Discernment Needed

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:2-4

Christianity Today sends out a list of blogs on a regular basis, usually I don't take the time, but one caught my eye the other day. I have been bothered deeply by it. It was a Pastor in California who had been invited to a g*y wedding. He had concluded, based on Jesus' words to the Pharisees, that he should attend the wedding as a loving representative of Jesus Christ. That he would be being a Pharisee if he didn't. Then he opened it up for comments.

My first "red flag of discernment" was to question the Pastor's reasoning, which was that by not attending the wedding, he was being self-righteous (that is what the Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for). Would that then mean that if you were reaching out to someone who was into the occult and they invited you to a se*nce and you didn't attend, it would be self-righteous? Or if you were reaching out to one who was a thief and they invited you to join "a job" you would be self-righteous to refuse?

Other arguments for going to the wedding were that when those who have sinned before marriage get married we wouldn't stay home from thier wedding. But think about it, when a couple who has crossed the line before marriage gets married, they are getting things right with God, they are coming under His authority. When a g*y couple gets married they are desecrating an institution ordained by God with perversion. It is actually spitting in God's face. (See Romans 1) rebelling against His authority.

When we attend a wedding, we are there as witnesses to give our approval. The Pastor (used to)ask if anyone objects to the couple being married before he pronounced them husband and wife, insinuating that there is great worth in the approval of the witnesses.

And Saul was there, giving approval to his death. Acts 8:1
The above passage shows that even though Paul didn't throw a stone at Stephen, he was, by approval, a part of his murder. With that I conclude that we actively participate in that which we give approval to.

Remembering that weddings are sacred ceremonies estabished by God to represent Him and His Bride and that there is a covenant being made in God's Presence, we dare not take this lightly.

If the Pastor has already established to his g*y friends that he loves them, and then he does not attend their wedding, but keeps loving them afterward, he is showing the true love of God which never negates his justice. When we agree that the law is good we are not being judgemental, we are upholding the perfect law (Romans 3:31). We love His law! (Psalm 119).

I don't know if anyone else has seen it, but it seems alot of Christians are calling other Christians "judgemental" these days if they take a stand on something. Oh God, give us more Light and keep us in Your Truth!!