When God Judges a Culture

“The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave…” ~ Genesis 18:20

With the gay marriage question before the Supreme Court, the media (social, news, or otherwise) outlets of our culture have seen an explosion of activity and strong opinion in both directions.  At the core of this issue is the notion of homosexuality itself, and such always seems to draw minds to the story of God’s judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis.  God determined to rain his judgment and wrath upon the culture of those cities because of the greatness of their sin.  A hint of this sin is seen in Genesis 19 when two angels in the appearance of men go into Sodom and Lot welcomes them into his house, only to have men from the city surround the house and demand to forcibly have sexual relations with them (or in other words…to rape them).

The term sodomy itself shows the history of our religious culture’s connection of the events in Genesis with homosexual activity.  Yet a simple reading of the Genesis account shows that this wasn’t merely an issue of prevailing homosexuality itself.  Rather the perverseness of the men’s actions goes to something much deeper—an active abuse of others for the sake of self pleasure.  Furthermore, Ezekiel 16:46-50 shows how the greatness of their sin came in the totality of their unrighteousness and not because of a single issue—they were also prideful and prosperous yet neglected the poor and needy.  God says, “They were haughty and did an abomination before me.  So I removed them, when I saw it.”  Continue at Mike Bergman

Halloween—Should We or Shouldn’t We?

Okay…it’s that time of year again.  Pumpkins and skeletons are lining people’s houses.  Charlie Brown is receiving rocks while Linus waits for the Great Pumpkin.  And debates rage—should the kid’s go trick-‘r-treating or do we take them down to the Fall Festival or Harvest Party or just stay at home?

I’ll admit—I’ve had my times of being a bit of a brat when it comes to this subject.  My last year at seminary, my roommate and I bought Halloween decorations and hung them on the door of our on-campus apartment.  I wanted to include the smiling witch’s head but my roommate thought that was going too far, so we compromised…and hung it on the inside of the door.  (We also put a flaming skull over the face of Martyn Lloyd-Jones on a picture hanging inside our apartment… I forgot about that one until my friend recently reminded me…)

Since then I’ve matured some.

As a pastor I see this is a serious debate among good, God-fearing, Jesus-loving people, and I have a role to help all sides grow in their faith.

Personally I’ve never been one to have a problem with Halloween.  I grew up with faithful parents actively involved in church, and went trick-‘r-treating every year.  When I was little it was as cute things like clowns and Cookie Monster.  As I grew older, the costumes became more grotesque.  But it was all in fun, and getting a big bag of candy was indeed fun.  Continue at Mike Bergman