[Re]Redefining Marriage

Has marriage become a joke? Almost two years ago Basketball dunk artist Chris Humphries and reality TV star Kim Kardashian filed for a divorce after 72 days. The implementation of no-fault divorce has created a  world where popular opinion would say yes.

A twitter update from StarTrek star George Takei following the Kardashian-Humphries split said:

Kim Kardashian files for divorce after 72 days. Another example of how same-sex marriage is destroying the sanctity of the very institution.

Takei, openly gay, makes a strong facetious statement. Heterosexuals may pose the greatest argument that marriage is just a social contract.

President Barak Obama, at a White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in May of 2009 told a joke regarding his staffer David Axelrod. President Obama said many years ago he called Axelrod and told him, "you and I could do wonderful things together." Obama went on to tell the gathering at the White House, "He said what partners all over America are saying to me right now. Let's go to Iowa and make it official." Four years later Minnesota law makers have joined the ranks in redefining marriage to a contractual agreement. 

The play that marriage is a type of purchase agreement contract isn't solely coming from the homosexual community. Nor is it solely believed by the homosexual community. A recent Pew Reserch Center study revealed that many young Americans believe marriage is obsolete. Defining marriage as the monogamous relationship shared by a man and a woman, young Americans haven't turned out to defend this stance.

What used to be an institution bringing two sexes together around the mutual task of forming homes and raising the next generation of children, has instead become a list of bargains between adults. This redefining of a Biblical institution has brought about a less child-centered, failed duty-based, and challenged future-focused generation. This distraction is bearing consequences.

Studies from the National Marriage Project put out by the University of Virginia state that the redefinition of marriage, particularly in the middle-class, is depressing. The research identifies children, operating outside of an intact marriage, are less likely to be directed positively by their parents. The study shows they are less likely to strive to succeed, more likely to fall into poverty and idleness, and less likely to form functioning families of their own. 

What was given to mankind as a union to enable a filling and care taking of the earth, has turned into a social contract that can be voided on a whim thanks to No-Fault Divorce. Consequences to this redefinition are showing a significant hindrance to the upcoming generation who have inherited a new concept of marriage. The Heritage Foundation has found a 41 percent growth in economic inequality from 1976-2000 that can be attributed to the retreat of marriage. 

The Biblical design of marriage is being challenged. What was once a picture of God's image, directing man and woman to fill the earth and enhance it, has turned into a financial play, equality argument and political position.

Economically, socially and spiritually, the design of marriage bears God's image. Similar to the serpent's lies about Adam and Eve bearing this image, the challenges today are enticing and appealing. We must speak-up, remembering and defending the image-bearers we are.

Pray for our students as they are trained to defend the Biblical view of marriage and relationships. They're equipped with God's word and social statistics. They're being sent into a crooked and depraved generation that has lost track of God's design. Our students are yearning to redeem their culture back to Christ. Join us in equipping them in re-redefining this social institution.

College Preparation Information

Recently Guidance Counselor Ruth Juliot led the students through a series of preparation steps for college. She shared the video below with the students. I encourage you to view the videos as your students begin to prepare for college.

The Power of a Life Lived

Dan Stevers - Gospel from DanStevers.com on Vimeo.

Branch Rickey refused to play or attend games on Sunday. An uncharacteristic trait of a Baseball manager, it is even more uncharacteristic of the manager of the famed Brooklyn dogers. A perennial powerhouse, the team Rickey managed was directed by an inovator who was a devout Christian. 

Rickey was in search for something special three weeks after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sending a scout to gather a well-known player named Jackie Robinson led to a historic meeting in Rickey's office on Mantague Street in Brooklyn Heights. The meeting in their office is told by biographer Arnold Rampersad:

Rickey stripped off his coat and enacted out a variety of parts that portrated examples of an offended Jim Crow. Now he was a white hotel clerk rudely refusing Jackie accomodations; now a supercilious white waiter in a restaurant; now a brutish railroad conductor. He became a foul-mouthed opponent, Jack recalled, talking about "my race, my parents, in language that was almost unendurable." now he was a vengeful base runner, vindictive spikes flashing in the sun, sliding into Jack's black flesh-"How do you like that, nigger boy?"

Eric Metaxas notes in his book 7 Men, "According to Rickey, not only would Robinson have to tolerate such abuse, but he would need to almost be superhuman and to commit himself to never, ever hit back...Jackie knew that resisting the urge to fight back really would require a superhuman effort, but he was deeply moved by Rickey's vision. He thought of his mother. He thought of all the black people who deserved someone to break this ground for them, even if it was difficult. He believed God had chosen him for this noble purpose...Knowing that Jackie shared his Christian faith and wanting to reinforce the spiritual dimensions of what the two men were about to embark on, Rickey brought out a copy of a book titled Life of Christ by Giovanni Papini. He flipped to the passage in which Papini discusses the Sermon on the MOunt and refers to it as 'the most stupefying of Jesus's revolutionary teachings.' It certainly was revolutionary. In fact, it seemed impossible."

This story of Jackie Robinson is inspiring. Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson were compelled by their Christian faith to join together to break the racial barrier. They referenced the Sermon on the Mount and found solace in the reality of the Gospel. The power of the Gospel is more than words spoken, it is the power of a life lived.