Today's title is a quote from an old hymn,
"In times like these you need a Savior,
In times like these you need an anchor;
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!
Chorus
This Rock is Jesus, Yes, He's the One;
This Rock is Jesus, the only One!
Be very sure, be very sure
Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock!
I was thinking about the idea of an anchor and drifting today as I was working and keeping an eye on the news and on people's posting on Facebook. Here are some of my observations.
- A lot of people very concerned with "Marriage Equality" AKA gay marriage.
- Obama's peace prize: Do we admire the saying more than the doing?
- Roman Polanski: how about all those celebs who defend him even though he raped a 13 year old?
It is quite interesting to read all the debate and see all the points of view. It made me think of the above hymn. In times like these, you need an anchor. Our society is drifting, it has no anchor, but I don't believe it realizes it. Education over the years has transformed from teaching us to think to teaching us what to think. Of course, maybe it was always so, just the what has changed. Either way, the anchor got pulled up (or the rope was cut) and we as a society started drifting but no one realizes that this is the case or understands that it is actually a bad thing. Elements of the drift are even regarded as progress by some.
What am I getting at? Why is "marriage equality" good? Equality is good, right? Well what does that mean? We treat everyone the same. That's good, right? But how do they define their terms? Do we allow people to marry their pets? Marry their sister? Marry their son/daughter? That's not what they are fighting for. But they say that homosexual marriage is not only right but "a right." That to deny that "right" is to discriminate. But by calling anything "wrong" aren't we discriminating? It comes down to what you use to determine right and wrong and your "rights." I use the Bible. I just read it plain. It says that certain things are right and certain things are wrong. I don't always like what it says because sometimes it gets in the way of what I want to do, but there it is.
Now those who argue that this is wrong and discriminatory have a harder time. What is their concept of right and wrong based on? Their thoughts. Their opinions. What they want. The Bible describes this point of view clearly in the book of Judges. "Everyone did what was right in their own eyes." No anchor, nothing to secure them to something. How can you call one kind of sexuality right, another wrong, without some moral compass or authority beyond what "society thinks." If our standard is what makes us happy, there are a whole bunch of things that ought to be legalized.
And the Christian church? Well, we as a group lost our moral authority a long time ago because our anchor slipped too. As a church, we held onto theological purity not Christ's purity. Pastors and lay people had terrible marriages, got divorced, provoked their children to wrath and lived lives in opposition to the life of Christ but were ok because they believed the right things. We made our stand in the right place but walked in the wrong place.
The Rock is Jesus, yes, He's the one. My moral authority is Christ and his revealed Word. It makes some things right and other things wrong no matter how convenient or difficult that is for me and my desires. I must hold on to Him as a person, not him as a theological idea or doctrinal point. I must be transformed by Him, which is very hard to allow. Our society is drifting away from any anchor that will hold them. Let's make sure as Christians that we are holding first and foremost to Christ, not as a concept or our idea of Him, but who He truly is as revealed clearly in the Bible.
