The Sky is Falling - What Now?

Yesterday, for the first time, an active player in one of the four major sports in America has announced his homosexuality openly.


Quite frankly, this was inevitable, and it is simply the first. There will be more.

That said, for Christians this isn't really a story. Jason Collins is still unsaved, regardless of whether his homosexual lifestyle is publicly known or not. The Bible makes it clear that those who practice homosexuality are headed for hell.

          "9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
          neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor
          thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
          11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name
          of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." (1 Cor. 6:9-11, ESV).

I don't watch basketball much (more of a baseball/hockey guy), so I don't know anything about Jason Collins as a person. I assume he's a nice enough guy. However nice he may be, though, Jason Collins is also a sinner, just like you and me. The *only* thing that separates him from you or me is the grace of God and the blood of Jesus Christ. Not my natural ability to take hold of God's grace; not my churchgoing or preaching or anything else.

But the real story is not that Jason Collins is a practicing homosexual. The real story is how the culture at large is responding to Jason Collins' revelation. Far too many folks are treating this as the newest branch of the civil rights movement (a misnomer - rights according to our constitution are given by our Creator and cannot be lost; regardless of how you frame the debate there are no rights being lost here). This is absurd for many reasons. First, what right do homosexuals lack that all other citizens possess?

African Americans, for instance were treated by their fellow citizens as unequal. They were segregated away from those with whiter skin because they were apparently lesser citizens. Black men and women were restricted from a number of things that would have been taken for granted by the average white man.

Homosexuals are not segregated to different bathrooms. Homosexuals are not denied the right to sit on a bus. Homosexuals are not restricted from playing in sports on any level. Homosexuals are not restricted from the practice of sin that is defined by their name - that is ultimately between them and God; restricting it does not change their heart (although as Christians we would desire to keep their actions as private as possible to prevent others following their example and turning away from God). And regardless of what is erroneously argued, homosexuals are not restricted from marriage except from the same ways that heterosexuals are: No one is allowed under the law to marry a person already married, a close relative, a child, an animal, or someone of the same sex (I am aware that some states do perform a ceremony that they refer to as marriage in this last one).

Regarding the restriction against marrying someone of the same gender: Homosexuals argue that by restricting them from 'marrying' someone of their own gender, while we may allow them to act in whatever they wish to do, we legally bar them from uniting in marriage with the person they desire to be with. While this is a patently poor argument - I could just as easily argue that if I was married and desired to marry somebody else without divorcing my current spouse, the law was unfair for not letting me do as I desired. This could be adapted to any of the other restricted classes listed above - at the same time, any rational debate is useless against those who advocate homosexual 'rights'. They have already decided that marriage to someone of the same gender is a right and any arguments to the contrary, no matter how valid, are framed as 'homophobic'/'ignorant' - And discussions such as these are usually won based on how the debate has been framed to the culture at large. Hence, why the positive view of homosexuality is gaining steam in culture, particularly among young people: No one likes to think of themselves as a bigot, or as ignorant, or irrationally uncomfortable over the issue; and too many, even among professing believers are more knowledgable about culture than they are about God and the bible, making the direction they will lean a foregone conclusion.

Ultimately though, regardless of how much those who argue for these so-called rights invoke the name of Jesus and attempt to tie his name to 'tolerance', what we are seeing in our culture is no less than a concentrated assault on the law of God - which is a reflection of his very person and nature. This is the playbook of Satan - while mankind has little problem (given the natural depravity of our hearts) in sinning, the devil is fully aware of God's existence and character. And although mankind as a whole is at enmity with God, the devil hates him with a burning hatred. Subsequently, the forces of darkness are at work to pervert God's creation.

Everything that God made, he made for the purpose of demonstrating his glory. Marriage, the family: there are many elements in this relational unit that glorify God. The marriage relationship between a man and a woman is shown clearly in Ephesians 5:22-33 to be a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. Calling a same-sex relationship marriage is not tolerance or even progressiveness (if we view progress in a positive sense), except in progress towards more abominable displays of sin and perversion of God's established order. In fact, this is not merely a cultural issue, it is a spiritual one. When those in the world around us press us to deny what we believe the Bible teaches about homosexuality, they are pressing us to deny the Bible itself and the God who authored it.

Sadly, regardless of what happens in the courts with Prop 8 in California, or the Defense Of Marriage Act, the homosexual agenda is advancing. Making new laws will not halt the spreading of radical depravity in culture or the human heart. Unfortunately, we didn't just wake up one morning to find ourselves in the situation we are currently in. The responsiblity for the spiraling degenerance of sexuality, particular in America, must in part be laid at the feet of the church. Certainly it is true that unregenerate sinners will always exist until the final judgment, but if the church had not failed so miserably over the last hundred or more years, we would not have decayed so far in so short a time.

There have been a couple of basic problems in the church. One branch of evangelicalism has been essentially faithful in knowing the Word and denouncing sin. Their problem is not that they have been too lax, but they have have much too broad a focus in their denunciation of sin, causing many to refuse to take them seriously. Debates over lesser issues with a lack or love or charity has caused their influence to be marginalized outside the select few who still actually listen. The broader problem, though, has been in the opposite direction. Divorce is rampant even in the church. Sex outside of marriage has gone from restricted, to frowned upon, to no big deal. The church has done an abysmally poor job of standing up and condemning these things among professing believers. And if even those who name the name of Christ are acting this way, should we be surprised when unbelievers see no problem with these sins?

This generation and the last have failed not merely because they have not been doers of the Word, but because too many of them weren't even truly hearers of the Word.

If there is to be a reformation in this country, it must start with the church. We must be faithful to know the Word of God and what it teaches. We must be faithful to understand it and pass on its truth when given the opportunity. We must be careful not to damage our own credibility by excessively debating issues of lesser importance like music, bible versions, political activism, etc. (all important things that deserve their place in discussions at the appropriate time, but rarely issues to draw a line in the sand over). We must always be guided by God's Word and not swayed by our emotions that can easily be led astray by remnants of our former sin nature that have not fully been expelled from our heart and mind.

Their is now an openly homosexual professional athlete. The question is not, 'How did we get here?' The question is, 'What now?' How can we as individuals do our part to forge a new reformation in the church in America that, if God allows, will be the foundation of a new revival in America? That is the question.