“However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)
Heresy happens when a portion of the gospel of Jesus Christ is extracted and made to appear as though it were the entire message. To do so with time is to deny or reject the record of the past, both the commandments from the Bible and traditions from church history, and to ignore implications of present deeds and practices for the future. This is what is taking place in these times in subtle ways that are most effective in perverting the standard morals of the past. For example, we have become acclimatized to the use of the vulgar four-letter words that are now used in public places, on television and in literature that just a few decades ago were never heard or tolerated. Or consider the way our society has redefined traditional ethics and Christian behavior in matters of sexuality and the right to life.
The love leading to marriage and procreation from standards set in the Bible and continued in the Church once progressed from dating, courting, engagement, marriage and the birth of children. The times we live in have in many cases reversed that pattern and are considered the new norm: First the date followed by living together, then the birth of an infant, baptism, engagement and finally the wedding.
From the tale of the destruction of Sodom by the Lord whose angels were nearly raped by the homosexual citizens of the city through all admonitions against homosexuality as in St. Paul’s words: “God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another” (Romans 1:24). “Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural.” In our times Miss California, Carrie Prejean, was denied the title of Miss USA when she dared witness to her faith when asked about homosexuality; the media searched for ways to harm her.
Those who oppose traditional Judeo-Christian ethics and divine laws shrewdly appropriate positive terms for their cause, such as liberal. But who is being liberated? Is it the woman bearing in her womb an unborn child freed from the laws that would impose punishment for taking a human life, even if she might claim that it is “her body” [they never say “her child”] to do with as she sees fit? Surely it’s not liberating for the person in the womb waiting to enter the world and enjoy life as we know it.
Homosexuals have captured the winsome old term gay in such a way that it can no longer be used by writers to denote anything other than love between lesbians, two men or boys. But are they really happier than the rest of us straights? It appears that they have more than their share of miserable moments and problems that afflict them. The worst part of their program for acceptance is that while they cannot multiply by procreation, they have the need to recruit, or to bring forth latent feelings of their life style from those who are insecure about their sexual orientation. Note the ongoing campaigns in every state of the union to make homosexual marriages legal.
In the words of Rodney King: “Can’t we all just get along?” I wish I could agree, but that would be naïve. The Liberals have set their agenda and are intent on carrying it forward. Success by their definition requires a radical transformation of morality as we Orthodox Christian faithful understand it. They feel they have a long way to get to their goal. Christians and society in general are divided and evidently helpless to counter or even hold back the tide of transformation from traditional ethics to the corruption of Judeo-Christian morals. From the viewpoint of Islam at least in their radical forms, we are already and have been decadent, faithless and godless.