law, same-sex marriage. Okay, so what? They get married, they get married, they get married, they get married, they get married, they get married, they get married, they get married. Great. Now, you have a relationship, you've come into a, in a sense, a union that's civilly recognized by the country, by the state, whatever the case may be. Fine. Doesn't change my biblical view in any way, shape, or form. The law may recognize all kinds of things that Christians may reject, but me rejecting it doesn't mean I need to force it upon lost people. Christians are weird that way. We want to tell the world, like we get mad at Muslims who want to enact Sharia law, but Christians almost want to act our own version, enact our own version, that we want the world to act like Christians. You don't make people act like Christians by law. evangelize the Great Commission. Please note, it's teach, it's baptize, then it's teach to obey. The obedience comes after the salvation. So to me, I'm not bothered, I'm not perplexed, I knew it was going to happen. So many years ago, I'm like, it's going to happen. Look, Christians, this is what you have to realize. If people are rejecting God and rejecting the Bible, the society is going to move away from biblical morality and biblical standards. You can yell and scream and get mad and throw a fit and try to, you know, I don't know, elect the right politician so that you can bring back morality, but you've lost the plot. The people need prayer, the people need scripture, the people need evangelism. You pray, fast, evangelize, love your enemy, love your neighbor, act like a Christian, be salt and light. But we're like, nope, nope, nope, nope, the world is slipping down the pit, it's slipping into hell, and we're going to get Republicans elected to stop it, and we're gonna fight. You're trying to fight a spiritual war through carnal means. Nothing changed in my life or in my church when the same-sex marriage act was, or hang on, what's the actual name of it? I'm sorry, the Respect for Marriage Act was passed. It doesn't change one thing. I'm still gonna teach the same biblical principles on marriage that are right here, not gonna change. I still believe a biblical marriage is one between a man and a woman. And I'm like, oh, well, okay, congratulations. You get married and the government recognizes it. It's no big deal to me. It doesn't bother me, as other people have gotten married and entered into marriages that would not be accepted biblically, okay? People have been doing it forever. Forget homosexuality, forget same-sex and heterosexual marriages. You've had believers marrying unbelievers. Well, that's clearly forbidden by scripture. You have people who are married, divorced, or getting remarried, and that marriage does not meet the biblical requirements, so they're in an adulterous relationship. Nobody even cares. Nobody even blinks. But this, we're like, this, this. Worry about the church. Worry about the church. Let's be, let's focus there. Let's focus on what the world needs. The world doesn't need culture battles and us yelling and screaming and trying to get Republicans elected so that we can force and take away this and not allow people to do this. I don't, it's so weird how Christians think today. I'm just like, okay, so the culture, culture, and unless the church is the church and continues to do what we're supposed to do, well, then the culture will move further and further away from God. To me, I just don't see the great controversy I just don't see it. I just don't see it. You can offer your own perspective. I know some of you, you're very bothered by it, you're very upset about it, and you're gonna think I'm crazy. You're gonna think I'm crazy, but I... And we will, in future episodes, we'll work through all five of the reactions. But I, look, if your church, you're like, because immediately in this article it says those who care about religious freedom are concerned, religious liberty are concerned. Don't be concerned if you're not doing this. Don't rent out your building. Pastors, don't be doing marriage for hire, right? Hey, if you'll call me, I'll marry. Just marry the members of your church. Only allow your building to be used for church-related activity. You're not renting it out for anything. I mean, I don't know why churches do that. You're not a rental company. You're a church, for crying out loud, okay? Only marry members of your church. And there you go. And to be a member of the church requires salvation, and you're only going to practice marriage that you believe is recognized by scripture, which is between a man and a woman. There you go. that whatever controversy happens, whatever the world is doing, at least you have made it very clear and you've not placed yourself in a position where you could be possibly challenged. Now, the time may come that that won't even be sufficient, that won't even be good enough, but there's already plenty of major denominations that have crumbled and are already recognizing same-sex marriage, so let them marry the people. You don't have to, your church, I doubt your church is, I doubt in our lifetime our churches are going to have to ever even worry about it unless you put yourself in a vulnerable position by renting out your building or you're doing, you know, marriage for hire. Call the number now and I'll marry you for whatever pastors charge for it. I don't know. I don't know. It's ridiculous. We believe in the sanctity of marriage, but hey, I'll marry you for $300. Hey, we believe in the sanctity of marriage. You can use our sanctuary for a $600, it's like, you don't believe in the sanctity of marriage, you don't even care, you think it's a business opportunity. Oh man, sometimes it's like, I worry more about what the, well, we should, we should be more worried about what the church is doing than what the world is doing. So that's just some of my initial thoughts. I know immediately people are gonna disagree with me, that's okay. And you're gonna say, well, but it's sin, I know. Guess what the lost world does? They sin, they sin unthought, word and deed. Oh, and guess what happens in the church? We sin. But arguing, screaming, and fighting, and some political battle, and some culture war to try to enact some law to force people to do something is not the church's call. It's not the church's mission. It's to preach. It's to live out our Christian life. Give them the gospel, and then disciple them, saying, here's what God's word calls you to do and live. It's not that complicated. And then do those steps. to protect your church. They're very simple and they're very straightforward. All right, I'll stop right there. I just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention. I'm sure you already knew about it, but I wanted to just throw out my perspective quickly. If you disagree with my perspective, I understand. Email me, newsifatyahoo.com, newsifatyahoo.com, and when we go through this looking at the five reactions to the bill, right, when we look at the five reactions, I will include you, yours, I just won't give your name, and then I will consider it. I'm willing to consider every perspective. But to me, every perspective, most of the perspectives I hear Christians say, it's almost a call for some form of Christian nationalism, some kind of like Christian theocracy. And I just don't understand why Christians want that. That works great when you're in charge. What happens when another religion takes over? No, I want the world to be free to do what they want, and I want the church to be free to call people to repentance, and I want to be able to preach biblical morality. I don't want to try to force it on people other than, obviously, the support of laws that protect life and try to not protect people from being harmed, obviously. I know every law has a level of morality to it. I'm obviously aware of that. But two people want to get married, okay. They basically want a civil recognized union that affords them the responsibilities and benefits of being married. Okay, fine, congratulations, that's wonderful for you, but biblically, I still, I still, I don't recognize it as a biblical marriage. But your problem, remember, their problem is not that they're married. Their problem is not even that they're homosexual. The problem would be a rejection of the gospel. The solution is the gospel. We want to just clean up the outside, is what I think we want to do as Christians. We just want people to act godly. But no, we want to fix everyone's supposed moral problem by making them act differently. But what they need is the gospel. It's just, I don't know, it's so simple and straightforward to me. All right, you can email me, newsifatyahoo.com, newsifatyahoo.com, that's newsifatyahoo.com. I'm sure this will spark a great amount of conversation and debate, and we will talk about it more. I don't know if I'll get to it before 7 p.m., because at 7 p.m. I'll be at the church, at Victory Baptist Church, and we'll be discussing fear. We're continuing our Bible study exercise on that. So, maybe when I come home from church this evening, maybe around 9, 9.30, we'll turn on the microphone and have a late-night discussion about five reactions to the Senate passing the same-sex marriage bill. Could be an interesting late-night discussion. Join us then, and we'll be alive at seven, working on a Bible study exercise on the subject of fear. All right, thanks for listening. God bless.