Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

I was born in 1970 amid the new trinity of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. The sexual and social rebellion of the 1960s had already taken root in the culture and the classroom. In 1973, Roe v. Wade legalized abortion. In 1974, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders by the American Psychiatric Association stopped listing homosexuality as a mental disorder. By 2012, the state where I lived legalized same-sex marriage. At the time, I was on “Fox and Friends,” “The View,” and other media outlets discussing the issue from God’s viewpoint according to the Bible. In 2015, the US Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. When I was born, abortion was illegal in many states, but today it’s both legal and, in some cases, a government-funded right. When I was a child, various approaches to sexuality and gender were considered mental disorders. They have become civil rights today. Marriage was between one man and one woman. Moral change is rapid and breathtaking. People born more recently think our society is normal because it's all they have known, but all these things are very new in history.

In 1989, I became a Christian. At the time, I was not a virgin and was sleeping with my girlfriend, who is now my wife. I didn’t agree with the Bible’s views of sexuality, marriage, or gender. I felt the Bible was an old book. One day, I realized I had an incredibly important decision to make, which would affect my life and legacy. Does God have a right to tell me what to do with my sexuality? Is there any authority external to me? Does anyone have the right to tell me what to do? Ultimately, I settled on the lordship of Jesus Christ. All I have and all that I am needs to come under obedience to Him. I then became a pastor in the mid-1990s. I’ve been dealing with issues of sexuality in conflict with the Bible most of my adult life. Things have not gotten better.

Since God has not shown up to throw flaming road tar from heaven as He did with Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis, some have concluded that God is not real, the Bible is not true, God has changed His mind and caught up with the times, or He simply doesn’t care.

No.

Right now, we are living under the wrath of God.

Some people bristle at the phrase, the wrath of God. The Bible says God is love (1 John 4:8), but the attribute of God mentioned more than any other is holiness. It is mentioned with some 20 other words and appears roughly 600 times in the Old Testament alone. God’s love and holiness explain why He acts in wrath. Love requires hatred of what destroys the beloved, which is why you will hate cancer if your spouse has it. (Continued on Day 39 ...)

Today’s Reflection

How does God’s wrath affect the world?