THE FIRST MARRIAGE

“From Eden a river flowed out to water the garden, then it divided into four rivers. The first one is the Pishon River that flows through the land of Havilah, where pure gold, rare perfumes, and precious stones are found. The second is the Gihon River that winds through Ethiopia. The Tigris River that flows east of Assyria is the third, and the fourth is the Euphrates River.

The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it. But the LORD told him, ‘You may eat fruit from any tree in the garden, except the one that has the power to let you know the difference between right and wrong. If you eat any fruit from that tree, you will die before the day is over!’ 

The LORD God said, ‘It isn't good for the man to live alone. I need to make a suitable partner for him.’ So the LORD took some soil and made animals and birds. He brought them to the man to see what names he would give each of them. Then the man named the tame animals and the birds and the wild animals. That's how they got their names.  None of these was the right kind of partner for the man.

So the LORD God made him fall into a deep sleep, and he took out one of the man's ribs. Then after closing the man's side, the LORD made a woman out of the rib.   The LORD God brought her to the man, and the man exclaimed,    ‘Here is someone like me!  She is part of my body, my own flesh and bones.  She came from me, a man.   So I will name her Woman!’

That's why a man will leave his own father and mother. He marries a woman, and the two of them become like one person.   Although the man and his wife were both naked, they were not ashamed.”

(Genesis 2:10-15)

THEODORE ROOSEVELT ON THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILY VALUES

“The first essential for a man’s being a good citizen is his possession of the home virtues…based on recognition of the great underlying laws of religion and morality…which if broken mean the dissolution of civilization.”

“It is a contradiction in terms to speak of a good government if the good government does not rest upon cleanliness and decency in the home, respect of husband and wife for one another, tenderness of the man for those dependent upon him, performance of duty by woman and by man, and the proper education of the children who are to make the next generation.”

“Sins against pure and healthy family life are those which of all others are sure in the end to be visited most heavily upon the nation in which they take place.”

COLUMNIST CLAIMS FEMINISTS HAVE UNLEASHED ‘RAUNCH CULTURE’

A recent column by Rich Lowry claims that feminism has been one of the principal forces which have “unleashed raunch culture” on our society. Lowry says that feminists have contributed to the vulgarization of our society by insisting that women act like men, thus turning women into mere objects – which is nearly the point the Christian Civic League has been trying to make all along.

The current push for gay rights and same-sex marriage would have been unthinkable in early times, when the sanctity of the home was honored and respected. “Gay rights” and “gay marriage” can only be understood in the context of an ever-worsening climate of sexual permissiveness, which includes a toleration of pornography which would have been unthinkable a generation ago.

If homosexual practices are tolerated, or worse yet, put on a par with marriage, radicals will seek the approval of society for even worse forms of sexual deviance. Many on the left are now advocating that marriage be replaced by legal unions between three or more people, in arrangements called “polyamory” or “polyfidelity.” At a recent speech by Mike Heath at Bowdoin College, one student stood up and identified himself as a “polyamourous socialist.”

If one unwritten, universal law – that is the natural law which prohibits sodomy – can be replaced on the basis of an appeal to “rights” and “equality” why not all other natural laws pertaining to sexual morality?   The only possible outcome from the overthrow of all laws pertaining to sexual morality, is the death of the institution of the family. by Fritz Spencer

A BRILLIANT PREACHER FROM MAINE HEADS FOR FLORIDA -- THANKS TO THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

The Bangor Daily News is reporting that Kevin Holsapple of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Bangor will soon be leaving Maine for Florida thanks to the sharp divisions the gay rights movement has caused the Episcopalians. The Rev. Holsapple, a native of Dexter who graduated from the University of Maine, has received wide attention as a brilliant preacher, and a man of penetrating insight.   But apparently his thinking on the issue of gay rights was a little too clear for the Episcopal diocese in Maine. Holsapple took a public stand against the ordination of Rev. Vicki Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual Episcopal bishop, a stand which put him at odds with the Episcopalian Bishop of Maine, Chilton Knudsen.  

Holsapple also takes a clear stand on the problem of sin in general. In a brilliant sermon preached on Good Friday of this year, Holsapple commented that preachers who talk about sin – Evangelicals in particular – have been laughed out of the Christian church, and all that remains is a watered-down version of the doctrine of sin. He went on to describe those who are “beaming with pride” when they should be “burning with shame,” all because of a false humility which says “We are only human.” Holsapple condemned this sort of humility as a “toxic mixture of sloth and pride.”

Although Holsapple’s sermon was not directed specifically towards homosexuality, its relevance to the current debate over gay rights is unmistakable. Missing from the debate over gay rights is any discussion of the concept of sin. Those in the gay rights movement are different from heterosexuals in that they seem positively proud of their sexual orientation, which in fact might more properly be called sexual disorientation. In any case, sexuality is nothing to wear on one’s sleeve as a source of pride.  by Fritz Spencer