The Reward for Suppressing God's Truth

Recompense for Suppressing God’s Truth

Are you suppressing God’s Truth in a life of sin? Before you click the pause button and continue to ignore and suppress the truth, I want to let you know that I’ve been there! Listen to what God’s word says about the result of suppressing his truth. God’s Truth, especially during our generation, has been ignored and, in fact, purposefully suppressed. Are you ignoring God’s Truth? But why? As we have stated in our previous webcasts, people will try to bury the truth under a life of sin for fear that their spiritual nakedness will be revealed. Some love sin more than God. What does today’s generation receive for suppressing the truth and what will God quickly do in response?

Today’s message is taken from a Passage in the letter from the apostle Paul to the Romans 1:16-2:16. The apostle Paul says:

16 -17It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else! God’s way of putting people right shows up in the acts of faith, confirming what Scripture has said all along: “The person in right standing before God by trusting him really lives.”

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Ignoring God Leads to a Downward Spiral this letter essentially says:

18 -23But God’s angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud (a covering) over truth.

18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they) became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

What is Paul saying?

But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand.

24 -25So God said, in effect, “If that’s what you want, that’s what you get.” It wasn’t long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. And all this because they traded the true God for a fake god, and worshiped the god they made instead of the God who made them—the God we bless, the God who blesses us. Oh, yes!

So what is God’s reward for suppressing the Truth?

24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 -27Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn’t know how to be human either—women didn’t know how to be women, men didn’t know how to be men. Sexually confused, they abused and defiled one another, women with women, men with men—all lust, no love. And then they paid for it, oh, how they paid for it—emptied of God and love, godless and loveless wretches.

26For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

28 -32Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives. They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care—worse, they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things best!

God Is Kind, but Not Soft

1Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

1 -2 Those people are on a dark spiral downward. But if you think that leaves you on the high ground where you can point your finger at others, think again. Every time you criticize someone, you condemn yourself. It takes one to know one. Judgmental criticism of others is a well-known way of escaping detection in your own crimes and misdemeanors. But God isn’t so easily diverted. He sees right through all such smoke screens and holds you to what you’ve done.

3 -4You didn’t think, did you, that just by pointing your finger at others you would distract God from seeing all your misdoings and from coming down on you hard? Or did you think that because he’s such a nice God, he’d let you off the hook? Better think this one through from the beginning. God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.

5 -8You’re not getting by with anything. Every refusal and avoidance of God adds fuel to the fire. The day is coming when it’s going to blaze hot and high, God’s fiery and righteous judgment. Make no mistake: In the end you get what’s coming to you—Real Life for those who work on God’s side, but to those who insist on getting their own way and take the path of least resistance, Fire!

6He will render to each one according to his works: 7to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11For God shows no partiality.

9 -11If you go against the grain, you get splinters, regardless of which neighborhood you’re from, what your parents taught you, what schools you attended. But if you embrace the way God does things, there are wonderful payoffs, again without regard to where you are from or how you were brought up. Being a Jew won’t give you an automatic stamp of approval. God pays no attention to what others say (or what you think) about you. He makes up his own mind.

12For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

12 -13If you sin without knowing what you’re doing, God takes that into account. But if you sin knowing full well what you’re doing, that’s a different story entirely. Merely hearing God’s law is a waste of your time if you don’t do what he commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God.

14 -16When outsiders who have never heard of God’s law follow it more or less by instinct, they confirm its truth by their obedience. They show that God’s law is not something alien, imposed on us from without, but woven into the very fabric of our creation. There is something deep within them that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong. Their response to God’s yes and no will become public knowledge on the day God makes his final decision about every man and woman. The Message from God that I proclaim through Jesus Christ takes into account all these differences. 14For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

[Via http://anthonyfranciscosr.wordpress.com]

Love: In Your Body, Heart, and Mind

A healthy love in a virtuous man or woman does not separate the heart from the head. As Ayn Rand explained, “Romantic love, in the full sense of the term, is an emotion possible only to the man (or woman) of unbreached self-esteem: it is his response to his own highest values in the person of another—an integrated response of mind and body, of love and sexual desire. Such a man (or woman) is incapable of experiencing a sexual desire divorced from spiritual values.”

A friend of mine, a gay Objectivist, explains it this way: romantic love involves a “mutual admiration society.”

Such a love doesn’t in itself differentiate between straight and gay, except as the lover’s natural desires come into play. A very straight man who has great admiration for another man but who has no sexual attraction for men will not desire to consummate his respect.

Procreation is no longer essential to the survival of the human species. Accept your love – or the love of others – whether gay, lesbian, or straight.

If you are fortunate enough to have found a partner whom you greatly admire, and who similarly admires you; and if you share sexual attraction with that person, then celebrate your relationship! Commit yourself to nurturing your couplehood with time, energy, and attention. Love with your body, heart, and mind.

[Via http://lgbtconservative.wordpress.com]

A heavy dance-funk track with a slice of punk and a few extra pounds

[ARTIST: GOSSIP] [SONG: HEAVY CROSS]

Shooting squirrels to eat as a child and being the overweight teenager with short hair who realizes that she is a lesbian in the middle of an intolerant Christian community are just some of the harsh realities that have made Beth Ditto who she is today: A strong, raw and wonderfully voluminous power dyke with a punk attitude who isn’t afraid of wobbling her bits and loudly supporting GLBT and feminist causes.

“Heavy Cross” is from Gossip’s 2009 album, “Music for Men”, which was a title that Beth Ditto, Gossip’s charismatic front-person, came up with as a feminist joke. After having been to a concert with a girlfriend where they were the only two women in the audience, and seeing all the men totally into the show, the notion of gender-pleasing music stuck with her. A lot of the material for the album was written in the Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California, where it was also recorded. In the back stood Bob Dylan’s old tour bus, and Brace Paine, the guitarist and music creator, converted the bus into a little studio where he and Beth Ditto would work on the songs together.

Beth Ditto grew up in Arkansas in a trailer park with 6 siblings, right in the heart of the American Bible Belt. She came out as a lesbian when she was 18, and even though there was not much acceptance from the surrounding Christian community, her mother and siblings have always supported her and encouraged her to be herself. Beth Ditto met her girlfriend, Freddie Fagula,  when she was 19, and they are still together.

Vocalist Beth Ditto explained “Heavy Cross” to the NME June 27, 2009: “I know so many amazing people who devote their lives to undoing things, and I feel that’s the essence of punk now because punk’s already been done, it’s old. It’s about recreation and my friends, who I feel like are the ultimate creative re-creators.” The “heavy cross” is a symbol of the pressure that society puts on people who find it hard to fit in, and is most probably also a reference to the conservative Christian community in which she grew up.

The cover artwork for Gossip’s “Music for Men” is a photograph of Hannah Blilie, the band’s drummer who replaced Kathy Mendonca in 2004.

In 2009, Beth Ditto designed a limited edition clothes collection for the British plus size chain store Evans.

[Via http://soundtales.wordpress.com]

Utter nonsense of marriage inequality

Via Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish, I challenge all marriage equality opponents to watch this and even try to claim that it makes any sense at all:

There’s no way that barring two women in a loving relationship from marrying while allowing one of those lesbian women to marry a random man supports families, helps children, protects society or anything else (fill in any of the other arguments — all lame — that marriage equality opponents spew).

But as insane as it is, this video depicts the sad, shameful reality in the vast majority of the United States.

If we truly mean “liberty and justice for all,” if we truly want all citizens to have “equal protection of the laws,” then it’s long past time for this injustice — and the insane injustice of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — to end.

[Via http://mypointexactly.wordpress.com]

Homosexuality and the Church

My assessment of statements by Dr. James B. Nelson

Dr. Nelson is professor of Christian ethics at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, New Brighton, Minnesota. This article appeared in the Christianity and Crisis April 4, 1977. This text was prepared for Religion Online by John R. Bushell.

1. Homosexual Christians are sisters and brothers of all other Christians, earnestly seeking the church’s full acceptance without prejudgment on the basis of a sexual orientation regarding which they had no basic choice.

Reaction:

This statement assumes that homosexuality is not a choice; that God intended for some people to be homosexuals.

2. While antihomosexual bias has existed in Western culture generally, the church must take responsibility for its share in shaping, supporting, and transmitting negative attitudes toward homosexuality.

Reaction:

This statement assumes that when culture changes, the church must make any and all necessary changes to stay current even if it means redefining truth.

3. The Christian mandate for social justice will not let us forget that discrimination continues today against millions of gay persons in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and in the enjoyment of fundamental civil liberties.

Reaction:

This statement assumes culture still has changes to make to accommodate homosexuality.

4. The church is called to do its ongoing theological and ethical work as responsibly as possible. Fresh insights from feminist theologians, gay Christians, and those secular scholars who frequently manifest God’s “common grace” in the world remind us of the numerous ways in which our particular sexual conditions color our perceptions of God’s nature and presence among us. If the Protestant Principle turns us against absolutizing historically relative theological judgments, so also our openness to continuing revelation should convince us, with some of our ancestors-in-faith, that “the Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth.”

Reaction:

This statement assumes that we can view God in any way that we want. Also, we do not have complete truth, and therefore must give credence to all ideas.

5. The heterosexually oriented majority in the church has much to gain from a deeper grappling with this issue: an enriched capacity to love other human beings more fully and with less fear.

Reaction:

This statement assumes that if we do not approve of certain human behaviors, then we do not love people.

Anonymous Quote:

“Homosexuality should be allowed to continue only as long as it stays confined to small groups. If all of humanity decided to reject the opposite sex as mates humanity would cease to exist. Homosexuals could hinder human survival.”

The previous statement is alarming especially if, as Dr. Nelson says, homosexuality is not a choice.

[Via http://irrelevantaxiom.wordpress.com]

Sarah Waters - Affinity

Affinity is a 1999 historical fiction novel by Sarah Waters.

Plot.

Margaret Prior (also called “Peggy” and “Aurora”), an unmarried woman from an upper class family, visits the Millbank Prison in the 1870s Victorian era England. The protagonist is an overall unhappy person, recovering from her father’s death and her subsequent failed suicide attempt, and struggling with her lack of power living at home with her over involved mother despite being almost 30. She becomes a “Lady Visitor” of the prison, hoping to escape her troubles and be a guiding figure in the lives of the female prisoners. As she peers through a flap in the door, entranced by the sight of a young woman with a flower — she is reminded of a Carlo Crivelli painting. Of all her friendships with prisoners, she is most fascinated by this woman, who she learns to be Selina Dawes, medium of spirits.

Sarah Waters – Affinity

[Via http://larchive.wordpress.com]

Nature

Yesterday, the weatherman said this week there will be 10-20 more inches of snow falling on top of the 21 inches that fell over the past weekend. Being a country boy from Wichita Falls, Texas, that’s more snow than I have ever seen in my entire life. The snow just looks so beautiful, well until I had to shovel some of it.

Watching the news I saw reports of mudslides in California. And how could I forget the tragedy in Haiti? How could I not remember to pray for those who are suffering? I can’t help but think that maybe Mother Nature has something important to tell us.

All of it made me think about the majesty of God. Looking outside my window made me marvel at the might of His hand…how BIG He truly must be. It also made me think about how small I am in the larger scheme of things.

I remembered be taught how men (humans) were created to “subdue and have dominion over the earth”. I was taught that it is man’s job; his rightful place to rule as “a god” over all that was created. With all that’s going on with nature, it doesn’t look like man has much dominion at all.

Then it hit me, man (human beings) are not “above” nature, we are “a part of” nature. If anything at all, we are subject to nature. The 21 plus inches of snow paralyzed the nation’s capitol. No one could safely drive anywhere. People were having heart attacks just trying to clear the snow from their driveways. Hundreds of thousands were left without power. And need I recap the countless people who are lost and/or dead in Haiti?

When God speaks through us through nature, it’s in our best interest to listen. At the risk of sounding fatal, I think the message is if we don’t take care of the earth, the earth will stop taking care of us. Before the earth let’s us destroy her, she will destroy us.

[Via http://tuanngai.wordpress.com]