“Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” (Hebrews 13:4)

Ever since the divine union of Adam and Eve, the institution of marriage has been between a man and woman. However, the “bed” has often been defiled, with all kinds of sexual perversions. Homosexual behavior is often mentioned in the Bible, and always explicitly condemned, even being called an “abomination” by the Lord (Leviticus 18:22). Adultery, fornication, prostitution, incest, bestiality, and all forms of sexual practice outside of heterosexual marriage relations are also condemned. Indeed, “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

Yes, but times have changed, we are told. The so-called “gay” lifestyle is now a normal option, they say, and even “same-sex” marriages are acceptable. Premarital sex, as well as adultery, are very common today, all over the world, often even impacting Christian homes and churches. Indeed, the world has changed!

But God has not changed, and His commandments and purposes have not changed. “For I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6), He says. In the last book of the Bible, the glorified Christ said that “the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

The Greek word for “whoremongers,” incidentally, includes anyone who practices or promotes illicit sex of any kind and the Bible says that “whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” However, God will forgive and purge away any of these sins when they are repudiated and Christ is accepted as Savior. HMM

The second part of the RUSS ONLINE video series.

http://www.creationministries.org/showpage.aspx?page=30

Pastor Mark Driscoll addresses married men in this hard-hitting, truth-teaching sermon.  It is a must listen for every man who hungers to be a godly husband.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/trial/marriage-and-men

Friday, October 17, 2008
http://contendearnestly.blogspot.com/search/label/Abortion

Is Abortion Sin?
I would like to give a quick survey of why I believe abortion is wrong. I know that the post title may sound like I am asking if it is wrong, but it is really there so that those asking the question can find a biblical answer.

People have many questions on the topic of abortion. What I would like to quickly go over in this post is:

Is Abortion Wrong?
When is a Baby, well, a Baby?
Is there ever a time where abortion is okay?

Is Abortion Wrong?

The definition of abortion given by Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary states that an abortion is defined as:
the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus

The term termination and death means that one is taking away the chance of, or the actuality of life from another. This is, in reality, is killing another. To give a biblical reason for why abortion is seen as wrong we find it explicitly in Exodus 21

“If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.”
Exodus 21:22-25

This passage as a whole is dealing with personal injuries and starts off by saying that if you kill a man you shall surely be put to death (Ex 21:1) and put right after the 10 Commandments are given to the people. Basically what Exodus 21 is trying to do is give some practical laws for all to understand so that there is no questioning. It would be like me telling my 5 year old, “You cannot go upstairs” and then following that up with saying, “this means you can’t go on the stairs, you can’t play on the stairs and don’t even go near the stairs.” What God is doing is giving some clearer understanding to the people of what it means to “not murder.”

God gives a clear understanding that murder extends even to the unborn infant. You will notice that no age restriction is given to the pregnancy but just states that if a fight breaks out and one man hits a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely, and that baby dies, the man shall die. And here is the key point of the entire passage: But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life.

Notice that the man’s life that inflicts the injury is no more important than the baby that lies within the mother. He will have to pay with his own life, because he took another’s.

So, is abortion wrong? Yes, because it takes another’s life. The women today are lucky that we are not living like the Theonomists wish we were living or they would be put to death alongside their unborn child.

When is a Baby, well, a Baby?

Biblically there is no chapter and verse to go to outright to say when a baby is truly a baby. I will say that Exodus does not give us a time frame of when a baby would be considered a non-life. Even further we find evidence of the view that God sees children as children well before the human eye or for that matter a computer’s eye could see the formation of an actual child. I am not going to get into science, because I suck at science, but I will give you some interesting evidence from Scripture of when God sees his children.

The first is found in Jeremiah 1:5

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:5

Notice that God knew Jeremiah before he was even formed in the womb. This would seem to be speaking of a child in the womb before the fetus is made to have bones, ears, fingers, etc. Whatever age that God is speaking of, we know that is before the baby Jeremiah has been even formed in the womb. The term “knew” (yada in Hebrew) here is also a very deep relational word to mean “love.” It is a very intimate word used all through the Old Testament. So intimate that it is also used of when a man and woman come together to have sexual relations. We find this in Genesis 4 when Adam knew Eve and Eve conceived and gave birth to a son.

So, with Jeremiah we find that a life is a life before it is even formed, because God doesn’t love intimately objects, or mere raw flesh, but he loves the one who has a soul, a spirit, who when left to grow in the stomach of the woman, will come out a child and reveal the glory of God.

Another time we find the same thing said from David.

For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
Psalm 139:13-16

They key term used here is that David speaks of his unformed substance. This seems to be pointing to the time before many would call David a human being. This is probably speaking of the time as the sperm and egg come together to create what will later become a formed substance in the womb. Notice that his days on the earth had not yet started, but when they did start they were going to be ordained for him. David’s psalm here is a beautiful one to show God’s omniscience and omnipresence and he praises God that he knew him and loved him before he even had substance. Again, for God, the baby is a baby long before many of us will notice the affects on the mother.

So, if this is true. That the babies we find in Jeremiah and David were in fact babies before they were formed or had substance. That they were loved and given commission long before their formation, we must ask, “if they were to be aborted before birth, is this murder?” I would give a resounding yes, because as we look to Exodus 21 it is very clear that one life is traded for another. Since the baby is a baby even before it is formed, any abortion is murder in the eyes of God who knows and loves that baby before the mother and father have a chance to.

Is there ever a time where abortion is okay?

Because of my belief in the baby being a life well before it is formed (I would believe that at the time of conception) and that taking that life is murder according to the word of God, then there is never a time that abortion is okay. Never.

Let me hit some of the times I have heard that is supposedly “okay”

1. Rape or Rape by incest

Although my heart goes out deeply for those who have been raped, I believe that the one who should be punished is the one who raped the poor woman and not the baby. By aborting the child, the child is the one taking the brunt of the punishment. The one who raped the girl will only get time in jail and will not die. With these laws established, the one who pays the highest price is not the girl or the man, but the baby. Why should an innocent child take the brunt of the punishment?

Will this be hard to raise a child that came from rape? It could be. But the woman is going to be going through many struggles and deep pain because of the rape and the baby could actually be a huge blessing of promise to the woman, not a curse. I truly believe that the Psalmist got it right when he states:

…children are a gift of the Lord
Psalm 127:3

Sure children of rape are not in the context but they are never kept out of the description either. If children are a gift from the Lord, this means that even those that were born out of wedlock in any circumstance are, in fact, a gift from God. Think of this. Out of one of the most gruesome sins possible, a beautiful child is given. A most beautiful gift. It is like finding a diamond from the dirty piece of coal. (not the mother being the coal, but the act that the baby was conceived)

2. What about aborting a child to save the mother from dying in child birth?

As David states, “you have ordained all my days…” If we believe this then we do not take out a child to save another’s life. My wife and I have talked at length about this. She has repeatedly told me that she would be crushed to know that her life was spared by killing her baby. Again, children are a gift from the Lord and God is in complete control of every event around us. My hope is not in this world and to die is far greater because we are with Christ, so I would not kill in order to save another. This would be the hardest decision of my life and I cannot say what is right in every circumstance. The reason I say this is that this is a decision for every family, and it should be talked about in length before any birth.

I would just be very careful here as decisions are made. Understand that God is control and that his will must be done and that truly every child is a blessing from God.

As Christians, we need to understand that abortion is very much wrong. That the baby is a life very early, if not at the time of conception. I like how one of my pastor’s put it. He said,

“People like to ask when a baby is truly a baby. I tell them, leave it alone and see what happens”

Just as one doesn’t get close to a cliff of a mountain because of the impending danger, neither should we mess around with making excuses for what is murder and what is not. Stay away from that cliff’s ledge. I would always lean towards not messing with God’s children, it is a very big deal and with it much judgment comes.

Posted by Seth McBee at 10/17/2008 08:46:00 AM

Until the early 19th Century, the Book of Genesis was generally held to be an accurate account of world history, including the recent Creation of all things by a personal, transcendent, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, Creator God. This was the worldview held by many of the founding fathers of our modern scientific disciplines.

However, there was a paradigm shift in the early 19th Century with the birth of “Uniformitarianism” and the popularization of Evolutionary Theory in the form of Darwinian Evolution. The shift began with the publication of Sir Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology in 1830. In this classic work, Lyell championed Uniformitarianism, a theory first put forth by James Hutton towards the end of the 18th century. Uniformitarianism is in stark contrast to the Biblical “Catastrophism” found in the Genesis Flood account, thus casting doubt on the Bible’s veracity as a whole. Furthermore, Uniformitarianism assumes an “Old Earth,” contrary to the “Young Earth” creation account in the Book of Genesis. Lyell claimed it was his intention to “free the science from Moses.” He certainly achieved his goal. Lyell successfully led a revolution in geologic thought, from traditional Catastrophism to Hutton’s Uniformitarianism.

It wasn’t until late in the 20th Century that Uniformitarianism was finally disproved by such observed geologic features as poly-strata fossils, misplaced and missing geologic layers, lack of erosion between layers, the deficiency of bioturbation, undisturbed bedding planes, the limited extent of unconformities, soft-sediment deformation, well preserved surface features between layers, etc. Although Catastrophism has been vindicated by the weight of recent scientific evidence (including the abundant marine fossils found atop every mountain range in the world), many geologists tenaciously cling to the Uniformitarian paradigm. And so, tragically, Uniformitarianism — with its alleged Geologic Column based upon the assumption of uniformity — is still taught as fact in the public schools and the general media today.

http://www.allaboutcreation.org/book-of-genesis.htm

For a more accurate scientific explanation of the layered strata read about liquefaction here.

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Last updated 12/08/2008

Please hear me out here as I share my heart with you about

MSNBC Keith Olbermann on Prop 8, Marriage and more!

Clearly, to me, Keith doesn’t understand love or truth. He sounds noble in his quest to “spread happiness through tolerance”, only he doesn’t tolerate what God has to say in His Word, nor those that believe it. He says, if you want to obey the God we claim then Spread happiness??? That was never stated nor commanded in God’s word. We are commanded to love one another and spread the gospel, the good news that God is here in Christ dying on the cross to pay the required death penalty for your sin. All you have to do is believe, confess and repent. Sin is what kills us. We are slaves to sin until we are set free by Jesus. Choosing to live in sin keeps one an enemy of God. Christians proclaim Christ in order to free people from that bondage. The gay lifestyle is a sinful one and keeps one in bondage to sin. Like all sinners they need repentance not tolerance. Besides, one can readily understand that the homosexual lifestyle is not a viable alternative for the endurance of a family, community or nation. And it opens a door to more evil.

Sidenote: I cannot love my kid and tolerate all he does. If I love my kid I will correct and discipline his bad behavior and praise his good behavior.

Tolerating every choice anyone can make isn’t spreading happiness. God clearly says in His word, follow me and my commands and you shall live and find happiness and rest for your soul. The opposite, of course, is death, slavery to sin and immense unhappiness, and in the end, hell. God sent prophets to nations living in sin.  If they repent they always find forgiveness and happiness, if not, then death inevitably follows. Clearly in Scripture it is Satan who comes to steal, kill and destroy…your life, your marriage, your family, your communities and your earth.

Confusing “Tolerance” and “Love”

Jesus came with a sword to divide…the sword of truth. The truth is God made marriage in the beginning to be between one man and one woman…there is no alternative. If one pops up in culture, then it is obvious that it is perverse, a corruption, counterfeit or lie. Neither states nor governments created marriage, and neither have a right to change what marriage is. They only recognize marriage as an institution from God whereby generations of families can occur and are protected.

When we come to the Lord in faith, we say, “all I am and have is yours Lord.” He then sends the Holy Spirit to live in us. The Holy Spirit then begins to change us by making us new again and by making us to be like Christ. Along with that comes conviction of what Truth and happiness and love really is, which you can only understand from the Bible…not from the world, higher ed, nor MSNBC. Jesus is the way, the truth and life. No man finds truth, happiness, love or life anywhere else.

Find out what the Lord believes and stand with Him.

Here is a good defense of marriage article I hope you will read:

http://jeremiah33three.wordpress.com/in-defense-of-marriage-mjyoung/

I believe the Bible, God’s holy word, is that standard.  He is the Creator, omniscient and omnipotent, who knows what is true and healthy.

In fact I maintain, as do many others, that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the root source of this issue.  Men are confused because we, through Adam, demanded to have the chance to determine what is good and what is evil, rather than just trusting and relying on the sovereign Creator.  Amazingly, God in His wisdom, had a plan for our rescue established and ready for action from before time began.  He has pointed this out in Genesis and given several clues to this in the OT, revealed this mystery to the Apostles, and, if you will, even wrote about it in the stars.  Ultimately He showed His love in the sending of and death and resurrection of His only begotten Son.

If we rely on men to establish “truth”, we are most inevitably doomed…for we are strangers in this fallen/cursed world.  We must look to that being (the great I Am) who is the same yesterday, today and forever for direction, instruction, truth, love and life.  Jesus said, “this is eternal life, to know the true and only God and the Christ whom He sent.”  The Apostle John stated it this way, “He who has the Son has life and he who does not have the Son does not have life.”  Additionally and most profoundly, Jesus also said that He himself is the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Him.  (The doctrine of Exclusivity is proven TRUE by the historical and physical resurrection of Messiah.)  That, right there, is the standard by which we should judge all things in this life.  We only have one ride here, so we are wise if we heed this now. The alternative is to trust in yourself and your own knowledge bank.  The Psalmist, however, warns us to be not wise in our own eyes, but fear the Lord and depart from evil.

The Word also explains the source of evil.  Satan walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  He has come to steal, kill and destroy.  Jesus says the the devil is a liar and the father of liars.  Jesus dealt with the devils attempts to lead Him into other ideas and worldviews by believing the truth and speaking it against Satan.  He used the Word of God to defend himself.  Had Jesus been open minded he would not have lived a sinless life.  Paul encouraged the Church at Ephesus to put on the whole armor of God.  And all disciples of Christ should definitely take this seriously today.

I know we have heard this and read it before, but I hope that you will read it with an open mind so you may learn and posses the joy and peace of believing and living in the word of faith that saves the soul.  Jesus is the promised Messiah, the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

Click here for more.

Through books, pamphlets, media appearances, public events, debates and testimony, FRC’s team of experienced policy experts review data and analyze  proposals that impact family law and policy in Congress and the executive branch.

FRC also strives to assure that the unique attributes of the family are recognized and respected through the decisions of the courts and regulatory bodies.

http://www.frc.org/

How does the homosexual agenda affect your schools and family?

http://jeremiah33three.wordpress.com/tony-perkins-frc-marriage-amendment/