Preserving Marriage

In Washington State, Referendum 71 is on the ballots for Tuesday’s Election.  This ballot has been called “Everything but Marriage” and emotions run high on both sides of the debate.

There are main people of faith who are supporting the campaign to reject R71. Here is something that they recently ran in an online advertisement:

Our position is not about hate, it s about love. Its about preserving marriage.  Its about protecting children.

Did you know that few homosexual relationships last more than two years? The rates of aids cases and suicide are proportionally much higher in homosexual community.

Did you know that some school districts in America have already approved a mandatory homosexual curriculum or children as young as five. And parents are not allowed t remove their children from the lessons.

Some homosexual activists admit their intent to undermine the virtues that promote stability in the home and the nation.

Who’s future is really at stake?

Those who support R71 have said:

R-71 is solely about putting all families on equal footing with the law on sick-leave policy, wages and benefits, insurance rights, adoption, child custody and child support.

The slogan “The family that prays together, stays together” is well known.  A denomination even released “statistics” which state:

“…born-again Christian couples who marry…in the church after having received premarital counseling…and attend church regularly and pray daily together…” experience only 1 divorce out of nearly 39,000 marriages — or 0.00256 percent.

A recent study by the Barna Group indicates something quite to the contrary.

• 11% of the adult population in the US is currently divorced
• 25% of adults have had at least one divorce in their lifetime
• Divorce rates among conservative Christians were significantly higher than for other faith groups, and much higher than Atheists and Agnostics experience.

George Barna, founder of Barna Research released the following statement:

While it may be alarming to discover that born again Christians are more likely than others to experience a divorce, that pattern has been in place for quite some time. Even more disturbing, perhaps, is that when those individuals experience a divorce many of them feel their community of faith provides rejection rather than support and healing. But the research also raises questions regarding the effectiveness of how churches minister to families. The ultimate responsibility for a marriage belongs to the husband and wife, but the high incidence of divorce within the Christian community challenges the idea that churches provide truly practical and life-changing support for marriages.

If people of faith want to “preserve marriage” perhaps they should start in their own homes and be an example.  I’m not stating a position for or against R71, however I do have serious issues with a faith group which has the highest divorce rates in the nation judging, persecuting, and even hating people who are outside of their faith group.  Clean house first, then maybe people will choose to follow your example.

 

Autumn in Mukilteo

I just wanted to share a photo from the street in front of where I work.  It’s beautiful at this time of year.

Wow!

Yesterday was a total blur. I was not feeling well AT ALL. I went to bed at 7pm on Tuesday Night and woke up at 3:15. I thought that I would finish an English paper and then go to work – but I was sicker than a dog and ended up calling in sick and slept for 4 hours, ate lunch and slept for 4 more. I went to bed at Midnight last night – woke up at 4:45 with a ton of energy. I feel GREAT – really! Hopefully it was only a 24-hour bug or something.

Today I have only a sore throat – so I’ll avoid people at work and get my job done

Smartest Cities in America

Off topic for today – but fun to read none the less…

Seattle (the city that I love) is tied (with Washington DC) for 7th place as Smartest City in America.

Read the article here

Peace

Broken conversations, broken people, we’re broken, Lord.
Terrified illusions, seeking comfort, we’re seeking more.
We need each other more than we need to agree.
Father, Son, Spirit bless us with your love; with your grace and peace.

Peace. Let there be peace (among us)
Let there be peace (among us).
Let there be peace (among us).
Let us see and not destroy. Let us listen. Let us listen.

Let us suspend judgment for the sake of love; for the sake of love.
We need each other more than we need to agree.
Father, Son, Spirit bless us with your love; with your grace and peace.

Love. Let there be love (among us).
Let there be love (among us).
Let there be peace (among us).

Words & Music: Paula Best

belovedschurch.org

All We Need Is Love

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.  If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.  If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

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Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

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Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

1 Corinthians 13

The Message

Stories

“The Bible is a collection of stories that teach us about what it looks like when God is at work through actual people. The Bible has the authority it does only because it contains stories about people interacting with the God who has all authority”

Rob Bell
Velvet Elvis

Comfort or Challenge?

The Great Commission is not to stay, but to go.  “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

And in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

When you walk out the call of God in your life, you realize that going is hard! But when you are called… it is no longer a matter of if you will leave, but when… leaving a place of comfort for a place of challenge.

A Word for October 16

“But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don’t take yourself too seriously – take God seriously.”

Micah 6:8

“And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?”  Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man. ”A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him.  He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable.  In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill – I’ll pay you on my way back.’  ”What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?”  ”The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded. Jesus said, “Go and do the same.”

Luke 10:29b-37

A Word for October 15

“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.“

Proverbs 25:21

How much more should we take care of our friends, neighbors, and those in our community?