Gay Marriage, Abortion, and The God Delusion

“For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.” (II Thess. 2:11)

Not so long ago, Richard Dawkins wrote a book entitle, “The God Delusion.” In that book, Richard Dawkins argues that the basis of belief in God is not grounded in science, and that there is no rationally compelling scientific evidence to support the delusion that God exists. Dawkins arrogantly details the goal of his project, “If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down.”

The purpose of this blog is not to respond to Richard Dawkins. Many good theologians have already provided Christians with a response to the irrationalism posited by Dawkins and the New Atheism. The purpose of this blog is to entertain the question of divine epistemological judgment. The word epistemology has to do with the theory of knowledge. It treats the question of how human beings know things. How do we attain accurate, truthful knowledge of the world around us, both physically and spiritually?

Imagine not existing. I know, impossible, right? Work with me. Pretend you simply, all of the sudden began to exist. One minute, you were not, and the next minute you are. You begin to look around at things, trees, grass, plants, the sky, water, insects, and animals. If you were created a tabula rasa, how would you even begin to assess the things you see in front of you? By what means would you derive your own self-awareness? How could you even know who or what you are? The Christian worldview asserts that man is a wholly, knowledge-dependent being. Human beings do not know things of their own accord. One might answer that the first man studied his observations and gained knowledge that way. However, one must know how to study and that they should study in order to study. By what means would the first person attain this knowledge of study? It is an unavoidable enigma in terms of epistemology. We assert then, that man, in order to know anything must know God. All man’s knowledge is derived from God either immediately or indirectly through divinely created and granted faculties. Since man’s knowledge is dependent wholly upon the grace and mercy of God, God is in sovereign control of that knowledge. Hence, it follows that God may choose to withhold knowledge from man or by means of His own choosing sentence man to ignorance for reasons known only to Himself. Such reasons would certainly be in accord with His righteous and loving nature. It is this truth about God that our text reveals through Paul as he addresses the Thessalonian Christians.

Paul foresees a time in the future when God will actually send a deluding influence upon men who willingly reject divine revelation in preference for wicked pleasure. The Greek construction dia touto expresses purpose and is translated “For this reason.” For what reason? We look in v. 10 and the reason is because men did not receive the love of the truth! Rather, in v. 12, they took pleasure in wickedness. We live in a culture that despises the idea of objective truth. American society wants to determine truth for itself apart from God. The whole point for this modern project, which is not modern at all, is so that men can take pleasure in wickedness. Let’s take the upcoming Super Bowl as an example. “Is there anything I can do for marriage equality or anti-bullying over the next couple of weeks to harness this Super Bowl media?” Ayanbadejo, 36, wrote to Brian Ellner and Michael Skolnik. Apparently, linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo considers the idea of gay sex, along with gay marriage virtuous enough to use the largest sports platform in the world to push for acceptance of this wicked behavior.

Americans are coming to the belief that gay sex is not only acceptable, it is actually normal. The progression has been quite rapid. Initially, gay sex was ostracized as unnatural and abnormal. Then we began to say they were born this way and cannot help themselves. Then we began to say, do what you want, but keep it between yourselves. Then we begin to think that it was the only love these people could experience. Then we began to think that it may even be natural. Now we are quickly moving to a place where we are equating gay sex with sex between a man and a woman. It is unrestrained sexual perversion of the worse sort and educated Americans are calling it normal. Can we agree, as Christians, that such thinking is clearly, delusional.

I heard a news story this weekend that reported that young women can obtain the “morning-after” pill in vending machines on a particular college campus. These young women are free to engage in wanton sexual pleasure, live a life that used to get them labeled as “whores” not so long ago, and run down to the vending machine and murder the consequences of their lewd behavior. The murder of helpless children in American culture is, in my opinion, a sign of the judgment of God on a nation that has a duty to acknowledge God in all His ways and be thankful for His many blessings. To argue that the murder of babies is a woman’s rights or health issue, is absurd. Again, for Christians it is easy to consider such thinking, delusional.

Many modern American Christians think they have embraced the God who is when indeed what they have embraced is an idolatrous idea of a god of their own making. Rather than accepting God’s right to send a deluding influence on wicked sinners, they claim that God is such an all loving God that He desperately wants to do whatever He can to get people to believe in Him. Their god tries so hard through acts of kindness, rational arguments, scientific proofs, to get people to just trust in Him. Their god’s heart is breaking at the condition of humankind. He wants only the best for his creation, for you, and for me. Their god understands that we are all imperfect sinners. He loves us all and accepts us all just the way we are. He does not care if men are having sex with men or if women want to murder their children so that they may continue in the pleasures of prohibited lewd and promiscuous sex.

The apostle Paul, writing for God, in God’s stead, says that because men do not love the knowledge of the truth and because they do love the pleasures of wickedness, this God will send a deluding influence so that certain wrath and divine justice will be directed to those who ignore God’s sovereign right to be acknowledged, obeyed, and thanked for His grace and for Who He is as our sovereign Creator.

The Christian Church has to call gay sex the perversion that it is. We have to stop calling abortion, abortion, and stop debating it as if it were a woman’s health or rights issue. We must preach and teach and proclaim that gay sex is a sin against God and a perversion of natural sex. We must declare that abortion is murder. We must, as Jesus, John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul did before us, demand repentance from wickedness and full acceptance, trust, and embracing of Christ and all that He is. Am I advocating a radical activism? I am not. I am advocating that we proclaim and preach the gospel and when these subjects arise, we call them what they are. The only campaign I am interested in is the one that proclaims the gospel and saves lost sinners from the flames of an eternal hell. I am not interested in an “anti-anything” campaign. I am interested in a pro-truth, pro-gospel campaign. I am interested in the truth, not the comfort of modern men who are so easily offended by the slightest suggestion they may be wrong or misbehaving in some way. It is not arrogance to point out wrong thinking or wrong behavior. Rather, arrogance is located in the thinking that would find fault with a man for doing so.