March, 2004

The hottest news these days in the Bay Area isn’t the Presidential campaign. It is the gay-marriage, initiated by Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco . His initiation came at the heel of the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision on equal right for the gays and lesbians as “partners” for life. In spite of the outcry of social conservatives, Mayor Newsom’s provocative action went on as expected. By the time I wrote this article, there were about 2500 marriage licenses issued during this Valentine weekend. More people will be lined up in the coming days to get on the bang-wagon. Legally speaking, these marriages are primarily symbolic and may not be valid at all because they are illegal in the courts of both State and Federal government. How this “mess” is going to play out in court leaves to be seen.

As I was following the news, I couldn’t stop to think how a mayor of a metropolitan city could do such a defiant thing. Knowing gay marriage is illegal in California , how could he order the city clerk to prepare illegal marriage licenses? This act of “defiance” brought forth a new level of moral standard, or should I say “sub-standard.” Being a mayor, I thought he took an oath to uphold the State law he serves under. Obviously, he disagrees with the written and implied law of the State on marriage. But still, as an elected official, representing a city, he should be a model for the rest of the citizens to follow. This is a case of misused authority. It is equally strange that I haven’t heard or read anything on this issue at all. We are at an age of moral declination. I wonder how far would it slide before God will say, “Enough!”

As Christians, how should we work this through? First, I think we should do all diligent to uphold the local laws. Wherever you turn to the Bible, we are told to submit to authority, whether agree with it or not. Too many Christians misquoted, “We must obey God rather than men!” The context is that we must obey God to preach the gospel in spite of men’s opposition. We obey local laws because God, in His infinite wisdom, allows even evil government to rule. Second, we need to fulfill our obligation as citizen to vote for what is biblical. If we forfeit our “rights,” we are the ones to blame. Third, we must keep our faith regardless of how corrupt morality is in the society. We may not know why it seems that God isn’t doing anything about it. Let us remember that God isn’t blind nor is He indifferent. The Bible tells us in II Peter that Lot was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men. Seeing that, God rescued the righteous men from trials by putting the unrighteous for the Day of Judgment.

Before I sign off, I would like to encourage you to keep up your faith and not to let lawlessness affect your moral. If you have yet to accept Christ as your Savior, I pray that you will because God doesn’t want to judge you with the lawless ones.

Pastor Larry

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