I wonder where the last dock is located upstream from Niagara Falls. The current must get pretty strong upstream, and I would think that there must be some dock with a big warning sign saying: “Last chance to tie up before the falls.”
www.tothesource.org reports that HBO has a new series starring Tom Hanks titled Big Love, about a polygamous family. At first blush this factoid might seem like a total disconnect from what came before, but on further reflection you may catch my drift.
Just when you thought that polygamy was consigned to jungle tribes, there it is coming right into your living room. It comes as no surprise that the producers are gay activists. I read an article some time ago asserting that the homosexual community promotes promiscuous sex in the heterosexual community to make its own lifestyle seem normal. Polygamy would do that. If polygamous marriage was accepted, not too many eyebrows would be raised at homosexuality.
It is difficult to believe that in the 1980’s the American Psychiatric Association still listed homosexuality as a disorder. Now we have the state of California advancing a bill requiring that its schools teach the positive contributions made by homosexuals, transvestites, etc., and beyond that there is polygamy and pedophilia right around the corner.
We can feel the current picking up and hear the sound of the falls not too far away. History teaches us that the deterioration of sexual mores destroys civilizations.
How did we get so far downstream? HBO’s new series shows us how. First it is just a funny show. Then someone does a scientific study discovering that kids growing up in polygamous homes are really better adjusted. Did I mention that Tothesource also spoke of scientific studies on polygamy that have been done in Canada. (They can make scientific studies support any conclusion they want. Alfred Kinsey proved that.) Next is the push for legalization. By then the practice has received such widespread public acceptance that anyone opposing it will be diagnosed with polygamophobia.
The bad news is that evangelicals are displaying this kind of drift. A book I have been reading on the emerging church movement notes that some evangelicals are now questioning whether Scripture really does view homosexuality as a sin. They will have an even easier job finding polygamy in Scripture.
The good news is that upstream from the falls is a secure dock with a visible sign. The sign on the Word of God announces: “The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.” (Psalm 119:160) “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17) Tying up to that dock will keep us from going over the falls.
However, the evangelical community seems to be more enamored with the drifting culture than the secure Word. For our society to be saved from the falls, first the church must firmly tie itself to the dock of the Word. This would require serious study and sound conclusions. Such a commitment to the Word would bring about an evangelical reformation. Being tied to the dock ourselves, we would then be able to throw a rope to secular society.
We live in a day when the options are clear—the Word or the falls.