The Mourning After

About 10 minutes after the US Senate passed the so-called "Respect for Marriage Act" late yesterday afternoon, the New York Times published this:

"The Senate passed landmark legislation on Tuesday to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, as a lame-duck Congress mustered a notable moment of bipartisanship before Democrats were to lose their unified control of Capitol Hill."

As I watched the live coverage of the vote on C-SPAN, I was reminded of  the allegory in Plato's "Republic" about a ship with a dysfunctional crew, which represents the problems of governance in a political system not based on expert knowledge or absolute "Truth."

The crew is known as a "Ship of Fools."

While the fools are congratulating themselves this morning on their bi-partisan victory, half the nation is in mourning for a nation that once truly respected and honored traditional marriage---an institution God Himself instituted.

America is being "weighed in the balances" and yesterday we were found wanting.

A pill cannot fix this mourning after.

A majority of our elected leadership has been deceived.

Be informed, not misled.

The ship of fools.

The New York Times explained late yesterday afternoon:

The Senate passed landmark legislation on Tuesday to mandate federal recognition for same-sex marriages, as a lame-duck Congress mustered a notable moment of bipartisanship before Democrats were to lose their unified control of Capitol Hill.

The 61-to-36 vote put the bill on track to become law in the final weeks before Republicans assume the majority in the House of Representatives at the start of the new Congress in January. It marked one of the final major legislative achievements for Democrats before Republicans shift the focus in the House to conducting investigations of President Biden’s administration and family members.

The bill must now win final approval by the House, which would clear it for Mr. Biden’s signature. Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the majority leader, said that the chamber would move quickly to pass it, acting as soon as next week.

But its embrace in the Senate, where proponents had a breakthrough this month in drawing a dozen Republican supporters and overcoming a filibuster, gave it the momentum required to become law.

Senator Chuck Schumer audibly choked back tears on the Senate floor as he described how his daughter, who is married to a woman and expecting a baby with her wife, had lived in fear that their union could be reversed. 

Every major civilization and every major religion in the past 5000 years has recognized "marriage" as a union between a man and a woman.

The bill will repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. It prohibits states from denying the validity of an out-of-state marriage based on sex, race, or ethnicity. But in a condition that Republican backers insisted upon, it would guarantee that religious organizations would not be required to provide any goods or services for the celebration of any marriage, and could not lose tax-exempt status or other benefits for refusing to recognize same-sex unions.

Most biblical religious leaders are not fooled by that claim, because it's a lie. There are already so-called "protections" in place to "guarantee" religious organizations and Bible-believing individuals those protections. One protection is the First Amendment.

How many Christians have been sued for not participating in homosexual, so-called "marriages" because of their deeply held religious beliefs? Many. Too many. The aggression of gay activists has cost Christians their livelihood by destroying their ability to earn a living---with these same protections in place.

Don't be deceived.

The great deception.

Following the vote in the Senate chamber, late yesterday Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) gave a back-and-forth discussion on the floor of the Senate following the vote. Once again assuring the dissenters to the bill that all the necessary protections are in place to protect churches, Christians, etc.--- everything is going to be just fine.

Surely a historic bi-partisan vote to redefine marriage would not create any problems for those who still believe in God's model for marriage---a male and a female---they whispered to the Senate and the country.

Their promises were little more than the whispers in Eve's ear in the Garden: "Surely God would not...."

I don't believe them.

Senator Marko Rubio (R-FL) doesn't believe them either.

He worked tirelessly to get an amendment passed that would actually give some protection to biblical Christians who live out their faith---including their biblical definition of marriage.

He says their bill contains "intentionally vague phrasing" which makes it "ripe for abuse."

Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and James Lankford (R-OK) also tried to amend the bill to no avail. The anti-marriage majority would have none of it.

Rubio, Lee, and Langford all voted against the bill.

The Questions Fools Never Ask.

Yesterday Dennis Prager wrote an article titled, "The Questions Fools Never Ask."

His point was not related to this issue of marriage, rather it was directed at the whole notion of COVID lockdowns, but consider some of what he said in the context of federally redefined marriage:

What would you think of a person who never asked the price of anything he or she bought?

You would assume the person was inordinately wealthy. But if the person wasn't, you would dismiss him as a fool, and you would certainly never ask this person for advice about how to spend your money.

Yet, for two years, that question -- "What is the price?" -- was avoided by virtually every political leader in the world as well as the vast majority of epidemiologists and physicians, journalists and editors, college presidents, deans, professors and K-12 teachers.

They never asked, "What is the price?" with regard to locking down businesses, schools, and, in many cases, entire countries.

That is why so many political leaders, teachers, college presidents, doctors, epidemiologists and other scientists turned out to be fools.

Fools never ask what something will cost because secular progressivism has no understanding of consequences. To the evolving realities and "truths" of the progressive, there are no consequences.

After days of contentious arguments, our Founding Fathers finally came to a consensus after prayer---serious prayer---for God's guidance regarding our Constitution.

Ben Franklin, the oldest among the Founders, had been watching the proceedings carefully when finally he rose and addressed George Washington.

"I've been sitting here during these proceedings," he said, "wondering if the carving on your chair of the sun on the horizon was a rising sun or a setting sun."

He continued, "I have concluded sir that the sun is rising on our new country."

Many of us have been looking at that carved image of the sun recently, also wondering if it is a rising or setting sun.

Genesis 19 gives an account of the consequences. 

The answer to our Genesis 19 issue is found in none other than a president's radio address.

On February 23, 1936, in a radio address, FDR---a Democrat--- told the nation: “No greater thing could come to our land today than a revival of the spirit of religion—a revival that would sweep through the homes of the Nation and stir the hearts of men and women of all faiths to a reassertion of their belief in God and their dedication to His will for themselves and for their world. I doubt if there is any problem—social, political or economic—that would not melt away before the fire of such a spiritual awakening.” 

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful.