The Golden Rule Argument for Marriage

While driving today I was struck by an argument for the standard understanding of marriage as the union on one man and one woman—based on the Golden Rule. I believe it is succinct and compelling—if people are honest with themselves. Here it is:

The Golden Rule tells us to do unto others as we would have them do unto ourselves.

Ask yourself: Do you wish that you had been raised by your own father and mother who stayed together after they conceived you and then raised you in the context of a committed and loving relationship?

If you wish this for yourself then you should wish this for others as well. 

Therefore you should support the historic understanding of marriage as the lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, and you should oppose anything that weakens, redefines, or devalues that understanding. 

If you were raised by your own mother and father who stayed together, loved each other, and loved you, then you are envied by many many people. My wife and I have worked with young people for fifteen years and have had many conversations with youth from all sorts of fractured families. Yes... young people have a way to roll with the punches, but across the board they would tell us that their deepest longing was the wish that their mom and dad had been able to stay together as a family. Some could only dream about this as a fairy-tail. 

Marriage is what keeps mom and dad together. We would do well as a society to treat the union of one man and one woman as something very special and sacred. Every single human being on this planet owes their existence to this one precise combination. This combination is the source of life. When a society values authentic marriage children have a better chance of being raised by mom and dad. 

Born to Die

The last TV show I saw that tried to proclaim the “real meaning of Christmas” was a typical failure. Someone stammered, “Getting the family together, that’s what Christmas is all about.” You would think that the first six letters in the word Christmas would be a big hint, but apparently not.

In my opinion the best verse on the real meaning of Christmas is 1 Timothy 1:15. This verse is tragically underused. But here the Apostle Paul absolutely nails what Christmas is all about. He writes:

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”

Christmas is about Christ. But even more, Christmas is when we celebrate the Son of God coming into this world and becoming a genuine human being—without ceasing to be fully God. Jesus did this in order to glorify Himself by saving sinners, and to do that He had to live the perfect human life that none of us lived and then die the death that we deserved, in our place.

The reason for Christmas is that Jesus came into this world to save sinners like you and me. The reason for Christmas is Good Friday and Easter. Jesus was born to die.

It is amazing that God would come into this world.

Think about this verse. We should be amazed even if it just said, “Jesus Christ came into the world…” and stopped right there. Think about who this was who came. The person who came into this world was the eternal God, the Creator of all things, and the One for whom all things were created. (See Colossians 1:15-16) He is the One who came into this world with all of its problems, and sickness, and suffering. And He didn’t even come to modern America. He came to the Near East two thousand years ago—when there was no modern indoor plumbing, or air-conditioning, or aspirin.

It is amazing that God would come into this world to die for sinners.  

What if this verse didn’t tell us why Jesus came into the world? A lot of people know that Christmas has something to do with Jesus, but that’s about it. I think a lot of people assume that Jesus wanted to come into this world to tell us how wonderful we are. It’s like He is stopping by with a pan of brownies because he just likes us so much. You see, we are very deluded about how wonderful we are. The reality is that we are all sinners. (Romans 3:23) We are born with hearts that are in open rebellion to God. That is what sin is at its core: rebellion against God. That is what makes it so terrible. It isn’t like we just accidently broke a few technical rules. Sin is not insignificant. You can tell how significant a crime is by the penalty attached to it. Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is eternal death. That is not insignificant.

It is amazing that God would come into this world to die for really bad sinners!

Even the “smallest” sin is a sin against an infinitely holy God. Therefore, in a sense, even the “smallest” sin is infinitely terrible. Paul realized this. He described himself as the worst of all sinners, or as the KJV puts it, the “chief” of all sinners. Paul realized that Jesus didn’t come into this world to save “nice” people. There are none. Sure, we may be nice to one another, but we’re not nice to God. But Jesus came to save even the worst of sinners. As the Reformer Martin Luther said, Christ saves even “hard-boiled” sinners. If you think that you are too big of a sinner for Jesus to save, you’re not. Paul used to hunt down Christians to have them killed. The blood of Christ is valuable enough to save Paul, and it is valuable enough to save you. In the very next verse Paul writes:

But for this very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of all sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe on Him and receive eternal life.

This is why Christ came. Believe on Him and have eternal life. 

Archer Family

By all rights I should be living in a pit somewhere all alone, but instead God has given me this wonderful, fun family. So, this is me showing them off. My lovely wife is Hope and my kids are Eric (10), Zoe, (7), Luke (5), and Joel (2). When this picture was taken we were in Wisconsin and the Packers were winning, so I was extra happy.

I've been doing a lot more writing for my dissertation lately than blog posts. (I know, where are my priorities?) The good news is that the dissertation is going well. Maybe I will post about that sometime down the road.

In the meantime, here are a few related links for Hope, Eric, Zoe, and Luke.

The Rollie Fingers Tragedy

My son Luke broke my Rollie Fingers glass. I had this glass since I was seven years old. I couldn't tell you a thing about baseball today, but I can still remember the starting lineup for the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers. That was the year they went to the World Series, and as a boy living in Wisconsin that was a big deal. This glass featured catcher Ted Simmons and legendary relief pitcher Rollie Fingers, the man with the sweetest handlebar mustache since the 1920's.

But Luke wanted something quick, reached in front of his brother's plate, and broke my glass.

All things considered, I did an "okay" job of not exploding at my son. After all, he is just five and these things happen. We explained to him that this glass meant a lot to me and Luke quickly said he was sorry. But what really bothered me—almost more than the glass being broken—was that it never really sunk in to him that he had wrecked something I valued.

Later on it struck me that this is what our sin is usually like. What I mean is, when we sin, we hardly ever grasp the reality that we have badly damaged something that God deeply values. Even though we say we're sorry, it doesn't sink in what a big deal sin is. When we sin, not only do we hurt people and fracture the wellness of God's creation, but even more—much more—we trample God's glory. We shatter it by declaring to the universe at that moment that sin is more valuable than God. We devalue God's renown.

This isn't a big deal to us, but it is to Him. It is right for His glory to be a big deal to God. His glory is that valuable. It's valuable, not only to Him but for us as well. For human beings, nothing can bring more ultimate happiness than delighting in God's glory. When we sin, we break that. But God values this so much that He went to the cross to fix the problem. This is love, that Christ would die for those who trample His glory so that we can spend eternity delighting in the One we were made for.

That is a bigger deal than a broken glass from McDonald's.

P.S. By the way, no, you don't need to go on Ebay and find me a replacement. It really isn't that big of a deal. And besides, my Paul Molitor & Pete Vuckovich glass is still fine.

Sharing is Caring

If Dead Theologians Were on Money

I don't know what is wrong with me, but I spent my drive home last night thinking about who would be on which bills if we had dead theologians on currency rather than presidents. The really sad part is that I had it all figured out by the time I got home—with justifications.

The rule is that they have to be dead for at least 100 years and they have to have lived after the completion of the New Testament. Here it is:

The One Dollar Bill: Augustine
Both Protestants and Catholics agree that Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430) was the most important theologian in Church history. To honor his foundational  role, Augustine gets the $1.

The Five Dollar Bill: Calvin
John Calvin (1509-1564) gets the 5. This should be obvious.

The Ten Dollar Bill: Luther
Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) deserves an important bill. He gets the 10 in homage to his love/hate relationship with the Law. He would probably find that paradoxical and so he would be okay with it.

The Twenty Dollar Bill: Edwards
The twenty is one of the most commonly used bills, so it needed to be someone sweet. Therefore we have to go with Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758). Plus, as a matter of historical fact, Jonathan Edwards' grandson Aaron Burr Jr. shot and killed Alexander Hamilton, so it would be tacky to put Edwards on the $10. Too soon.

The Fifty Dollar Bill: Wesley
I was going to put Charles Hodge (1797-1878) on the $50 to honor the fact that Hodge was the first American theologian to serve as a professor of theology for fifty years. However, I realized that I should throw a bone to the Arminians. Therefore, John Wesley (1703-1791) gets to be on the $50. This is also fitting since Arminians think that salvation is a 50/50 deal. (Boom!)

The One Hundred Dollar Bill: Lewis
We are breaking the rule for C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) because, hey, everyone loves C.S. Lewis. He gets to be on the $100. This way we can call it a C-note. Lewis technically wasn't a theologian, but neither was Benjamin Franklin a president.

The Five Hundred Dollar Bill: Aquinas
The preeminent and rotund scholastic theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) gets to be on the $500. I had him on the $100 but he got bumped so I could make that C-note joke.

The One Thousand Dollar Bill: Anselm
Anselm, Bishop of Canterbury (1033-1109) is responsible for the phrase Credo, ut intelligam which will appear on all theological currency. It is fitting that Anselm gets to be on the $1,000 because he was born around the year 1,000. Also, since the $1,000 is the largest bill that will be produced, it is "that than which no greater can be conceived." (You have to be familiar with the Proslogion to realize that is funny.)

Coins are yet to be decided, but we're going to go all patristic for these. They will all be Church Fathers, prior to Augustine. As a sneak peak, I can tell you that Athanasius will be on the Quarter. He is that important, and it is a nice homage to the Council of Nicea, convened in 325.

I thought about putting Benny Hinn on the penny since his theology isn't worth 2 cents.

Sadly, there are many other great theologians who will be left out:: Ulrich Zwingli, John Owen, Francis Turretin, Charles Spurgeon, and many others. Fortunately, we still have the possibility of issuing a two dollar bill, so keep your hopes up. There will also be a commemorative Zero Dollar Bill with the portrait of Francis of Assisi.

There you have it. And of course, these bills give new meaning to the term "religious denominations."

Sharing is Caring!