(Reformation 21): O'Reilly, Gay Marriage & Bible

http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2013/04/bill-oreilly-gay-marriage-and.php

Bill O'Reilly, Gay Marriage, and the Bible

Posted by Rick Phillips

 

I happened to see a video this morning in which Bill O'Reilly was arguing with Laura Ingraham over O'Reilly's complaint that conservatives need to do more than "thump the Bible" in making our case against gay marriage. Not only was O'Reilly incredibly arrogant and rude, but his colossal mistake highlights the key issue in the culture war today.

O'Reilly presupposes that the Bible is not an acceptable source of authority for our culture. Conservatives must accept that liberals will not listen to Scripture and therefore craft a moral consensus on grounds other than the Bible. What he fails to realize is that apart from God and his Word, the only moral consensus possible to man is an evil pagan idolatry. It is precisely because the Bible has been excluded from public discourse that our nation is so aggressively pursuing a debauchery like that of the ancient Canaanites and is suffering a societal breakdown of, well, biblical proportions. The only way to reverse this trend is to reassert the Bible's validity for both private and public moral standards.

Another way to say this is that Bill O'Reilly fails to realize that the Bible is the revelation of a true and living God: as Francis Schaeffer put it, he is "the God who is there." For this reason, the decisive issue of our time pertains precisely to our attitude to God's Word. Apart from a respectful embrace of biblical authority, there is nothing to halt our plunge into the abyss. Or, to put it differently, the true issue today is not what the Supreme Court will think about gay marriage but what the true and living God thinks about America.

Biblically, there is no other explanation for the wholesale breakdown of our society and the rapidly accelerating sexual perversity than God's judgment. The only solution is the Bible. So instead of persuading Christians to accept the societal marginalization of God's Word, O'Reilly would do better to urge Christians to become more militantly biblical. Like every other once-godly nation, we will stand or fall based on our attitude towards God's Word.

Finally, this reminds Christians that the most important institution in America today is the church. Unless our pulpits proclaim the truth and grace of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, and unless Christians live such bold and gracious lives that attract the interest of the watching world, there can be no hope for our generation. Whatever the Supreme Court decides and whatever confusion is wrought by the pundits of the left and of the right, there is great hope for America if God's people regain a missionary zeal for the gospel and a holy passion for God and his Word.