Casting stones...sin in 'good taste'

My husband was telling me about an encounter he had today with a man that recently went to a concert. I'm not real clear on whether it was supposed to be a country concert or a 'Christian' concert. I didn't recognize the man's name as it's been years and years and years since I listened to whatever the popular music is. I'm more than just out of the loop, I'm so far from it that I wouldn't recognize it if I stumbled into it. 

Whatever type of music this concert was, the singer performed at least one song that my husband was told was 'Christian'. The person telling him of this concert proceeded to play this song for my husband, who in turn proceeded to tell me as much of the words to the song as he could remember. I must admit that based solely on my husband's memory I was not impressed with the song. I did, however, pull it up online later and actually listened to the whole thing, complete with lyrics written on the screen. 

I must admit that the tune of the music wasn't as bad as I was expecting. It did have a bit of a country flare to it, at least that was something. At least it was to me, someone that used to favor country music very much and can't stand the tune of other types of music. I could at least stomach this tune. 

But the words...

Well, that was a different story. The tune was the best part of this song. Before my husband finished sharing what he remembered of the song with me I told him he needed to write about this song. To which he replied that I needed to listen to it so I could write about it. To say I'm the writer of the two of us would be an understatement. 

So here I am, with that song freshly in my mind and a copy of the lyrics before me. My husband did a good job of sharing his thoughts with the man that had him listen to the song, now I'm going to do my best to share my thoughts after having listened to it. I find myself unsure of just how to do that, though, without copying down the lyrics here in my blog. Something I am not willing to do. So I'm going to try to find a way to share just enough without telling word for word what the song says. I am however going to go ahead and give the name of the song and the singers name because I can't find a way to speak of this song without all but naming names and giving lyrics. The song is called, 'I cast no stones' by a man named Cody Jinks.

I want to say here that I know NOTHING about this man, nothing about his music. I am not in any way trying to point to anything he has done or has not done. Until today I have never even heard of him. I am only sharing my thoughts on what the words in the song say.

Let me start by saying this song is an excellent...EXCELLENT...example of 'come as you are', love everyone, accept everyone, modern American "Christianity'. I think it could probably be the poster song for every American "Christian'. If it's not at the top of the charts it probably soon will be or it really should be. It's that perfect for 'Christianity' today.

And so the song opens, speaking about not casting stones, a reference, I assume, to John 8:7 where Christ says 'he who is without sin among you let him cast the first stone'. I am going to go ahead and say that this is in defiance of Matthew 7 which says one should FIRST remove the log...or sin...from their own eye before removing it from 'your brother's eye'. I will go further into this in just a minute though.

There's a reference, I assume, to Scripture but that reference isn't real clear if that's the intended meaning or not. It could just as easily be a reference to trying to live a certain way. Either way, the line after that one refers to resorting to sin and staying in it for a time before coming back to what I assume is supposed to be the straight and narrow way.

Anyone besides me seeing a problem yet? If not wait just a couple more lines and it should become clear. But in just those first few lines I'm left to make assumptions that the singer is even referencing Scripture. I find that to be a common thing with modern professing 'christians' today. One must often look real hard and make many assumptions to even know for sure if they are living a 'christian' life. From there the singer once again claims to not cast stones and then questions what gives anyone the right to tell him what to do. He all but says, mind your own business.

Is that a Christian response to anyone rebuking a professing 'Christian'?

But isn't it the standard response of most, if not all, professing 'christians' today? Don't they want to show up to 'church' on Sunday, dressed in their Sunday best, all 'dressed up for Jesus', and put in their time, doing their christian duty...one might even say, paying their pennance or serving their time...before they head back out into the world. I don't normally quote preachers but I once heard a preacher give a whole sermon on how people come to 'church' every week to get recharged just as we charge our phones. It's the best example I know of. 'Church' is now orchastrated to be an emotional high. It's like the strongest drug. It must hit on senses and emotions and draw a person in, charging them up, reassuring them that they are good 'christians' and giving them just enough of a push to feel like they have something to strive for over the next week until it's time to come back to 'church' and get charged up again.

I suppose we could call them churchaholics.

And these churchaholics get so charged up, so pandered to...so encouraged in their lives that no one dares to tell them that they are living in a way that if someone really looked at their life they would be hard pressed to tell most of them from every other non'christian' in the world. One is left to make great assumptions to come to the conclusion that they are 'christian' by any stretch of the word. But back to the song...

And then...what may well be the worst part of the 'Christian' song...the singer uses God's name in vain. As far as I can tell he takes a name that should be reserved for reverence and uses it as all but a curse word.

Which is really pretty common among many that profess a faith in Christ. I have stood in 'churches' before and heard people do the very same thing. 

If that last line isn't the worst then the next one definitely is. He tells whoever he's speaking to, presumably everyone that ever listens to his song, to put up their Bible or ''let me get mine''.  

What does he mean by that???

Is it a reference to the fact that he uses something other than God's holy Word? Is it... I can't even think of an alternative to what else that could mean. If I tell someone to put up their Bible or let me get mine, it would mean...what? First, again, I assume, he is saying he doesn't want to be corrected through Scripture. Second, again, I assume, he is saying if we are going to look at a Bible then I want it to be mine not yours. 

Why?

What difference would it mean unless he, or anyone, doesn't believe that the Bible being used is an accurate version, or they don't like what an accurate version says and they want a perverted version that can be used to support their way of life? 

The only other explanation I can think of that one could get from that statement, ""put up your Bible or let me get mine'' is that maybe he is saying either let's both have our Bible's and do Bible study or put your's away and let's not speak of it. Trouble with that assumption is that it does not fit with the rest of what that song seems to speak about.

From there the singer goes on to say he's not taking other's to hell and anyone correcting him is wasting their time. I've heard my uncle say the exact same thing so many times in my life that hearing that line was like taking a walk back through my life. At least my uncle had one thing right, he used to say he didn't need to go to a 'church' if he wanted to pray or read a Bible. He always said he could do that at home or under his shade tree. I've seen 'church' loving family members tear into him for that statement. Most 'christians' don't even seem to understand that, although most of them are well versed on the 'I'm not harming anyone else so leave me alone' thought process.

Then comes the part where the singer claims not to pray or read his bible like he should but he hopes others find their way. That pretty much sums up the song. But there's that little part about not praying or reading his Bible. No, of course He doesn't. If he did it might tell him something he doesn't want to hear. Prayers are probably offered in a 'bless me', 'give me', kind of way until something goes wrong in their life and then all of a sudden it's a 'make it better' kind of prayer. They don't pray to Jesus or read their Bible very often because those things are far from their hearts and minds. I do realize there are exceptions to that statement. I know some professing 'Christians' that spend a great deal of time in Bible study and prayer. But the majority...do not.

I've been in large 'churches' that hold to the 'come as you are', nondenominational nonsense of American 'Christianity' today. I've held the perverted Bibles in my hands and read bits and pieces of them. I've listened to professing 'Christians' all but say exactly what this song says. As I mentioned earlier this song should be the poster song for every professing 'Christian' in America today. 

I recently wrote several articles about sin in good taste, something that seems to be the accepted norm nowadays. So long as my sin doesn't infringe upon your sin...so long as I don't dare to 'judge' you for your sin...so long as I accept you and your sin and keep my opinions, and more importantly my Bible verses, to myself, than sin is okay. Not only that but it's the accepted thing so long as it looks good before others. Don't let your sin show it's base roots in front of others, don't portray the darker side, and if it's in 'good taste' then it should be accepted and loved by all. 

That is the summary of several recent blog posts and I'm going to go ahead and tack this post on to those. This song seems to be the very example of sin in 'good taste'. Just so long as "I" cast no stones and don't take other's to hell then "I" should be left alone...don't judge "me"...don't dare to tell me what to do or not to do...Just...mind your own business. 

That's what this song is all about. That's the mindset of just about every professing 'christian' in America. And it's the point behind what seems to be just about every sin being flaunted before others today.  It's all about not casting stones, not judging, never mind that Scripture says one can and should judge others based off SCRIPTURE. We should hold everyone that professes to be a Christian to what Scripture says a Christian should be. But never mind all that...after all, professing 'christians' don't want to hear that. They want you to put up your Bible, not rebuke them from Scripture or anywhere else. Just leave them alone, accept them and their sin as they are. 

It's just another case of sin being in good taste. 

Open marriage...sin in 'good taste'

Several years ago I read a news article about something called an open marriage. I had never heard of such a thing and to this day I have had no more encounters with such a concept than that one news article.

I am actually horrified at the very idea of the definition of an open marriage. Aparently it means both husband and wife are free to have affairs with anyone they want. The very idea goes against everything I hold marriage to be.

Long before I was anything but a professing Christian, marriage was something special. I know I've written on marriage many times in the past. I can't even recall what all I wrote about it but I remember writing article after article on marriage. I think I've written about open marriages before. But...marriage deserves to be written on again. In fact it deserves to be written on often. It should be written on daily even.

Marriage is...

Amazing.

Marriage is...

Holy.

Marriage is...something special in this fallen world. Scripture paints the picture for us, telling us that men should leave their parents and cleave to their wives:

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24 ESV

With different verses Scripture paints such a beautiful picture showing us that marriage is honorable before all (Hebrews 13:4), that is represents the relationship between Christ and His people (Ephesians 5:22-33). 

Marriage is honorable when it is kept between a man and a woman...one man, one woman...regardless of the spiritual condition of the soul of the two people that are married. Marriage is a remarkable thing that takes two people and makes them one person in two bodies. 

I know what life is like without a husband. I remember what it was like. I faced life alone. No matter what happened, no matter who was around or how much those people loved me, I still faced life alone. I worked alone to tend to my home. I faced trials and struggles alone. I made choices alone. It was me...always me...alone. I was one person going through life, amidst family that loved me, but still, when all was said and done, I was alone.

Life is not like that in marriage. I know. I live life everyday married to the greatest man on earth, at least he is to me. I'm not the ideal wife but he loves me anyway. I fail and he loves me anyway. I stumble and he loves me. I am me and...he loves me.

My days, weeks, years...even moments...are no longer faced alone. I still have a multitude of family that loves me. I still love all of them. I know I could call any of them and they'd be there for me. That part of life is the same with or without a husband but...I am different with a husband. I am no longer me. Now I am my husband's wife. 

Gone are the days when I make decisions alone. Gone are the days when I worried over home alone. Gone are the days when I faced trials and struggles alone. My husband cares for me and he shares my burdens. WE are a team that has completely obliterated I. 

I no longer exist solely as me facing this world. Now I am one half of what makes up WE that face this world together. We struggle together. We face trials together. We make choices together. We have each other when times get tough. 

I am gone.

And...

WE exist. 

And the WE is like a living breathing entity that swallows up I. I am now me in the context of WE. And WE is amazing.

Oh, I can hear the outrage now. I can hear the people that will protest that. I can hear them parrot years of brainwashing back to me, telling me things I've heard before, telling me that I am me and my husband is he and we are not WE but two separate people. To that I can only say...

NO!

WE are he and I. WE are one with two separate halves that make up WE. And again...WE is amazing.

I know that not all marriages are amazing. I know that abuse happens, adultery happens. Marriages can be bad. I know that but that does not mean marriage is bad. It means the people in that marriage are bad and they are living the sinful life of total selfishness and are most likely unregenerate people that are living for self inside the boundaries (or lack of boundaries) of marriage. 

Which brings us back to the article on open marriage. It wasn't all that long ago that my husband and I were having a conversation about something and the topic of marriage came up. I recall us discussing the difference in lusting after someone and taking notice of an attractive person. I told him I rarely notice enough about men I might encounter to know if they are attractive or not. One might say I have eyes only for my husband. I simply don't look at them enough to notice attractiveness. 

Open marriage isn't something I have any interest in. It doesn't even hold a passing interest for me. If anything it's a concept that all but makes me shudder in revulsion. Why in the world would anyone want to have an affair with someone else when they are married? 

I know the stories. I can sympathize with those in loveless marriages or with uncaring spouses, really I can, but...

Marriage is holy.

Marriage is, or should be, untouchable. Even if that marriage is bad the institute of marriage is such that it should not be betrayed. At least to me it is. And so an open marriage is something I have actually seen first hand with a relative but is still so awful in my mind that I just can't grasp why anyone would want such a thing. 

I have a relative that actually moved two, that I know of, girlfriends into his home with his wife and children. He had numerous other girlfriends too but as far as I know he never moved them into his home with his family. So you see, this idea isn't new to me, I've seen it first hand, but...

Why?

The only answer I have is that the evil in the unregenerate's heart is so great that they seek more than they have. They covet what they don't have. One wife or one husband isn't good enough so they need someone else. They want the affection...the satisfaction...the attention...the...whatever...of someone other than their spouse. 

Once upon a time people that dabbled in, or wallowed in, adultery kept their 'other' on the side, quietly. They had their cake and they ate it too, so to speak, but they did so quietly. It wasn't flaunted before the world, or at least it mostly wasn't flaunted before the world. Now...open marriages are embraced. That whole 'you do you, I'll do me' thing accepts and encourages every manner of sin that one wishes to become a glutton on. 

Once upon a time married men with girlfriends had them on the sly. Some still do, I'm sure, but many do not. Now they advertise for intimacy on the internet and even have their girlfriends in their homes with their wives. Not only that but they announce it to other people like they would announce they have a wife. It's either a matter of fact thing or a pride thing but they toss it out there like it's nothing, like there's nothing wrong in it. And I guess for them there isn't. After all, if their spouse doesn't object why does it matter if anyone else does?

And so we have another case of sin in 'good taste'. They want their sin and they don't want to hide it. They want others to accept it so it's tossed before others with the expectation that anyone hearing about their life will embrace it, embrace them, and encourage them in what they are doing. 

We have television shows about polygamy. I saw a news article about first cousins finding a way to skirt the law so they could marry because 'who cares what our family thinks'. I'm sure there are many more examples but the point is that whatever one wants so long as it's done in 'good taste' it's okay.

Open marriage is okay so long as...what? What makes the difference between the kind of adultery that is socially acceptable and the kind of adultery that isn't? Is adultery okay so long as the spouse is in agreement? Or is it okay so long as the 'other' is a law abiding, decent person? Is it something to be kept secret and looked down on by others if the 'other' is a prostitute?

And what of the 'other'? What makes someone, anyone, get involved with a married person...at all...ever...but especially knowing this person is married and plans to stay that way? What makes someone walk into such a situation with open eyes and yet they do it anyway?

Is it covetousness? Do they want that married person for their own so badly that they enter into adultery anyway? Is it covetousness because that married person can offer them a way of life, or encounters, that they cannot afford for themselves? 

And more so than the married couple and the 'other'...what makes those in society decide that this is acceptable to the point that these people in open marriages feel no shame in announcing they have a girlfriend or boyfriend? No shame in moving someone else into their home, in exposing their family and friends, to their depravity?

Why the unicorns?...Sin in 'good taste'

As spring approaches I've begun to notice something more and more. Unicorns, that supposed magical, mythical, creature, that is so rare as to be only a speculation on whether or not it ever existed, are popping up everywhere.

After a recent grocery shopping trip where I saw more unicorns than I could count I began to think on them. My thoughts turned to ads I've seen depicting unicorns. To kids clothes with unicorns. To...well, to unicorns and how they are gracing everything from clothes to cereal boxes, from makeup to...who knows what all else. And as I thought of that, just mentally tallying some of the places I have seen unicorns lately I began to wonder why. Why so many unicorns? Why are they being shoved on the population? Why does it feel like unicorns are now everywhere and what purpose is there in plastering them on everything?

Not too long ago I was telling my husband that rainbows, God's symbol of a covenant He made with His people, have become so popular that I don't think most people even realize the meaning behind them anymore.

It hasn't been all that many years ago that rainbows started being shoved down our throats as a way of furthering the homosexual agenda. The beautiful handiwork of God became the bright colored you-will-to-accept-this symbol of sin being paraded before us everywhere we turn.

And now rainbows are so prominent in American society that one can't venture anywhere without encountering one somewhere. So why have unicorns joined them?

That was the question on my mind. I recall unicorns a bit in my childhood. Their were unicorn toys and the occasional notebook or something with a unicorn on the cover, all aimed at young girls. Unicorns, like dolls and flouncy dresses, were a right of passage for little girls, something that passed through their lives at some point, meaning nothing but a fanciful plaything.

But I can't believe that this abundance of unicorns being shoved at us today has no meaning to it.

I inadvertently discovered that there is hidden meaning behind pineapples...yes, you know, that delicious fruit the Lord gave us, well, it turns out when it's plastered on clothing or other things there is a hidden meaning to it.

And so with that recent pineapple discovery on my mind I couldn't take the unicorn...dare I say, junk...at face value. It isn't just a few scattered toys and it's not just gracing clothing for little girls. It's in makeup, it's in things geared for adults. And more often than not it's accompanied by a rainbow, and not the kind God uses to show His promise to His people but the kind perverted to push sin on the world.

So I went looking, did a bit of internet searching, and came across all sorts of interesting, if disgusting, things about the unicorn. Things like the fact that it has satanic meanings. Like the fact that it symbolizes all sorts of things and not all of them being good. Like the fact that it stands for elusive, untouchable, unattainable women. Like the fact that it represents bisexual women. Like the fact that is somehow is tied to homosexuality and the whole gender identity crisis because it somehow represents being something unique and completely different.

I'm not going to claim to know what all it stands for. It seems like there are many different meanings behind it and I can't quite make heads or tails out of them all. I also don't know which one is the culprit behind this flood of unicorns we now have in everything.

Is it the elusive, mysterious, mystical creature that is so fascinating people because it represents the gender identity thing in our society? Is it because those that want to imagine themselves as something they are not can identify with this rare, mythical animal that is more fiction than real and they have grabbed onto it so hard because when one's mind is lost in their evil sins they still need to belong to something, to believe that they aren't an anomaly, aren't...something. And so here is the unicorn, a beautiful beast that they use to represent what they believe themselves to be?

Is it because unicorns and rainbows just go together?

Is it because the unicorn represents the bisexual woman? And if so...how is it that they are appearing on things that are promoting other homosexual sins and not just that one?

Or is it because the unicorn represents an unattainable woman? I can almost find myself agreeing with that one. Almost. Women are not what they used to be. Or maybe I should say ladies have all but disappeared and women have taken their place.

I read a book in my teens. I remember nothing about the book except there was this one statement in it. It wasn't a pretty statement and I'm not going to repeat it word for word here because it wasn't a pretty statement. Instead I will repeat the meaning of it and leave anyone reading this to speculate on just what exactly the statement was. And yes, I can recall it word for word.

It said, ladies kiss up, women kick... Uh, there's no pretty way to word that. I guess it could be said that it meant ladies are useless and women get things done.

Whatever the wording it made a clear destinction between ladies and women and it was right only not for the reasons implied in that book. So I can almost agree with a lady being seen as a unicorn, a creature so rare and beautiful as to be all but extinct or nonexistant. Something so...delicate, fragile...amazing...as to need and deserve protection and preservation. But somehow I don't see modern America embracing the idea that unicorns represent ladies that need care and protection.

Not when womanhood no longer represents a woman...yes, woman, not lady...needing any kind of care or protection. Not only do women today scorn that sort of thing but society looks down on any woman that might be seen to need something a man would not also need.

No...unicorns aren't being pushed on us as a way to try to bring women back to being ladies.

So why the shove of this single horned horse?

I guess we could go with the easy answer and just grab onto the fact that they have satanic meaning. After all, anything satanic is the worshiping of satan, the god of this earth, the god of sin, and all those embracing and promoting sin are worshiping satan, their god, whether they realize it or not.

 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.  John 8:44 KJV

With that explanation at least it covers everything. Whatever the true hidden agenda behind the unicorn is, it's all evil, all promoting some form of sin, and I suppose to say it's the satanic meaning would be like throwing a blanket statement over the whole thing. 

Needless to say I never did uncover an exact explanation for the unicorns being shoved at us from every angle. They cover baby clothes, they show up in toys and shoes, they coat kids clothing, they are now in our food and even in craft supplies. There seems to be few if any places that they are not showing up and there has to be a reason for it. 

These are not just the latest fad, there is something deeper here but I wasn't able to uncover one clear motive. Either way, whatever the reason, it's being shoved at us as if it is the most desired thing in the world, and maybe it is because people today seem to see evil as good and can't seem to see true evil.

I'm not saying the unicorn is evil, it's never been a good thing, but I'm not calling it evil. That definition would have to be determined by what it's representing...I suppose. 

And so I'm left wondering exactly what the hidden agenda behind unicorns is. What I do know, though, is that sin is now paraded before us as being something good, or as the man I wrote about in a recent post called it 'in good taste' and is therefore so prevalent that many today are doing what is popular without necessarily even knowing or caring what it is that they promote. It is simply, for some at least, the popular thing and because it's popular they covet it. 

For others there is a deeper, more sinful reason behind the things they do and the things they push on others, like the man themed craft swap that one man took it upon himself to give it an 'lbgt twist'. I must say twist is the right word, or rather, twisted is. Just as the way we are having meanings and agendas shoved at us through hidden ways that aren't so hidden. They plaster rainbows, God's beautiful rainbows, on everything and if we unknowingly or innocently wear something with one on it than we are screaming our acceptance and support of the homosexual sin for all the world to see. Now we have other things that scream meanings we may be totally unaware of...pineapples...unicorns...

What else must we see and think beyond the obvious and even do research to make sure that we aren't accidentally promoting sin? Because today when good is evil and evil is good...we are bombarded by sin that is in 'good taste' and therefore is flaunted before all as being a wonderful thing.

Rainbows...sin in 'good taste'

I can still remember the first time I ever saw a double rainbow. I was probably 17 and was leaving the mall. I guess it had been raining but I don't remember for sure, what I do remember is sitting in my car and seeing the most amazing sight in the sky, not one but two rainbows, one right above the other one. If I had ever seen one before I was unaware of it. For me that was the first double rainbow ever and it was...

Amazing.

Like looking at a miracle. I just sat there in my car staring at it, truly amazed. I supposed I was humbled that day. I always saw rainbows as God's promise and to see a double promise like that was...well, I don't really think there are words to describe it.

Fast forward many years and I've now seen a couple more double rainbows. They never fail to amaze me but it's the first one that stands out in my mind. I still love to see all God made rainbows be they in the sky or through a prism. I'll even throw in the rainbows made by bouncing off a cell phone screen, a DVD disk and most of all my wedding ring.

There is something so wonderful about God's rainbow.

On a side note and to go a bit deeper on what I said above, I find it enjoyable to watch the rainbows that bounce off my wedding ring...God's symbol of His covenant coming from the earthly symbol of my marriage.

For me, any natural form of a rainbow is an amazing example of God's promise. I don't know that rainbows created by bouncing sunlight off of man made objects can truly be linked to rainbows in the sky, created by God, but they are good enough for me. They lack some of the amazing qualities that those God made, weather inspired, rainbows have but...they are all God's rainbows.

There is a whole other side to the rainbow though. I don't imagine there is anyone with any ability to understand things alive in this day and age that is not aware of the modern, evil, sinful purpose to the new rainbows that abound everywhere.

God's rainbows are still rare, showing up only under the perfect conditions that God set in place to make them appear before us. The sinful version of the rainbow is man made and mass produced. And it's painted/printed on everything.

I actually like rainbows, really I do, even the man made versions. I love to see little girl leggings in rainbow stripes. They just make me happy to look at. Such pretty colors. So bright and cheery. So easy to match. They are the perfect clothes for a young girl. At least I think so. They work as pants, as tights, and did I mention they match everything? But beyond that they are just so cute and cheerful.

The trouble is little girls can no longer wear rainbow striped pants or rainbows of any kind without the hidden meaning behind them being screamed for all to see. Whether they mean to do it or not, anyone wearing a rainbow is promoting something other than God's promise. They promote evil...sin. They promote homosexuality.

I told my husband that I wonder how many people even think about what they are promoting anymore. Rainbows have become so prominent that they are now just the popular thing.

I recently saw a young relative wearing a shirt with love printed across the front in rainbow colors. I was surprised to see her in it because she comes from a Christian home. It just kind of took me by surprise because that seems like the kind of thing that would be avoided in the home she comes from, yet it wasn't. I know this family and know that chances are high the shirt was bought because it's the popular thing and they buy the in style, popular clothes and school supplies so that the kids fit in at school.

I found myself wondering if they realized what they were promoting and also knew they had to know. That left me to think they compromised their religious values for popularity.

Another relative recently encountered the homosexual agenda being promoted by a company they love. This person's first response was to voice objections to what the company was promoting but their second was to back peddle when I said their love for the company must now come against their love for Christ and they must choose a side.

It's easy to take a stand until that stand must be weighed against one's own wants or perceived needs.

Somewhere along the way the obvious, in your face, reason for the rainbows that now fill our society have lost their obvious meaning and are now simply the popular thing. If one encounters something with a rainbow and anything pertaining to homosexual sin they might...might...pause and weigh their beliefs against what they are seeing but when that homosexual sin is hidden behind a symbol that represents that sin but is no longer so vocally expressed as such then they are able to forget the meaning and it becomes...became...mainstream.

And so it's very much like the man I wrote about last week. He made the statement that a craft projecting with photos depicting homosexual men showing 'affection' for each other was done in 'good taste' and therefore he hoped would be loved. Sin is now so mainstream that it is seen as good taste or bad taste and it is accepted simply because it's what's popular.

I know someone that has a relative that imagines themselves to be of the opposite sex from what they are. The person I know spoke against people doing this and then said they might enable it for this one relative of theirs. Why? Simply because their belief came up against their loved one and rather than stand against sin this person would rather cater to the relative.

Most of my life my grandmother spoke against interracial marriage. She was very opposed to it and very vocal about her opposition. Then she had to stand to her convictions or cater to a loved one. My cousin married a man of a different race. They had a child together. My grandmother did a complete about face. She went from being disdainful to interracial marriage to not only embracing it but proclaiming to all who would listen that 'Jesus wasn't white'. Somehow, I guess, Christ's race made a difference in her ability to embrace what she had always stood against. In other words she caved on her own beliefs (whether they were right or wrong does not matter) and she embraced what she had proclaimed to hate. And in doing so she justified it.

That seems to be the case today. For a while their was much outrage and vocalization against the flaunting of the homosexual rainbow but now rainbows seem to be the popular thing and are embraced by the masses.

It is, quite simply, done in 'good taste' and therefore it's okay. Rainbows when adorning kids clothes aren't seen as promoting what they do. Rainbows when plastered on backpacks, stripes on shoes, or other 'innocent' places aren't promoting homosexuality, it's simply doing the in style thing.

Right and wrong only go so far when one's own desires and thoughts are the deciding factor in what is right and wrong. Even professing 'Christians' can only stick to their principals for so long before their opinion on what's wrong, even when based on Scripture, come up against their own covetousness or their love of family or...whatever has a stronger pull on them than Christ does.

And so...rainbows rule the world not because of what they are but because of what they represent and because Christ is not the Lord of the majority of those on earth. They serve their own god and it's not Christ.

When did sin become "good taste"?

I recently had the misfortune of stumbling across something that did not pertain to me in the least. It was a comment by a person that had signed up for a craft swap. I'm not in the swap so it has no bearing on me but I found myself in the right place and time to read it anyway. It was fairly short and I really wasn't even aware of what it was about until I got toward the end of it. 

I was mostly skimming over what it said, just general information about crafting and how this person hadn't been able to do much crafting for a while but had managed to complete several projects for swaps they had signed up for. They then proceeded to list a few of those projects which I knew little to nothing about. It was when I was almost at the bottom of what they had written that I read something that made me pause, literally, then reread a bit before continuing to read the rest of the last sentence or two.

From what I read it would appear that this person signed up for some kind of swap with the theme of men. They proceeded to say that they had taken some liberty with the swap rules and made something with "an lbgt twist". They went on to say that what they had made contained old photographs "of two men showing clear affection/love for one another" and that it's done "tastefully"...whatever that means. 

This short statement that I read by someone that I do not know, that has no bearing or involvement in my life, has left a mark on my day that may linger long past today. I find my mind turning again and again to that short statement I read and how it was put across, to an audience of mostly elderly women, as being something done in ''good taste'' and how the maker hoped whoever received the item they made would love it.

My first thoughts were to think that this is a subject that cannot be done in ''good taste'' no matter what the method used. That it is a subject that is not in ''good taste''. My second thought was to be glad this was a swap I was not a part of and that if I had been I would have had to refuse to swap with this person. But my thoughts didn't end there, hours later I am still struggling with the ''good taste'' part of this. 

First, the people this was addressed to are, for the most part, not an audience that overall are going to be sympathetic or supportive of the subject this person chose to use. I did dig a little deeper and discovered the person that made the statement is an older man that says he is a "gay white man". I can't quite figure out how he fits in with this group of mostly older ladies, a group that seems to be all women and only a few of which are under age 50. His only connection seems to be that he participates in the type of crafts these ladies do. Which is really neither here nor there except I was trying to make sense of the situation for myself. I asked no questions, made no comments, all my involvement consisted of observation and quiet looking around and 'listening'. 

And so here I sit, hours later, having spent most of the day on an outing with my family, with my mind once again turned to this brief experience I had this morning. It lingers on in my thoughts. I guess I'm trying to make sense out of something that to me makes no sense. 

Maybe I'm too stuck in my ways, too old fashioned, too...whatever word someone might wish to apply to me. Maybe I am all that and more but I will take any name anyone wishes to throw my direction rather than accept the unacceptable as being in ''good taste''. 

We have reached a point in our American society and almost in our worlds society where evil is called good. We do still have a few countries in this world with enough sense to call a spade a spade and to hold certain things to be unacceptable to whatever extent they see it. America is no longer one of those countries. Gone are the days when right was right and wrong was wrong. Now right is what is determined in ones own mind and wrong is whatever anyone wants to claim it is, unless, of course, your idea of right and wrong dares to suggest that someone else's right is in any way wrong. 

And honestly just writing that sentence makes it all out to make as little sense as it actually does make.

A few days ago a 'Christian' woman I know made a statement before sharing her opinion on something. It was a qualifying statement, one that kind of apologized for her opinion before she ever gave it. It was a modern statement that did not exist ten years ago. That would have been a foreign concept fifty years ago. It was a statement that made me shake my head that she even bothered to use it. She said, "haters gonna hate" and then gave her opinion. 

That three letter qualifier, something that wasn't even needed, has now become many peoples apology of sorts before they give their opinion. I've seen people that don't want anyone telling them what they are doing is wrong say, 'don't judge' before saying whatever is on their mind but now it appears that people that want to say something that might be taken the wrong...or right...way are qualifying it, apologizing for it, by saying, 'haters gonna hate' before they say what they want to say. 

There was no qualifier on the man's statement I saw today. No 'don't judge', no 'haters gonna hate'. What he said was simply thrown out there with a statement about how his sin was in ''good taste'' and how "hopefully whoever ends up with it will love it". I can't help thinking that at the very least there should have been something in there to whoever is coordinating this swap asking if this type of thing is okay and offering to withdraw if no one wants what he made. 

I also have thought of how I would have been contacting the person in charge and refusing to swap with him had I been in the swap. In fact my thoughts as I read his comment were to think 'if I got it I would burn it'. And I really would burn it. It is a representation of that which my Lord detests. It is blatant sin. There is no good use for it except to burn it. 

But...

This man made no apology. He did not ask if his project would be allowed in a swap whose theme was supposed to be for something manly. He simply said he took liberties to do something with an 'lbgt twist' and that it was done in ''good taste''. 

What he did was take liberties to take something so simple, make something manly, something masculine, and turn it into a chance to push homosexuality onto a group of people that are not real likely to be very accepting of it. In fact, the group he pushed it into leans strongly toward very feminine, very womanly, very pink, rose themed crafts. And it's into this 90% ultra feminine craft loving group of women that he pushed his 'lgbt twist' item.

And in a group of I don't even know how many people, he got a grand total of three replies. None of them, unfortunately, told him that his project did not belong where he was trying to place it. No one spoke up and said, 'I don't want what he made' or 'I won't swap with him'.

Why?

Either those comments were kept private and made only to the coordinator or else people have been so...repressed...that they dared not speak out. Unless they saw nothing wrong with it and didn't speak out because this horrific sin has so infiltrated their minds and hearts that they are now blase' about the whole thing. 

I know longer know the answer. I know I would have refused to swap with him. Maybe I didn't help matters because I didn't speak up either, not in that group anyway. I held my thoughts and my tongue. I kept quietly to myself and have yet to speak a word about the encounter to anyone, not even my husband. Not because we won't talk about it but because the opportunity has not yet presented itself.

The thing is though, this encounter came on the heels of two others. Those other encounters, one of my own making, one something my husband shared with me, have absolutely no connection to each other nor to this one. The only common ground they have is sin. Sin that is not hidden, sin that there is no shame in anymore, sin that is often blasted at everyone.

I did not sit down to write this post with any ulterior motive and I am not seeking teach anyone anything. I am trying hard to pull my own thoughts together on this. For that reason I am not searching out Scripture or posting Scripture in this post. I know what Scripture says about sin, about homosexuality, about the evil in this world. I am merely working through my own thoughts here, for the sole purpose of clearing my own mind.

I tried to clear my mind without writing a word. I had no intention of making a blog post about this but then I had another encounter. This latest encounter was actually something written by a reformed preacher. I did not go looking for it, it was shared with me. I wouldn't have even read it except I didn't realize what I was reading until I got to the end of it and saw the name at the bottom. Up to that point I thought the person that shared it with me had written it. 

But I did read it and even though it was written by someone I do not promote, support, read, or listen to...what they wrote in this article went right along with these other encounters I have had lately. 

I won't go into all that here in this post though as I need a bit more time to think and pray over these things. What I do know is that these four unrelated experiences in my life, all brief, all happening in a passing sort of way, have all come together in my mind in a way that means I will most likely write more on this subject. Just not here. Not today. 

One thing at a time. One post at a time. 

And for today my mind is still stuck on the sin of homosexuality being in "good taste". 

The odd one out

Yesterday I found myself driving past a business that caught my attention not for what it was but for who owned it. I used to know the couple that owns the business now. This business has nothing to do with the Lord but is, in a round about way, named for Him.

I suppose that somehow this business was started to give Him glory...I think...but like most businesses it falls short of that goal despite the fact that the owners would most likely claim to be very religious people.

Still, it's not the business that lays on my mind tonight but the people behind it. I can't claim to have ever had a close friendship with the couple, they are just people that I once had a passing acquaintance with. And it's that acquaintance that my thoughts turned to as I drove past that business. Or, it's sort of that acquaintance that my thoughts turn to.

I guess it might be better said that it was the wife of that couple that my thoughts went to and she was the starting ground for deeper thoughts that reminded me of things long past and things of today. You see, this woman I once knew, a woman that I still keep up with the highlights of her life through social media today, is a woman that I once knew and despite us both being friendly to each other we never even came close to being friends.

I don't know what the barrier was on her side and if I tried to guess I would only be speculating but I know what my thoughts were. Each time I encountered her, which for nearly a year was an at least weekly occurance, I parted company with her every time feeling like her friendliness was due to her social station and not to actual friendliness. She was always friendly in a standoffish sort of way, being friendly, acting happy to see others (not just me), and yet somehow staying well aloof of those she was mingling with. There were many times that she put me in the mind of a queen leaving her throne to mingle with her followers, forced to be friendly but really having no interest, possibly even holding disdain for, those she encountered.

I say all this not because of this woman but because those were the memories that driving past this woman's business brought to mind. I thought of how this woman and her husband owned one successful business before opening the one I drove past. Of how she once refused a gift for her baby by turning down a teenagers heartfelt gift for who knows what reason. I thought of the home they recently sold and the new home they bought, of the complete remodeling of that home that from the pictures I saw needed no remodeling although I admit that I don't know the full story. And I thought of that new home, now gutted and having all manner of things done to it as it is transformed from what it was into what is being referred to as the 'perfect' home.

And I thought of this woman, of her high dollar, fashionable clothing, of her kids that are dressed to look at though they walked off the pages of an ad for certain clothing. I thought of the expensive hair styles and... well, you get the idea, and as I thought of those things my memory turned from this woman I have only known on a surface level for about five years to the girls I once went to high school with.

I remember the cliques that ruled the school and how those cliques worked. I remembered the 'popular' girls and their personalities, and I thought of how this woman most likely was one of those girls when she was in high school. I remembered the...to borrow a friends term...frivolous conversations and the very near pointlessness of their lives. Those girls lived for the latest in style clothes, the most expensive of brands. They talked endlessly of hairstyles and makeup. They sought vanity with every breath they took and they flaunted it before all to see. Not only that but everyone they encountered was measured based on such vain things as the brand of their shoes and the cut of their tshirt. Hair that wasn't just so was grounds for total disdain.

They lived for covetousness and selfishness.

All these things went through my mind as I drove down the road. I also recalled how I cared only slightly for clothes in those days and I had already ventured into the world of makeup and decided it really wasn't all it was cracked up to be and took more time than it was worth. I wore it when it suited me and happily left it to gather dust when it didn't.

Thinking back now I recall putting more thought into my clothes in those days than I do now. I remember some of the things I wore and can't say I ever represented the latest fashions. We never had the money for such things, too many months there were bills going unpaid, to worry about expensive clothes or how my current shoes or wardrobe might not be good enough. But I remember something else too...

I remember how it wasn't only a lack of money that kept me from being what those vanity seeking girls were. It was a very near complete lack of interest in all those things that were nothing but surface level deep. Hundred dollar pants wear just as well, and often not as comfortably, as ten dollar jeans do. I know because I've had a few pair of those hundred dollar pants over the years.

I was 20 when someone else bought me a raw silk suit. I remember being shocked at the over a hundred dollar price tag and wishing they wouldn't buy it. I even recall protesting but they insisted. I gave in and let them buy it. It was bought so I could wear it to a wedding. I did wear it to that wedding and found it very uncomfortable and was more than happy to take it off as soon as I got the chance. I never put that outfit on again although I did keep it for about 14 years before finally getting tired of it taking up space in my closet and donating it to the thrift store.

Since then I've bought a few pair of expensive pants for myself, all of them picked up second hand for only a few dollars apiece. And guess what...there was nothing special about those pants beyond the brand sewn to the outside.

But those brands were very nearly life and death in high school. Wearing certain brands and hairstyles were the difference in one's worth. They were vanity in the extreme, bought by kids that weren't footing the bill for anything yet. Yet it was so easy for those kids to decide who was a 'good' friend and who wasn't worth anything based on those brands.

Believe it or not I don't write this out of any sort of malice for those people that lived that life then or for those that live it now. I understand more now than I did then. LOTS more.

And the main thing I know now is that those girls were raised in homes that must have been swallowed up in the sin of covetousness. Kids aren't born craving brand name clothes. They aren't born wanting their hair to look a certain way. Oh, I know those sins are in some of them, that time will bring those superficial things to their hearts and minds. I've seen it happen first hand. Kids raised on thrift store and low brand department store clothes soon find themselves searching the thrift stores for certain brand names and turning their noses up at cheaper department store clothes. But I've also seen kids, usually girls, raised by mothers that start them out in those high end clothes. Those little kids may not turn their noses up at used clothing or cheap brands but their mothers do it for them. Or their grandmothers do, or their great grandmothers. And in so doing covetousness and vanity and superficialness are pounded into their little heads. Then those kids grow older, they or their parents want only the best brands and styles...

And the merry go round starts again.

Another generation of coveting adults, or soon-to-be adults, step into their own wanting only the best that money can buy. And so they are lost in the sin of covetousness through their own hearts and the hearts of their parents. They are led astray without them ever being aware of it happening.

Sin is like that though, it sucks one in and never lets go unless the Lord breaks the hold. I understand that. I really do. I can and do look back over my own life and see when I was just as lost in sin, fashion was just never a part of it. I remember things I should never have done, things that ruled me. I remember being a different person than I am now. Thankfully the Lord saved me from myself. He drew me to Him when I thought it was I that was seeking Him.

And now I find myself pondering on the things that seem to make this world go round. Pondering on them and being grateful that I am the odd one out and that I do not desire those things that seem to bring so much happiness to so many people.

Turning to the preacher

Anyone that professes any kind of a belief in Christ that must make decisions by checking with their 'church' leaders to find out the stance they should take is not following Christ but men. One either turns to Scripture and God's word for answers or they turn to men's ideas. And someone that professes Christ has not made Him their God, their god is their 'church' leaders.

This shouldn't come as any sort of revelation to me, and it doesn't, and yet at times I just marvel at the culpability of those that profess a faith in Christ. It seems that no matter how deep their faith may seem to go so many of them simply can't turn to Christ and Christ alone. They must turn to their preachers, teachers, friends or...whoever.

They seek answers from men, be they dead or alive, following men and what those men say they should do about their faith, rather than turning to Scripture and following Christ and what He says they should do.

I have been thinking over how to write out that first paragraph a good part of today, have even debated on whether or not I should write it. The thought to do so was prompted by a private conversation I had with someone and I had to debate with myself over the wisdom of writing about that.

In the end I decided that I needed to point out, if only on my blog, if only to clear my own thoughts, how wrong...how very, very, very wrong...it is to turn to men rather than Scripture. Either one stands on Scripture, stands for Christ, stands on what He says is right and wrong or they are simply standing on men's ideas even if those ideas are based on what they think Scripture teaches.

I don't have all the answers. I don't believe I am right and no one else is. I'm not trying to bring anyone around to my way of thinking or believing but it does seem to me that if one professes a faith in Christ than they should turn first to Christ's word and not to men.

And yet...

That private conversation I had, the one where someone told me they must ask their preacher what they should do on a certain issue, an issue that should be black and white when ran against Scripture, still lingers in my mind. So many people must turn to their preachers or leaders to find answers to questions that should be easily answered in light of Scripture.