I am sick of this 2024 U.S. Presidential election season. The media is full of electioneering by democrats and republicans running for both national and state offices. We might rejoice that we are in a country with free and fair elections, which I think for the most part they are. However, that matters little when both sides have bought into the godless evil of our age. Freedom of access to abortion is the central theme. One party holds this up as an absolute right for all women. While the other party simply soft peddles its position tacitly supporting it. For me, there is no good choice among the major candidates. It’s been suggested that we must simply try to pick the lesser of evils, yet stay committed to God’s truth. I suppose that we can pray that those in the lesser advisory positions, in whatever administration wins, can bring some God-fearing direction to bear.
But let’s be clear about what is really being put forward. Under the mantra of “reproductive freedom” is meant being free to have sexual encounters at any time, with any one, as often as we choose, and without any negative consequences. That is the tenure of our age. Medical science has advanced to the point where we have pills to prevent a pregnancy, or to abort one if it does occur. We’ve also passed laws to allow destroying an embryo at any stage of gestation or immediately after birth if the abortion failed. In the most recent ten year period 7 to 10 million children have been killed in the U.S. Anyone who dares to oppose the practice needs to be prepared for the personal consequences society may apply.
I don’t mean to be overly cynical. I am a Christian pastor who has loved and served my people for over 50 years. We are confessional Christians, as I wrote about in a previous Observation. We are part of a national church body who seeks to stand firm on God’s truth in Holy Scripture. That includes the whole Bible from Genesis trough Revelation. Our Lord God has created us and given us a way of life that is for our best good. We will find our well being and deepest joy in harmony with our Lord. But for my purpose here we only need to consider the first three chapters of Genesis. We find that they do, in fact, cast a long shadow over our modern era.
The United States was founded as “one nations under God with liberty and justice for all”. We have now successfully moved God to the remote fringe of society. Yes, there are still many Christian churches in towns all across America. There is much preaching aimed at the need for personal salvation and making a commitment to the Lord Jesus. Also, emphasizing the truth of what God has done for us in Christ’s sacrificial atonement. All of this is certainly true and vital. Many of the parishioner in those church pews do a lot of good works. This is wonderful. But my concern is that the message of the Church, which is based on Holy Scripture, does not fully translate into a personal way of life that reflects the way God designed for us. And further, that this way of life gets taught in the homes to the younger generation.
Statistics about sexual freedom among evangelical Christians indicates that many in the church have yielded as well. A growing number of evangelicals who have never been married are not abstinent. According to research published by Ryan Burge, when it comes to sexual behavior, about 64% of evangelicals 25 to 50 reported having at least one intimate partner in the past year. This is roughly the same percentage as mainline Protestants and those who claim no Christianity at all. Further, recently reported in Christianity Today, pornography use among Christians of all denominations is higher than ever, but “fewer think it is a problem.”
When I titled this Observation “A long shadow cast by Genesis 1, 2, and 3″ I mean the message in those chapters directly applies to the way our Lord created us to live, a way that is for our best good. By calling attention to what is being put forward in this U.S. election cycle we see a clear picture of the way our society has chosen contrary to God’s desires. It is a message people are drenched in daily. Too many are unfortunately buying into it.
These three Genesis chapters tell of Almighty God creating the heavens and the earth along with all of the living creatures that roam the earth. As the pinnacle of His creation God made man and woman. He brought them together to be one in the marriage relationship. They were to be fruitful and multiply bringing forth offspring to God’s glory. This is a true account of mankind’s beginning but there is vastly more here than I can conveyed in a few sentences. Even so, this truth is repeated and confirmed throughout the remaining 65 books of the Holy Scripture. The pattern of one man and one woman committed in a life long monogamous relationship with the possibility of bringing forth children is God’s purpose that has never changed.
Even further, the marital relationship is to be a reflection of the relationship of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Church. This makes the God designed way of life deeply serious. The Catholic Church recognizes this with celibacy required for their priesthood. The priest is considered betrothed to Christ. But this image truly carries over to the whole Church as Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:25-33)
From Genesis chapter one and all through the Scripture we are given this pattern for our overall human life that God has intended for our best good. There are many more aspects of life beside marriage, but the proper understanding of the relationship of men and women brings to the fore all the rest. Jesus is essentially saying, I’ve given My life for you. I am asking you to be betrothed to me. I am asking you to learn to love Me above all else, finding your very best life in our relationship. This is a life long commitment on our part with nothing omitted. Our body, soul, and spirit finds its salvation, joy, and peace in our relationship to Jesus Christ.
I’m not talking about a legal requirement. I’ve already written about how we like the law more than the gospel. If I do this and do that then I’m in good with God. But the Gospel seeks our whole life and in exchange gives us God’s best of life, joy, and peace. None of us does this perfectly. We’ve all failed. St. Paul wrote to the Roman Christians that “we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”(3:23) We’ve all yielded to the devil’s voice. We’ve all been overcome by situations of the moment. But there is abundant grace in our Lord as we turn to Him in repentance. Jesus gave His life for our cleansing. In God’s grace we can begin again. The failure is being complacent and taking up the world’s values.
The words the Serpent spoke to Eve in Genesis 3 are still very real. He ask Eve “Did God really say….?” We have been playing with that one ever since. It is why we must continually stay grounded in Holy Scripture, God’s revealed word. Whether one chooses to follow it or not there is still the long shadow of God’s truth shrouding modern society. It is against this that all of the “reproductive rights” hoopla is judged.
I’ve gotten rather specific in this observation, but this awful election cycle has brought it on in a more prominent form. I intend to expand my thoughts, especially on Genesis, in further writing. But for now just think through for yourself what our Lord is saying. God will guide you into His truth.
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Irv