THIS IS WHAT A GOOD ONE LOOKS LIKE!
The following Gazette Guest Column has such outstanding
integrity that it posted here in the hopes all will see “what
a good one looks like”! It’s
integrity is the highest
David Lingard established a moral position, on a moral issue, for moral reasons, clearly articulated in his column!
Lingard's column comes at the time
It is an honor and
privilege to present a column of such outstanding integrity.
Kudos to Rev. David Lingard for writing it for all to see!! It
is posted on this website for
that purpose.
Gazette
Guest Column by Rev. David Lingard, Pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church,
4-17-09
Moral
law not man’s to change
While today’s
economic problems are difficult, they pale in comparison to other times in our
country’s history. Yet even during the Great Depression, should we have
focused only on the economy and not fought fascism? In the Civil War, while
reuniting the country, should we have not ended slavery?
It is
never the wrong time to focus on morality.
God-pleasing
marriage since the beginning of creation always has been between one man and one
woman (Genesis 2:24) and never has evolved and adapted to culture. In the New
Testament, one man-one woman marriage was reaffirmed by Jesus (Matthew 19:5) and
Paul (Ephesians 5:31). It is true many patriarchs in the Old Testament had
multiple wives/concubines, but that in no way was condoned by God. Abraham and
David had disastrous family lives because of the jealousies brought on by
multiple wives and children.
The
Gazette’s Steve Buttry, in his April 6 column, stated that opposition to
same-sex marriage comes from “certain segments of Christianity” (implying a
small number). In fact, Roman Catholic, Lutherans (LCMS and others), most
Baptists, Pentecostals and evangelical denominations all agree marriage is one
man-one woman. The vast majority of Christians oppose same-sex marriage.
Buttry
stated that Jesus, in his teachings, does not have as a priority (i.e., he is
not recorded as condemning or excluding) same-sex marriage. Well, Jesus is also
not recorded as condemning or excluding pedophilia, bestiality and necrophilia.
Would you approve of those actions, too?
Multiple
times, biblical writers in the Old Testament and the New Testament forcefully
condemn same sex relationships. (Gen. 19, Lev. 18:22, Lev. 20:13,
Buttry
mentioned the Old Testament prohibition of “not eating pork and shrimp” but
now Christians “justify eating” them, insinuating that same-sex marriage
also should be justified in the same way. In the Old Testament, there were three
kinds of law: political, ceremonial and moral.
The political laws continued in force only as long
as the Jews were a nation. (Nationhood ended in 587/6 B.C.) The ceremonial laws
(which include dietary laws), were a foreshadowing of Christ and ceased when
Christ came (Colossians 2:16-17, Acts 10:9-16, Matt. 15:11). However, the moral
law never has been optional or subject to the will of man and is binding on all
people for all time (Gal. 3:10, Deut. 27:26, Eph. 5:5, Lev. 19:2).
I
don’t begrudge anyone’s liberal beliefs. But don’t bog down and denigrate
the Orthodox Christian people of
Jesus’
main purpose was to die in our place for our sins. Jesus wants your heart, your
repentance. He will forgive you. Repent and believe (Matt 3:2, 4:17, Mark 6:12,
Luke 13:3, 1 Peter 3:9, Rev. 2:21). That is what Jesus wants most for Iowans.
*Integrity Index
Level is based on moral and ethical principles, on a scale of 0 to 1,000 tops, where
significant integrity starts at 300. The
definition of integrity provided by Gazette Columnist Jennifer Hemmingsen, and
as used is:
in⋅teg⋅ri⋅ty /ɪnˈtɛgrɪti/
–noun 1. adherence
to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2. the state of being whole,
entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.
3. a sound, unimpaired, or
perfect condition: the integrity of a ship's hull
Integrity Index Levels were derived with the same
methodology used to derive operating efficiencies for Governor Vilsack’s
office (19%) and other state
agencies. As many of you know,
Vilsack accepted the efficiencies after his consultants advised him of their
validity and accuracy—and of the fact he had no comparable numbers at all.
Derivation methods are posted on website:
http://iowalive.net/