The Rainbow Contradiction

In the Old Testament book of Genesis, scripture tells us how God decided to wipe all of humankind from the earth with a great flood because of their wickedness.  Only the righteous Noah and his family were spared because of his faithfulness to God.  After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah and his kin that He would never again send a flood to destroy the earth.  His promise of this covenant was the beautiful rainbow He set in the sky.

I have always loved rainbows, since I first heard this story as a child.  There is something about them; about the prism that the rain droplets make that separate the light wavelengths into their different beautiful colors that has always fascinated me and made me feel joyful. 

These days, it is both ironic and frustrating to me that the rainbow has been recognized as the symbol for the gay rights movement.  I don’t know if this misappropriation was done intentionally and mockingly of God or not, but regardless, I have long ago discovered that God allows us to suffer the consequences of our own sinful actions – particularly when we purposefully choose to take a stand against Him.  As a nation, we seem to have done precisely that, and embracing the LGBT movement is just one more example of our turning our backs on God. 

It seems that we are once again presented with another significant opportunity to turn away from Him.  The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is expected to release its ruling on gay marriage in the next few days; likely it will be on Monday June 29^th.  SCOTUS will rule on whether states can legally ban gay “marriage”, and also whether states can refuse to recognize a same-sex “marriage” that was legally performed in another state.

 

Many learned folks presume that the SCOTUS will indeed strike down gay “marriage” bans.  Regardless of whether they do so this month or not, it does seem that public opinion would suggest that it is inevitable that gay “marriage” will eventually become the law of the land within the next few years. 

I, personally, don’t think the government should be involved in the institution of marriage of any sort.  Marriage, as it has been defined and held to for millennia, was and is only between one man and one woman.  It is a religious sacrament.  It is the bedrock principle of western civilization.  Without this sacrament, it is impossible to believe that our societies would have flourished and prospered.  Government really should not be inserting itself into this by granting licenses to whomever it deems appropriate to engage in holy matrimony.  That is something better left to the churches.  Or, if a person is a non-believer, they can become “married” through a civil wedding.  Regardless, the government should stay out of it.

Personally, while I see the long-term societal harm of gay “marriage”, I am rather Libertarian on the issue.  If two gay people choose to form a union, so be it.  But to misappropriate the term “marriage”, which is a religious sacrament between man, woman, and God, to describe their union seems to be a slap in the face to those of us who still do hold marriage to be a sacrament – to be sacrosanct.  Gay people can call theirs a bonding union or what-have-you, but it is not marriage. 

God created marriage and words mean things.  We can twist words and try to give them new meanings but saying that two men or two women joined together in a civil ceremony is a marriage is about as ridiculous as calling a man, a woman.  You can call it whatever you want, but that doesn’t make it so.

Of course the upcoming SCOTUS decision will have many drastic long-term ramifications for our society.  If they do strike down gay “marriage” bans as expected, we can also expect further lawsuits against religious institutions that still recognize the sacramental nature of marriage and refuse to “marry” same-sex couples.  These institutions will be targeted as discriminatory and hateful and in violation of federal law.  Already there are efforts under way to remove the tax exempt status of many faith-based organizations that refuse to recognize, let alone celebrate the LGBT culture and lifestyle. 

Those individual Americans that believe homosexual actions are wrong and sinful will also be further ostracized and targeted via force of law in the coming decade.  Already private businesses have been shut down and destroyed for refusing to take a peripheral part in gay weddings.  In Canada, it is considered hate speech and illegal to preach against homosexuality.  In certain states, Catholic adoption agencies have been forced to shut down because they refused to adopt out children to gay couples. 

How long until the federal government insists that since gay “marriage” is the law of the land, that churches must “marry” gay couples or lose their tax exempt status, or even worse be fined?  This likely decision would seem to me to create additional great conflicts as it places the “right” of gay “marriage” up against our 1^st amendment right to freedom of religion and the exercise thereof.  This probable decision will likely only serve to further divide an already fractured nation.

Despite all of this, we are all still called to love our neighbor as our self.  God tells us not to condone sin, but also not to condemn our brother or sister.  It is His place for such judgment.  We must love our neighbor, regardless of their sin.  And we are all sinners; me, most especially.  Love the sinner, hate the sin, we are told.  That means we love each and every child of God, not just the straight ones.  Everyone.

Our country and the world is indeed changing, and I fear it is certainly not for the better.  It is infinitely easier to be on the right side of history than it is to be on the right side of Truth.  That said, I will stick to my beliefs and do my best to live my life according to them, regardless of the contempt that our new “enlightened” society throws at me.  Even Christ said, "In the world you will have troubles, but take courage; I have overcome the world."  John 16:33 

And I know and believe in Him when He tells me this.  All of that said, I still want my rainbow back. 

The Progressives Continuing Mission to Eradicate the 2nd Amendment

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.  

Thus says the 2nd Amendment of The United States Constitution.  This crucial, self-evident right of the people was one that our Forefathers enshrined within the Bill of Rights.  James Madison thought that the Bill of Rights was largely unnecessary since the Constitution itself clearly defined the specific powers and duties of the federal government.  Any other powers not specifically enumerated within it were assumed to belong to the people or the States, as was then clarified by the 10^th amendment.

Fast forward to the 21^st century and I find myself very glad that our forefathers did indeed stipulate the first ten amendments (The Bill of Rights) for the American People.  Even so, there are many people today, particularly on the left of the political spectrum, that assume the 2^nd amendment was never intended to be an individual right.  After all, it talks about a “well-regulated militia”, so in their minds this must be a governmental right.  Such people are either ignorant of history and context, or are deliberately dissembling.

First of all, would it make any sense for the Bill of Rights to enumerate all of the individual rights of Americans that the federal government was obliged to protect in the other nine amendments but insist on another governmental right in the second amendment?  If that was the intent of that amendment, why wouldn’t the framers have placed that within the main body of the Constitution? 

No.  All of the rights delineated in the Bill of Rights were absolutely intended to be rights reserved to individual American citizens and not to the federal government.  This was finally confirmed yet again in the 2008 Supreme Court decision of District of Columbia v. Heller and again in McDonald v. Chicago in 2010. 

Nevertheless, today’s leftist politicians have become a little more circumspect in how they violate their oath of office to defend the constitution when they seek to ban private gun ownership.  In other words, they have tried to incrementally infringe on this individual right.  The have lied to the American People. 

“Nobody wants to take your guns away,” they decry.  “We simply want to enact ‘common sense’ gun laws that any reasonable person should be able to agree with.  After all, nobody needs an ‘assault weapon’ or a ten round magazine – let alone a thirty round magazine,” so the paraphrase goes from politicians such as Nancy Pelosi, Diane Feinstein, and Chuck Schumer, to President Obama himself.

Yes, what the left cannot eradicate carte blanche by doing an end run around congress or by illegal executive orders, they try to do piecemeal with innocuous sounding ‘reasonable bills’ presented in congress.  Here are just a few of the current federal and state attempts to erode our vital 2^nd amendment right:

House Resolution (H.R.) 1454 – This bill would give President Obama’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) the authority to ban nearly all common rifle ammunition.  This was tried recently with a proposed ban on all “green tip” 5.56 mm ammunition which is used in perhaps the most ubiquitous of rifles in the United States: the AR-15.  Luckily the outcry from the public was so great, that the BATFE backed down on this ban for the time being.

Operation Chokepoint – This is the Obama Administration’s new set of shadowy banking regulations that is currently responsible for shutting down gun shops nationwide by making it impossible for them to secure ordinary loans and lines of credit.

United Nations Gun Ban Treaty – Despite the fact that the U.S. Senate has failed to ratify this pernicious treaty, the Obama administration is still on mission to implement many of the anti-gun tenets of it.

H.R. 1217 – This new proposal in Congress would implement Obama’s national gun registration scheme.  (It is a lot easier to confiscate all of the legally owned weapons if you know who owns them, after all!)

S. 407 – This new bill in Congress would ban the manufacture and sale of standard capacity magazines.

H.R. 224 – This new proposal would empower President Obama’s anti-gun Surgeon General to publish propaganda that frames our Second Amendment freedom as a public health problem.

H.R. 307 – This new Congressional bill would force us to pay for a national gun “buy-back” scheme through our tax dollars.

H.R. 225 – This proposal would give unelected anti-gun bureaucrats at the Consumer Product Safety Commission the authority to regulate and ban our firearms as they thought reasonable.

Multi-state legislation 1 – Several proposals are pending in multiple states that would require gun owners to keep their firearms locked away, unloaded, and disabled, thereby rendering them useless for self-defense.

Multi-state legislation 2 – Various proposals are also pending in many states that would increase taxes, sometimes severely, on all firearm and ammunition purchases.

Multi-state legislation 3 – Many states are trying to pass Obama’s national gun registration scheme that failed to pass congress two years ago on state levels.

Multi-state legislation 4 – Finally, multiple states have put forth legislative proposals to repeal “Stand Your Ground” and “Castle Doctrine” laws that effectively strip a gun owner of the right to use a firearm in most self-defense situations.

The purpose of the second amendment was not to secure Americans with the ability to go hunting or trap-shooting.  Our founding fathers knew that the only way to protect our young nation against enemies both foreign and domestic was to provide that “We The People” were able to ensure our own safety, and thus hold government accountable as it exercises its Constitutional duties – and only it’s Constitutional duties.  It is ironic and quite worrisome that many of our elected officials today are seeking to infringe upon or even eradicate the one amendment from the Bill of Rights that guarantees that we will still retain all of our other rights.  After all, an unarmed citizenry becomes completely reliant upon the beneficence of government in their granting of our other rights.

Those members of congress and elected officials who would seek to enact legislation or enforce regulations that are contrary to the 2^nd amendment are indeed in default of their oath of office to support and defend the United States Constitution.  Every last one of them that so brazenly ignores the dictates of the Constitution, especially when it comes to violating any of the enumerated amendments in the Bill of Rights is a disgrace to the public and the nation and should no longer be allowed to serve in such a capacity accordingly. 

If only the American public was not ignorant of civics, history, and the long-term ramifications of not holding these officials accountable.  It is incumbent upon us to pay attention to our elected officials with what they say and do, regardless of their political party.  When they do violate their oath of office by violating our Constitution, we need to all work as a community to ensure they are removed, or at least not re-elected to office.  It requires diligence, but the guardianship of our American liberties certainly deserves no less!