Authority and Proposition 8
I think I may have written about this before, but I remember watching a video in a Sunday service (or was it a Wednesday service) where John MacArthur was on the Larry King show and he mentioned that his authority was the Bible. That struck me (maybe it shouldn't have, but it did) in a deep way and I haven't been able to shake it. It has certainly helped me sort out and make sense of a lot of things that have happened since and why those things have happened in the manner that they have.
Obviously there are quite a few people that are upset about Proposition 8 and the definition of marriage it imposes (yes, that is the right word) on people that live in the state of California. Imposition is not always a bad thing. I find that the definition of murder that the laws of New York State impose on me and others to be quite satisfactory because they coincide with where the Bible stands on the issue. As someone who finds the Bible to be his authority I find that the imposition of the definition of marriage on the people in California to be quite satisfactory as well. I can have no other reaction to the vote and amendment to that state's constitution if I want the Bible to remain as my authority. If I want to come out from underneath the authority of the Bible then I am free to react however I want to the amendment.
My reaction to the amendment is based solely on this. I do not make any inferences toward people who wanted Proposition 8 to be defeated like claiming that people who oppose it are "godless" or less of a person because of their stance on it. Yet I do see that their authority is something other than the Scriptures, or at least the part where it states that marriage is between a man and woman.
As a Baptist I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state, but I am not foolish enough to think that the religious moral code woven in throughout the Bible has no bearing on the successful governing of a state or nation. Nay - it is quite the opposite. But rest assured that as soon as the government that I am subject to forces anyone to become a Baptist, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, or whatever the religion du jour happens to be as a requisite for citizenship - I will be the first in line to oppose it with a firmly clenched fist.
Obviously there are quite a few people that are upset about Proposition 8 and the definition of marriage it imposes (yes, that is the right word) on people that live in the state of California. Imposition is not always a bad thing. I find that the definition of murder that the laws of New York State impose on me and others to be quite satisfactory because they coincide with where the Bible stands on the issue. As someone who finds the Bible to be his authority I find that the imposition of the definition of marriage on the people in California to be quite satisfactory as well. I can have no other reaction to the vote and amendment to that state's constitution if I want the Bible to remain as my authority. If I want to come out from underneath the authority of the Bible then I am free to react however I want to the amendment.
My reaction to the amendment is based solely on this. I do not make any inferences toward people who wanted Proposition 8 to be defeated like claiming that people who oppose it are "godless" or less of a person because of their stance on it. Yet I do see that their authority is something other than the Scriptures, or at least the part where it states that marriage is between a man and woman.
As a Baptist I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state, but I am not foolish enough to think that the religious moral code woven in throughout the Bible has no bearing on the successful governing of a state or nation. Nay - it is quite the opposite. But rest assured that as soon as the government that I am subject to forces anyone to become a Baptist, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, or whatever the religion du jour happens to be as a requisite for citizenship - I will be the first in line to oppose it with a firmly clenched fist.
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