The heavens themselves are crying …

The heavens themselves are crying …

It’s official – at least, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury – opposition to same sex marriage and failure to capitulate to the ever-vociferous demands of the LGBT community is a species of racism, which will make Christianity, and especially the Anglican Church, increasingly irrelevant.

Which at all costs is to be avoided.

In the interests of maintaining influence and our position in society, therefore, he recommends that suchlong-standing beliefs be abandoned – relegated no doubt to the Lambeth attics of outmoded belief. But thankfully, the House of Bishops has disagreed with His Grace, and ruled out any kind of blessing for civil partnership or same sex marriage, while also stating it would be inappropriate for anyone in Holy Orders to enter into such union.

Shock, horror! Can our leaders really hold such antediluvian beliefs? Well, yes, it appears they can – and, you know what, they are right.

Our faith is grounded not on what makes everyone feel cuddly and warm, but on the Bible, which states unequivocally, and right from the beginning, that marriage is given by God as the lifelong and exclusive union between one man and one woman, for their completion and mutual support, and for the bringing up of any children they might have. Cultural relevance and the changing fashions of the world are both alike here … irrelevant. Whatever laws we try to pass, sin will always remain sin, for the simple reason that it causes harm, both to the individual and to the wider society of which he or she is part. In fact, if allowed to continue unchecked, ‘sin’ leads inexorably to social chaos and, at its extreme, death – as evidenced by past societies that have attempted to normalize sexual liberty and immorality and have decayed and died.

But, notwithstanding the lessons of history, today we are in Moloch country—where sexual immorality has become enshrined in cultic doublespeak, clad in the language of ‘rights’, and where babies in the womb are sacrificed on the altar of self-realisation and fulfilment. Where the old and expendable are … well, not to put too fine a point on it, ‘expended’.

Opposition to gay marriage is not bigotry or hatred of those who prefer the same sex, just as opposition to abortion is not hatred of women and denial of their rights – or resistance to the legalization of euthanasia, unfeeling cruelty. And in the same way, the fact that throughout history some women have sold their bodies, and some men have paid for sex, does not make prostitution right – whatever the Germans might tell us.

So, I’m sorry, Your Grace, but the job of the Church is to safeguard the truths on which creation is founded and which, if followed, lead to human flourishing. This is not condemnation, or even judgment, but salvation.

Has the unprecedented rain of the last weeks been God’s judgement, as some have suggested? Or has it rather been the outpouring of his grief at the over-weaning folly of mankind that appears hell bent on its own destruction?

By the exercise of choice we write our own judgement.

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