Repentance for the Desecration of God’s Image in Humanity
Those who honor God and His image regard other human beings as a kind of sacrament, a living witness of God’s grace on earth. That involves a good kind of shame and a fear of the Lord; we dare not transgress the boundaries of one who bears His image! To do so is to blaspheme God and His creation.
For example, in my journey out of homosexuality, there were several men with whom I would have enjoyed sensual pleasure. But I refused, not because of a lack of desire, but because of a reverence for God and His creation. Proverbs 23:10 says it all: “Do not move an ancient boundary stone, or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; He will take up their case against you.”
The denial of God results in the desecration of His image. If He is not recognized as God, if the creature fails to fear Him, then we begin to treat one another without shame.
Today His image is in shambles. The fact that we even have to fight ‘gay marriage’ is a prime example of how far we have fallen. Truly we have become a people without shame; we now regard one another as objects of our consumption—to be used and discarded according to our lusts. Jeremiah asks: “Are we ashamed of our loathsome conduct? No, we have no shame at all. We do not even know how to blush.” (6:15)
Many would wrongfully point to the gay community as the main source of this desecration. The push for ‘gay marriage’ is rather a symptom of the arrogance and self-concern in our land which places ‘personal happiness’ above the common good. Sexual civil rights follow wherein the state is coerced into protecting the hedonism of its citizens.
This began in the 1960’s with the free love movement: sex no longer cost one a lifetime commitment to another. We declared our bodies our own, and other’s bodies a sensual drug, to be used without the consent and discipline of marriage.
In the seventies we declared marital commitment an option. With ‘no-fault’ divorce, we could marry then quickly exit our covenants when ‘love’ became inconvenient.
In the eighties, with the advent of VCRs and then Internet porn, we made our homes idolatrous temples where we and our children compulsively bowed down to sensual images. The Justice Department declared: Never in history has so much obscenity been so accessible in so many homes by so many minors with so few legal restrictions.
On the desecrated ground of sexual promiscuity, divorce and porn addiction, President Bill Clinton ushered in the ‘gay nineties’ by declaring gay rights the next great American civil rights drive.
We started the 21st century with ‘gay marriage’ wars. To be sure, gay marriage and its advocates further abuse the image of God. But they are not the source of that abuse. That involves all of us, beginning with heterosexual idolatry. All of us have a hand in refusing God and His design when we grasp after the creature as if we have a right to him/her.
We all bear the shame of desecrating God’s image in humanity. We do well to seek Him for a holy fear of who He is, and what He desires for His image in humanity.
One thing is sure. Marriage honors Him.
Honor marriage for the good of all. Vote YES on Proposition 8.
“Father, thank You for holy fear. Thank you for the grace that frees us to feel shame when we violate, or are tempted to violate, the holiness of Your creation. Forgive us for the myriad ways we have violated You. We confess the greed of promiscuity, porn, marital breakups, and homosexual behavior. Forgive us for the delusion that our misdirected desires are a ‘right.’ You alone are right, O God.
Do not block our view of the battered image in our land. Help us to see the desecration of humanity as it is. Let us not cry ‘peace’ when there is none. Teach us to blush. Teach us to fear. Teach us to cry once more over the beauty of humanity, now bound in sin and shame. Have mercy on us. Have mercy on Your image in humanity.”
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