I just read a post by my good friend William - I was gonna comment on his blog, but my comment grew into a post of my own. How often does that actually happen. Congrats, William, on initiating my first blog post of substance in 10 months or so. Enjoy:
William correctly identifies that Ray Nagin and the government of New Orleans don't seem to behave any differently than they used to, despite Katrina. Now here comes Gustav, and maybe they'll get the message. To quote Chuck Pierce, 'God's going to keep washing New Orleans until it's clean'.
So I'm in agreement with that...but I'm going to bring a slight nuance to defining Sodom and Gomorrah's offense against the Lord - and hence, New Orleans' as well.
I feel like it's important to point out that homosexuality is not the scripturally defining sin about those cities.
Even though the current usage of the word 'sodomy', or 'sodomite', etc points to homosexuality as the distinctive in Sodom and Gomorrah - probably due to the Genesis 19 account of Lot and the men of Sodom - but when God looked at Sodom, the first thing on his mind wasn't just homosexuality.
Ezekiel 16:49-50 tells us that the most significant thing - Sodom's defining sin - was not taking care of the poor. The fast God has chosen from Isaiah is largely related to justice and the poor...so God is as concerned about racism ( hundreds of years of history in New Orleans on those issues ), graft and corruption ( again, fully integrated into the society of that city ), and the issues of justice for the poor as much, if not more, than he is about homosexuality.
Even Romans ch. 1 seems to indicate that homosexuality is the consequence of rejecting God, not the root of the issue.
Paul writes of homosexuality is a sign of reprobation, of God giving you over to your sin...and Paul goes on to list things that offend God that are part of a reprobate lifestyle. He seemingly does this from 'worst' to 'not worst' ending up on stuff like 'pride' and 'disobedient to parents'.
He who is without sin, right? Homosexuality, murder, etc...Everybody ready to pick up your rocks and aim them at the gulf coast?...oh wait. Whispering. Gossip. Pride. Disobedient to parents. I hope I hear you dropping your rocks. I'm working on dropping mine.
So of course I believe that homosexuality and the official government acceptance thereof is a big issue, and the timing of Hurricate Gustav is ominous and significant. Two level 5 hurricanes. On nearly the same dates. Within three years. Who can ignore that?
Updated on 9/3/2008: This was written prior to me reading that Gustav hadn't made it to Category 5. He only ended up being a 3. Still, the point stands...
When we talk about 'them' in New Orleans, we should be saying 'we'. One little ( or huge ) homosexual festival in Louisiana isn't the entire scope of the problem - our reprobate behavior is deeply engrained all over our nation, from the least to the greatest.
If we actually believe that God is singling out New Orleans for anything, I would venture to say that it's a sign to the rest of the cities of America. L.A., New York, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco all have large gay populations, laws supporting gay marriage, whole subcultures and industries that are built on it...and from what I hear, an even larger number of people who disobey their parents or don't consider the well-being of the poor around them.
WE should consider whether WE want to be dealt with in the same way God is dealing with New Orleans. God is no respecter of persons...what he does for one, he does for all. Don't kid yourself that this is just about New Orleans...
William correctly identifies that Ray Nagin and the government of New Orleans don't seem to behave any differently than they used to, despite Katrina. Now here comes Gustav, and maybe they'll get the message. To quote Chuck Pierce, 'God's going to keep washing New Orleans until it's clean'.
So I'm in agreement with that...but I'm going to bring a slight nuance to defining Sodom and Gomorrah's offense against the Lord - and hence, New Orleans' as well.
I feel like it's important to point out that homosexuality is not the scripturally defining sin about those cities.
Even though the current usage of the word 'sodomy', or 'sodomite', etc points to homosexuality as the distinctive in Sodom and Gomorrah - probably due to the Genesis 19 account of Lot and the men of Sodom - but when God looked at Sodom, the first thing on his mind wasn't just homosexuality.
Ezekiel 16:49-50 tells us that the most significant thing - Sodom's defining sin - was not taking care of the poor. The fast God has chosen from Isaiah is largely related to justice and the poor...so God is as concerned about racism ( hundreds of years of history in New Orleans on those issues ), graft and corruption ( again, fully integrated into the society of that city ), and the issues of justice for the poor as much, if not more, than he is about homosexuality.
Even Romans ch. 1 seems to indicate that homosexuality is the consequence of rejecting God, not the root of the issue.
Paul writes of homosexuality is a sign of reprobation, of God giving you over to your sin...and Paul goes on to list things that offend God that are part of a reprobate lifestyle. He seemingly does this from 'worst' to 'not worst' ending up on stuff like 'pride' and 'disobedient to parents'.
He who is without sin, right? Homosexuality, murder, etc...Everybody ready to pick up your rocks and aim them at the gulf coast?...oh wait. Whispering. Gossip. Pride. Disobedient to parents. I hope I hear you dropping your rocks. I'm working on dropping mine.
So of course I believe that homosexuality and the official government acceptance thereof is a big issue, and the timing of Hurricate Gustav is ominous and significant. Two level 5 hurricanes. On nearly the same dates. Within three years. Who can ignore that?
Updated on 9/3/2008: This was written prior to me reading that Gustav hadn't made it to Category 5. He only ended up being a 3. Still, the point stands...
When we talk about 'them' in New Orleans, we should be saying 'we'. One little ( or huge ) homosexual festival in Louisiana isn't the entire scope of the problem - our reprobate behavior is deeply engrained all over our nation, from the least to the greatest.
If we actually believe that God is singling out New Orleans for anything, I would venture to say that it's a sign to the rest of the cities of America. L.A., New York, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco all have large gay populations, laws supporting gay marriage, whole subcultures and industries that are built on it...and from what I hear, an even larger number of people who disobey their parents or don't consider the well-being of the poor around them.
WE should consider whether WE want to be dealt with in the same way God is dealing with New Orleans. God is no respecter of persons...what he does for one, he does for all. Don't kid yourself that this is just about New Orleans...
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