#LoveWins part 1

Recently an unprecedented event happened, the ruling court of the land made a recent ruling as it comes to marriage. Now, there are others more qualified than me to address this in both the philosophical perspective and the law perspective (see [1] [2]), but to me, the most interesting thing about the whole Supreme Court Ruling is the narrative that followed. I do not mean a narrative in a negative way but only in the way that a worldview has revealed itself and come into the open. This worldview is succinctly summed up in the twitter hashtag #LoveWins. Now given the timing of this hashtag, I can assume that the message being given here is that the love between two people (of whatever context) is now acceptable and that love conquers all – like it does in all the movies and stories we like as a culture.

For this first installment on this idea instead of me addressing the narrative directly at this time let’s listen to the apostle Paul do the same [3]; but I will annotate in the footnotes and give more in future posts:

“People of America, I perceive that you are very loving in all respects [4] for while I was perusing your newspapers, movies, and internet where you post your lives, aspirations and stories, I found many writings that pointed to ‘blind love’ or love without borders or rules. What you seek in blind ignorance, I proclaim this to you: this love without borders that you seek [5] is God who made the world and all things. He does not dwell in the megachurches, yoga clubs, or institutions that may or may not have non-profit statuses. Nor is He served by human hands, He does not need your love or approval since He Himself gives to all people life, breath, common grace, and all things.  He made us yearn for this love that perhaps, if people seek it, they will find Him [6]. This love cannot be found in material goods, pleasure, or even other people of either gender that we chase after.[7] God is now declaring that all people everywhere should repent from their false chasing because there is a day coming soon where He will judge the world through a Man [8] whom He has appointed and given proof to us all of this love by raising Him from the dead”

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[1] Stratton, Tim. 2015. “A Biblical Argument for Gay Rights.” FreakEng Ministries.
 http://freakengministries.com/a-biblical-argument-for-gay-rights/

[2] Hall, Amy. Jan2015. “Understanding the Same-Sex Marriage Issue.” Stand to Reason.
http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2015/01/understand-the-same-sex-marriage-issue.html

[3] This is not really what he said, but a rhetorical strategy employed using the ideas that he preached in Acts 17: 22-32. I do apologize to the apostle Paul for this loose paraphrase if it in error in any way.

[4] Here the tactic is used to divide the audience, just like when he was in Athens (Acts 17: 22-31) and also in Jerusalem (Acts 23: 6-7). The divide here is that we enjoy calling ourselves loving and yet at the same time we have very high divorce rates, and other social ills that would not exist or be solved by being loyal and loving.

[5] See Galatians 3:28 for what this boundless love/unity is.

[6] We can only love persons. The love I have for board games is far less than the love I have for my wife and daughter. This can been seen in that I would let my whole house and all the stuff there burn down if it meant my family was safe. In the same way God is personal and not an abstract force as no matter what we count not love a thing more than a person. A force or thing can also not love back.

[7] No matter what we fall in love with like a toy, spouse, or whatever there will be points where there will be pain. There will also be parts that we will not feel loved nor want to love. Even if that was not the case anything finite will have an end, and yet we long for a love without boundaries. Death itself is a boundary.

[8] This man is Jesus the Messiah (Christ) whose life on earth is chronicled in the books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

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