Rocks in the Stream

Why is it that the topic of "same-sex marriage" comes up more than once in my writings? Some might suggest that I'm homophobic and that's why it's such a big deal. (I need to point out that I'm not at all sure what that word means. They keep using that word, but I'm really not clear that it means what they think it means.) Some would suggest that I'm just narrow-minded and fighting to hold on to my narrow view. I would guess that there are a lot of other possibilities as well. I would suspect that most would be wrong. The same question could be asked about abortion, sex outside of marriage, contraception, or divorce. These types of things seem to come up more often in my writing than they do in others. Why?

Allow me an illustration to make a point. Picture with me a stream. In this stream is a large rock (at least one). The water moves through the stream around this rock. Observing the rock, however, you will notice that things floating in the stream seem to collide with this rock. It is a rather prominent rock. And it just seems like things are running into it. Indeed, at some point you begin to wonder, "Why does that rock keep hitting all those things in the stream?" It is, of course, an illusion. The rock isn't moving. It's the stuff that is moving past it that is moving. And therein lies the problem.

Christianity is based on Christ and documented by the Bible. This Bible was God-breathed some 2,000 years ago. Thus, with few exceptions it doesn't move much. The same Jesus Christ that was the Savior in 65 AD is the Savior in 2012 AD. Salvation that was accomplished in Paul's day by the death and resurrection of Jesus is the same salvation that is accomplished in our day. We don't have a new form of salvation available to us that Peter didn't have. The Church throughout history has not aimed at moving or flowing with the times, but remaining true to the principles and doctrines of the original Christians. Oh, sure, there is superfluous stuff, outer trappings, things that don't really matter to the core, but at the base of the Church there is a solid, unchanging, unwavering Rock who is Christ and there is a tradition, doctrine that makes up Christianity without being affected by fluctuations or the vagaries of time.

Christians stand, then, in the stream of culture, on the Rock. We, in fact, are being formed into His image, acting as His representatives to a lost world. Like rocks in a stream, we are required to stand firm in the place that Christ and the Scriptures place us. So when the stream throws a pile of "same-sex marriage" branches at us, society will ask us to move out of the way -- to "go with the flow". We, however, need to stand where we are. It will look as if we're attacking the branches. It will appear as if we're "anti-branch", narrow-minded, opposed to culture. But all we're doing is standing where we are planted. In our day, the branches floating by are "same-sex marriage", "abortion", and the like. In other times they have been other things. The fact that they differ is not because we differ. It's because the stream of culture continues to flow around us, changing tactics and favorite sins.

So when the sin of the day is a denial of salvation apart from works, those bound by Christ will stand against it as they did in the days of the Reformation. And when the sin of the day is slavery, those bound by Christ will stand against it, as they did in the 1800's. And when the sin of the day is an assault on marriage, those bound by Christ will stand against it. We're not moving. We're not picking fights. It's the sin of the day and our requirement to stand firm, likes rocks in the stream.