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Several
evangelical Christian leaders are urging churches across the country to
declare July 11th "Protect Marriage Sunday." The Rev.
Jerry Falwell predicts that thousands of churches will participate.
James Dobson's Focus on the Family and the Rev. Donald E. Wildmon's
association are also promoting the event. These ministers and
organizations are shamelessly using scare tactics and exaggerations to
inflame the passions of other ministers and congregations to press their
point of view. The president of the U. S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops has also endorsed the Marriage Amendment and has urged all Roman
Catholics to lobby for its passage.
Twenty-six
religious groups have sent a letter to Congress opposing the amendment,
"It is not the task of our government and elected representatives
to enshrine in our laws the religious point of view of any one
faith," stated the June 2 letter, whose signers included leaders of
the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Episcopal Church USA, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (USA),
and the Sikh Council on Religion and Education.
As someone who has
studied the Bible extensively, I believe that the reason for this
difference of attitudes toward the Marriage Amendment has to do with
understanding and the lack of understanding of the Bible. The
Bible is filled with simple statements that are so profound that unless
we contemplate them and pray for understanding, we will miss the point.
It cannot be taken literally ... nor can the laws and rules of ancient
cultures be forced upon a contemporary culture.
The most important
lesson in the Bible is the evolution of man's/woman's understanding of
God. In the Old Testament we find the peoples relationship with
God based on fear and over-powering someone or something. In the
New Testament we have the Gospels, the "Good News" the
evolution from the Law ... to Love. In other words, we find that
the Ten Commandments according to the Master Mind Jesus, can be summed
us thusly, "Love God and Love your neighbor as your self."
Simple ... yet a stark change from the old concepts of reward and
punishment, fear and damnation. The highly enlightened Jesus
demonstrated the Power of Love greater than anyone else who has walked
on this planet. His message was not "do as I say" ...
but "do as I do." And then He said, "these things I
do and greater things still shall you do." He demonstrated
the Truth and He demonstrated God's Love in a way that was beyond the
understanding of the people at the time ... and for far too many today.
He demonstrated that Love is the Law of Life.
I visited a minister who preaches
in a tent near Indio one Sunday before I opened the church here in Palm
Springs and he was talking "about" Jonah and the whale ... he
had the audience's rapt attention as he talked about Jonah in the belly
of the whale. As I sat and listened to him, I wondered, would he
be willing to go into the belly of a whale and demonstrate that what he
is saying is the Truth? I don't think so. But Jesus would
not have made a statement and declare it as Truth without demonstrating
that it is so. So when Jesus stated "judge not lest ye be
judged" and "love your neighbor as your self" ... He
wasn't just whistling Dixie ... He knew that our judgments and lack of
compassion and love will demonstrate in our own lives. If we add
an amendment to our Constitution here in the United States that
separates us as a people and classifies some people as being outside of
the "kingdom of God" ... outside of equality ... what will be
our demonstration? It can only be the reaping of the seed we have
planted ... there can be no other way ... "as you sow, so shall you
reap" ... simple, yet profound. How can we restrict the
freedom of others and expect to enjoy freedom ourselves? It would
be nonsense to believe that we can.
In the state of
Massachusetts we have a governor that is using a 1913 law that prevented
interracial marriage in the state as a justification of preventing
out-of-state gay and lesbian people to get married in the state of
Massachusetts where same-sex marriage is legal. Did this law stop
interracial marriage from becoming legal? Of course not. The
Master Mind Jesus was clear ... "love God" ... why? ...
because God loves us ... with an ever-lasting Love ... and that Love
will always be sustained and maintained by the Law of Life ... which is
a Law of Love ... and this Law brings
freedom to Love even amidst the turmoil of evolving religions and
religious leaders.
And
So It Is!
Maximum Love,
Rev.
Hank Bates
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