A Choice for the Narrow Gate
Have you ever seen somebody spitting in the public? If you are a regular mainland traveler, I would bet you must have seen such “disturbing” acts as spitting in the open or yelling aloud in restaurants. Honestly, I feel a bit disgraced as a Chinese in front of such uncivilized acts because they are either unhygienic or causing a nuisance. Nevertheless, people's reaction to unseen but potentially hazardous acts is very much different.
One of my good old friends in Canada asked me recently: Is man-to-woman marriage a moral standard based on biblical story? How about one to two, two to two etc.... If God had created two men and two women in the first place, do we have a two-to-two situation? He also pointed out that the church has been against the homosexuality strongly via different means while some scientists had suggested it was a genetic problem. Beloved, have you been challenged by a similar question before. Sadly enough, the advocates for homosexuality and homosexual marriages often turn a blind eye to the ever increasing divorce rate in our modern society, the increase in the incidences of sexually transmitted diseases especially the risk of AIDS spreading around the world. They also neglect the important findings by sincere researchers that it is too early to conclude that homosexual inclination is genetically determined. The traditional family system and values of the west are facing a threat of disintegration much as the Chinese Confucian values were facing during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
The western world today is not only that the fear of God and faith in the Lord Jesus are no longer their norm, their peoples have a tendency to do away with all the traditional norms. Instead, the individual person and individualistic freedom is at the center of such post-modern cultures where the INDIVIDUAL often takes precedence over the collective society. There are definitely social and anthropological reasons behind such a tendency. Amazingly, the Bible (e.g. Jude 17-19) has foretold long ago that in the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. They are the men who divide the Christians; who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit – what a striking similarity with our existing situations!
As an individual, one is free to choose one's choice and values. However, the reasonable choice should be made in terms of the development, welfare and sustainability of the human society at large. As Christians, we must remember the Apostle Peter's warning (II Pet. 3:10) that the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. For this reason, we must exercise our spiritual freedom to bear witness to our Lord and to be a salt and light to the world even though it is the narrow gate that the world would despise.
Have you ever seen somebody spitting in the public? If you are a regular mainland traveler, I would bet you must have seen such “disturbing” acts as spitting in the open or yelling aloud in restaurants. Honestly, I feel a bit disgraced as a Chinese in front of such uncivilized acts because they are either unhygienic or causing a nuisance. Nevertheless, people's reaction to unseen but potentially hazardous acts is very much different.
One of my good old friends in Canada asked me recently: Is man-to-woman marriage a moral standard based on biblical story? How about one to two, two to two etc.... If God had created two men and two women in the first place, do we have a two-to-two situation? He also pointed out that the church has been against the homosexuality strongly via different means while some scientists had suggested it was a genetic problem. Beloved, have you been challenged by a similar question before. Sadly enough, the advocates for homosexuality and homosexual marriages often turn a blind eye to the ever increasing divorce rate in our modern society, the increase in the incidences of sexually transmitted diseases especially the risk of AIDS spreading around the world. They also neglect the important findings by sincere researchers that it is too early to conclude that homosexual inclination is genetically determined. The traditional family system and values of the west are facing a threat of disintegration much as the Chinese Confucian values were facing during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
The western world today is not only that the fear of God and faith in the Lord Jesus are no longer their norm, their peoples have a tendency to do away with all the traditional norms. Instead, the individual person and individualistic freedom is at the center of such post-modern cultures where the INDIVIDUAL often takes precedence over the collective society. There are definitely social and anthropological reasons behind such a tendency. Amazingly, the Bible (e.g. Jude 17-19) has foretold long ago that in the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. They are the men who divide the Christians; who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit – what a striking similarity with our existing situations!
As an individual, one is free to choose one's choice and values. However, the reasonable choice should be made in terms of the development, welfare and sustainability of the human society at large. As Christians, we must remember the Apostle Peter's warning (II Pet. 3:10) that the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. For this reason, we must exercise our spiritual freedom to bear witness to our Lord and to be a salt and light to the world even though it is the narrow gate that the world would despise.
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