Theology Matters: There is a Creator

Judicial Activism and the Redefinition of Marriage

Only a few days ago, the California Supreme Court decided to give us another glaring example of judicial activism, of the corruption of the judiciary, of the rejection of what the judiciary is supposed to be.

Whereas instead they chose to exercise an authority that was never intended to be given to them in creating law and in fact in revolutionizing and in a revolutionary way changing our society. This was not a decision, this divine fiat from these high priests of judicial power and authority will be reverberating across our land for a very long time.

And while some feel that there is the possibility that our society will recoil from this enough to finally establish a meaningful definition of marriage that reflects the foundations upon which the society was built, I am of the opinion that this is just another example of how far a society will go in its rebellion against God and truly in its self-loathing.

The California Supreme Court decided to extend the term marriage, which is a term defined by God, it's defined in the Christian scriptures and for our society had been defined on that basis, decided to overthrow all of that and turn it into an oxymoron.

Marriage, biblically, is the joining of one man and one woman together and the complementarianism of that is necessary for the creation of life, the continuation of society, the fulfillment of man and woman together in the way that God created them.

Two men and two women together or any number of men with men and any number of women with women cannot experience what is called marriage. By definition, it is simply impossible. And so what we have seen taking place here is another example of why theology matters.

Creation, the Creator, and Transcendent Value

And I refer here to the fact that this type of complete rejection of God's standards could not have taken place prior to Darwin. It could not have taken place within a society where there is a creator, where there is an acknowledgment of a recognition of the existence of a creator.

Once that concept is banished from society, then truly the sky is the limit. The reason, really, is because if you do not have a creator, if you do not have one who has established within the creation itself, purposely, not merely as some sort of a mindless, purposeless power that brought something into existence, but a personal creator, once you have a creator, then there is transcendent value to the universe.

If you do not have a creator, there can be no transcendent value. There can only be the value which you yourself assign. And, of course, if there is no transcendent creator, then the whole issue of value and worth becomes really secondary and not even definable.

Because if, in the current theories, we are merely the result of random chance, an accident, the toss of the cosmic dice, then anything that we call meaningful or beautiful or valuable can be called by someone else just the opposite, with just as much meaning.

Without a creator, you really cannot have law. Law simply becomes, as we see in California, that which either a high priest group of judges determine or that which is enforced by the majority on the minority.

And nothing more than that. You cannot have a nation of laws if there is not a creator upon which that law is based and reflecting that creator's will and that creator's purposes in creation itself. Ideas of purpose, value, beauty, truth, especially truth, must simply be done away with if there is no creator.

Romans 1 and the Suppression of the Knowledge of God

And, of course, the scriptures told us this a long time ago. In that tremendous text in Romans chapter 1, the apostle Paul described the plight of man when he seeks to suppress the knowledge of God that God has created within him.

And we read in Romans chapter 1, beginning at verse 20, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

When mankind seeks to suppress the true worship of God and the knowledge of God that he has placed within us, idolatry is the inevitable result. And, indeed, we need to recognize that what we see in the California Supreme Court fiat is idolatrous.

It is a granting of rights to sexual deviancy. It is a total rejection of God's rulership over his own creation. But Paul went on, and he said,. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. We are worshiping creatures. We will give worship and service either to the created order or to the creator who made us.

And once we deny the existence of the creator, once we seek to live in such a fashion that we are free of the creator, the results will be a destruction of life. Look at this particular situation. We have the exaltation of a behavior that we know.

If you just look at the facts, we know that the average male homosexual lives at least 20 years less, on average, than the average married heterosexual male. Why is that? What are the purposes? When you look at the numbers, you see the rampant immorality, the fact that the average male homosexual has any number of partners.

These are factual things that, unfortunately, in the not-too-distant future, we will not even be able to speak of in the public forum because of the granting of super rights based upon sexual deviancy.

This destroys human life. When you go against the creator's will, you destroy human life. Those who claim to be for life should be, first and foremost, concerned about knowing what the creator's purpose in life is and how we can experience that.

Idolatry, Pleasure, and the Loss of the Image of God

And yet, that's not really what our society is about at all, is it? Instead of being concerned about that, our society is very much focused upon its own pleasure. Not life, not life in the light of the creator's will, but our own pleasure and our own rebellion.

Paul mentioned those who worship and serve the created order, the creature, rather than the creator. One cannot be neutral in this matter. One will either worship and serve the creator or one will engage in idolatry.

Once the society as a whole has abandoned the idea that there is a creator who has revealed his will to us, that society will not long last upon this earth. If for no other reason, yes, certainly in the wrath of God, but if for no other reason, then to do so is to separate oneself from the very source of life.

And so when you reject that there is a creator, reject his will for mankind, you cannot but experience chaos, personally in one's life and in the society that in essence embraces that wholesale rejection.

So once again, theology matters. The Bible had told us long ago that God was our creator and that he had a purpose in creation. But is it not true that many Christians are embarrassed by that today? Are afraid to say, I believe that I was created in the image of God.

Once that image of God has been lost, and that goes hand in hand with the loss of the creator, then we are nothing but a cosmic accident, an animal that may be here today and gone tomorrow. It matters not.

And therefore behavior, value, life itself becomes something that can no longer be defined in any consistent fashion from generation to generation. So once again, we see theology really does matter.