Ira, Well written, highlighting a most important yet often neglected biblical perspective. Thank you for a good and timely word.

This is good stuff Ira, and ever so true. I think it's a natural consequence to working with people that you will hit this stuff head on - every time, and it is TOUGH to do. I know that when we work with people it is messy , but ever so worth it. But man, you're right.... really hard to do.

You said it very well. OK it could have been much better; however, I agree with you fully. I enjoy reading your various writings. You manage to reflect a politically neutral viewpoint which is very cowardly but refreshing. :O (I don't know if this will translate in a smiley emoticon or not but that's what I intended to be.)

in your weakness God speaks to me strength. I thank him for the elders male and female we have in our church, their wisdom and faithfulness is truly sent from our Father. Thank you Ira and Sarah for your guidance and faithfulness.

You are truly blessed to have such a mentor. I wish we all had mentors like that. He is a true gift to you it sounds like. Struggles come .....I admire your willingness to share. It helps the rest of us remember that we're all in this humanity boat together and we need to hold each other up with prayer and kind, edifying words. God bless you as you go from glory to glory. You are regularly in my prayers.

So fascinating that someone in such a position of wealth and power could seemingly give no thought to throwing it all away. Good analogy Ira

wonderful article..as I'm sure the sunday sermon will be too.. thank you for posting, Ira.. the comparison with the two lives is very interesting to say the least...

Hi Ira, This post is very good and brings a perspective that is needed to the table. I, like you, often forget that repentance and salvation of all is the real goal. Thanks for posting. Blessings, Cyndi

So blessed by this blog...I appreciate your Biblical priority of First Church = family. Bean's Corner Baptist is blessed to have spiritual leaders with this perspective.

Thank you Ira.May our Lord bless you and your ministry.

Just as those you lead at your "second" church, the members of your "first" church have free-will. They may choose whether or not to listen to the "pastor." They may choose to follow Christ or to turn from Him. They will test your patience, your communication skills, your mediation skills, your understanding, your temper, and everything else you can imagine for years and years to come. Your children are still very young and, while they may disappoint you at times now, you can expect it to get worse with their age. Lead them, pray for them, stand up and defend them. That's really all you can do. And never underestimate the power of family meals. It means far more to them than it may seem and it is something they will carry with them and cherish for the rest of their lives.

"We have younger men. like myself . . ." Glad you still think of yourself as one of the young guys. Great blog post Ira.

Right on the head! When Jesus said "Love your neighbor as yourself", he was NOT saying "You cannot love your neighbor unless you love yourself." I have heard it interpreted that way countless times. He was saying "You love yourself, now go love your neighbor the same way." So this blog expands that idea magnifcently.

Thank you Ira....with a little bit of study and after reading some of the comments, I understand why people become so confused....As humans we believe that tolerance from God is the same as acceptance....which of course it is not...and being a Christian I needed to learn to be against the sin and not the sinner, instead of remaining passive. You have solved a lot of issues for me with this one blog and I thank you for that. I was very impressed when my friend (non christian) called me and said she got it!, and has shared it....Love that...keep up the good work.

I appreciate your commitment and spirit to your particular theological interpretations. It is certainly more compelling than the activist and egocentric theology, as you point out. If I was still a Christian, I would approach this issue this way. However, I can't help but see a bond spot in this theology. As you point to Christ, and would likely say that all th bible was leading there, it's difficult to reconcile the culturally evolved version of marriage within the text and stationed by the god supposedly overseeing this history. It ignores the marriage versions of one man, several women, one man several women and combubines and slaves, women as possessions and purchases etc...I think it is difficult and begs some credulity to either obsolete god from these activities (since he gives several instructions about them) and say he was using this to drive people to eventually accept one man, one women + Christ. Of course, this would be incredibly easier had Marcion gotten his way and divorced Christ from YHWH, who seems incredibly inconsistent across the text without the resue of theology.

Crystal, I'm wondering about your train of thinking and must confess I'm a bit confused. Happens to me alot! In what God do you believe and how did you come to believe? What does it mean that God & love are the same thing? Love is an emotion but it seems you are talking about God as a being. How can the two be the same? In other words is God a real being who exists, has a will, has spoken to mankind, etc or is he just an sentiment / feeling that is most defined by love? Is love God's only identifiable trait? Does he care about justice, life, death, poverty, illness, etc. Can he be both loving and also righteous or are they mutually exclusive? In other words can he say there is right and wrong or are you defining love / God as letting everyone do what they think best for themselves? Can God's love include giving people parameters for life that should be followed? If Jesus / God says marriage is God, man, woman and not anything else and his character includes love, how is he unloving to tell us when we get it wrong or use his infinite wisdom to show us the right path? How does offering loving protection constitute a lack of compassion? You don't need to answer any of these, your comments just got me to thinking so I jotted down my inquiry.

a big AMEN!!

This is so well put Ira. It is hitting the proverbial nail on the head I believe.

I saw this article posted on Facebook today, and I felt the need to share my response, which is written below. I believe in God, and I support people who believe in God. I believe in love, and I support people who believe in love. I believe God and love are the same thing. There isn't one without the other. To say that redefining marriage as romantic love cuts Christ out, is saying that Christ isn't present where there's love. If that's what the author of this article believes, that's fine. He's not attacking anyone and I'm not attacking him or those liking and sharing this article. But I encourage taking a moment to realize that this message says that Christ isn't love, Christ is service. And if that's your faith, I support standing up for it. Just be aware this message says Christ isn't love.

Ira, You literally brought tears to my eyes with this. I am so pleased to see what God is doing in your life and how His grace is making you more and more like Jesus with each passing year. I wish that every "Christian" in America could read this post of yours today. Thank you, and God bless you.