Rev. David Holwick R Romans series #2
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
May 29, 2005
Romans 1:21-32
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I. It ended with a bang.
A. The example of Pompeii.
In 1885, August Mau discovered an ancient inscription reading
"SODOM GOMOR" on the wall of a house in Pompeii.
Ancient people saw Pompeii's destruction as an object lesson
for God's judgment of sexual decadence.
By the 1800's, the ancient world's freer attitude about sexual
freedom came to be celebrated by artists, authors, and
early homosexual-rights activists.
Today the ruined city is a favorite travel destination for
homosexuals. #29618
B. Larger question - why did Roman Empire collapse?
1) Collapse of social cohesion (abuse of welfare).
2) Multiplication of outside enemies and cost of wars.
3) Even Christianity!
4) Moral decline has long been seen as part of the reason.
II. Moral decline is nothing new.
A. Paul's stunning denunciation of pagan sin in Romans 1.
1) Many of the sins sound pretty close to home.
2) Ironically, Rome was a very tolerant culture.
a) Some of these sins were not a big issue with them.
b) It is getting to the point where they are not a big
issue with us, either.
B. Trends in modern America.
1) Rampant materialism. (tell grandparents what house is worth)
2) High crime rate. (lower than 1990s, but higher than 1890s)
3) Rising divorce rate and changes in families.
4) New attitudes about sexuality.
C. The current dividing line - homosexuality.
1) It has gone from being invisible to ubiquitous.
a) All denominations are debating it.
b) Marriage amendments, Amendment 2 in Colorado...
1> New Jersey now allows same-sex partner rights.
2) Students are challenged that the Bible does not condemn it.
3) What is the truth? How serious is this issue?
III. Liberal arguments in support of acceptance of homosexuality.
A. Science trumps Scripture.
1) Homosexuals are born, not made.
a) Biological determinism.
b) Current finding: pheromones.
2) It is just one variation among many available to humans.
B. Bible itself is capable of different interpretations.
1) In Sodom story, inhospitality is real issue. Gen 19
a) "Know" in Sodom and Gomorrah story.
b) Word "know" has a secondary meaning of having sex,
and obviously has a sexual meaning here.
c) Although other Old Testament passages do not mention
unnatural sex in Sodom, the book of Jude in NT does.
2) Standard, loving homosexuality is not in view.
a) Sodom more like Riker's Island, not San Francisco.
b) The real issue is actually idolatry (pagan worship).
c) But the act itself is described and condemned. Lev 18:22
3) If it is condemned, so are other normal things.
a) It is well known that shrimp, lobster and blended
clothes are condemned in Old Testament.
b) But these things are accepted in New Testament, while
sexual sin remains condemned.
4) Homosexuality is not condemned by Jesus.
a) Jesus also does not condemn molesting children, using
heroin, or X-rated movies.
1> Arguments from silence are dangerous.
b) He is silent probably because it was already thoroughly
rejected by Jewish society.
IV. Does it really matter?
A. Liberal mindset - acceptance is inevitable.
1) Already, in Massachusetts the acceptance of homosexual
marriage has soared one year after law changed.
2) We will find it is not that big a deal, except for
religious fanatics who need to get with the times.
3) Society will not collapse and life will go on.
B. Conservatives - the ramifications will be real.
1) Example of Norway. (Courts forced acceptance)
a) The impact of same-sex "marriage" has not been limited
to same-sex couples. (Stanley Kurtz, Hoover Inst.)
b) The gap between parenthood and marriage has widened.
c) Rates of cohabitation and out-of-wedlock births shot up.
2) Homosexuality is not the biggest issue we face.
a) Many other sins in America break God's heart, too.
b) But this one issue shows how far we have fallen from
basing morality on God's revealed truth in the Bible.
C. Where do your values come from?
1) Secular approach - values are what majority agrees on -
or a vocal minority!
a) They change between cultures and time periods.
b) No one value system is correct.
c) Since values are fluid, we cannot take definite stands.
This was well brought out in a "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoon a few
years back.
Hobbes: How are you doing on your New Year's resolutions?
Calvin: I didn't make any.
See, in order to improve oneself, one must have some
idea of "good."
That implies certain values. But as we all know,
values are relative.
Every system of belief is equally valid and we need to
tolerate diversity.
Virtue isn't "better" than vice.
It's just different.
Hobbes: I don't know if I can tolerate that much tolerance.
Calvin: I refuse to be victimized by notions of virtuous
behavior. #2980
2) Religious approach - values are established by God.
a) There are variations, but some principles hold true
forever.
b) God establishes values, we do not.
1> If a nation strays from God's values, it will
reap the consequences.
2> Normal human tendency is to warp God's values.
c) There is no other ultimate authority.
1> Secular people like to point to examples in nature.
2> But any moral value can be supported by examples
in the animal kingdom!
(adultery / faithfulness, etc.)
V. Approving can be worse than committing.
A. Is last verse anticlimactic? Rom 1:32
1) How can approval be worse than doing the sin?
2) Condoning sin shows a breakdown of values.
3) A scholar named J.A. Bengal wrote two hundred years ago:
"He is a worse man, who destroys both himself and others,
than he who destroys himself alone."
B. When values leave, the floodgates open.
1) Note increase of crime in ex-communist countries
and after wars, such as turmoil in Iraq.
a) Even Russians are seeking religious morality now.
2) Even if we don't practice these sins, we may contribute
to downfall of America by not caring about them.
VI. How to stem moral decline.
A. It is possible for societies to be reformed.
1) Social trends can be reversed.
2) It happened in England in 1700s and America in 1800's.
B. Laws will not determine the issue.
1) They will have an impact and can't be neglected.
2) But they cannot solve the problem alone.
3) Human behavior will trump any law.
C. Changing people - me and you - will determine the issue.
1) Conversion, not coercion.
2) Despite what critics argue, God CAN change people.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 -
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old has gone, the new has come!
D. Christians must set an example.
1) Love of all people, especially sinners (like us).
2) Caring families.
3) Sexual purity.
4) Transformation by Jesus.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 2980 "Victimized By Notions of Virtuous Behavior," Bill Watterson,
Daily Record newspaper of Parsippany, New Jersey,
January 2, 1995.
#29618 "Pompeii Equals Sodom," from a review by Alison Mairi Syme of
"Love Among the Ruins: David Cannon Dashiell's Queer Mysteries,"
Art Journal, Winter 2004, http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/~
mi_m0425/is_4_63/ai_n8686704
These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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