Stopping to Think

'Tis the season. The season of what? Well, of Christmas time, you might say. If you are in the mood for elaboration, you may be inclined to continue in such a way: the season for giving, the season for love, happiness, joy and cheer. Family, friends, good food, good drink, presents, a big fat elf, and maybe a little snow. Aaaaannnnddd, probably shouldn't forget that baby in a manger business. That's good too. If you like basketball, you might add the Christmas day games, but who watches the NBA on Christmas? Or ever? Anyhow. The sense you get from talking to most folks is that this is a season of joy. And of course for many, it is. Amidst all of the stress and the crunch and the rush, there is an undercurrent of I love spending this time with my family  or, I love presents-giving and receiving them! or, Christmas Eve is my favorite church service all year  or,  what makes the Christmas spirit brighter than Fireball and a Backwoods cigar? There are a lot of things to be ...

What happened to me posting more often? When I first began putting together these thoughts, one of the top news headlines was the story of NBA player Jason Collins "coming out of the closet", announcing to the world that he is gay. The responses to this were, of course, varied. There were many who applauded his "courage", many who shrieked in disgust- others simply shrugging their shoulders and saying, "Who cares?" What I would like to do is examine each of these responses in light the Apostle Paul's letter to the 1st Century Roman church, and conclude by presenting what I believe ought to be the Christian response homosexuality. Romans 1:25-27, 32 "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natur...