The Coffee Break is a popular email editorial column made available by PennMedia, Inc. It is an interesting hodge-podge of sometimes-spiritual, sometimes-secular, but always sane information from many sources. In a recent column, The Coffee Break spoke about the decision by ABC television executives to develop and present during the so-called "family hours," programs with homosexual parents in the leading roles and espousing so-called "gay and lesbian" issues.
Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not incensed that this is what television is moving toward, for it has been moving in this direction for over 20 years. I’m past being mad about it and can only sigh that it continues. Parents would do well to remember that what we recall as occasional television sit-coms on the cutting edge of social sensitivity are all that our children have ever known. Folks, let me say it plainly: Our children have never known prime-time television without this social, liberal agenda. They have grown up with it, they are familiar with it, they are conversant with it’s terms and language, and they are quite comfortable being around it. If that doesn’t scare you, then you can’t be scared!
It would be easy for me to cite a few appropriate scriptures to show the Divine mind concerning this kind of entertainment, but then, that’s what you’d expect of me, isn’t it? You’d expect me to quote extensively from Romans 1: 24-32, and drive home the point of how wicked lifestyles bring the condemnation of God. I could rail on the issue, and if I had a head of white hair like the old preacher Foy E. Wallace, Jr., I could shake my head with intensity while driving home the point and cause everybody to marvel at how my white hair shimmers under the pulpit lights.
The preacher could go to Leviticus 18 and show how God’s judgment on the Gentiles for their sexual hi-jinks was the basis of His warnings to Israel, lest they do the same and suffer the same judgment. I could turn to 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, and show how those who live in such lifestyles do so at the peril of their own souls. I could turn to verse 11 and show that those in the Corinthian church who had formerly lived in that way were forgiven, washed and sanctified—made right ("justified" is Paul’s word) before God.
Or, I could just let you hear what some others, without any particular spiritual agenda, had to say in reply to the very interesting article in The Coffee Break. The following is copied, verbatim, from the latest issue (Thursday, September 18, 2003), complete with all the fractured grammar, hackneyed syntax and slaughtered punctuation (and an unfortunate pejorative condemnation):
"This is another attempt by Hollywood and gays to create the attitude that this is an acceptable lifestyle. My friends and myself are preparing to organize an active campaign against the stations that air this trash and the organizations that sponsor them. The concept that two animals of the same sex could produce offspring is ludicrous and the absence of either sex in parents can only leave a child with half a personality, dooming them to follow in the footsteps of their only role models in life. -Bob P.
"I am disgusted at the thought of ABC encouraging TV shows with gay and lesbian themes. What's ABC teaching? That's it's ok for people (such as kids for example?) that it is ok to engage in morally corrupt activities? I don't think so. The hell with being 'politically correct' This is about being 'morally correct'. I'm tired of these individuals with alternative lifestyles trying to cram this garbage down my throat in a militant fashion, deluding themselves (and apparently others) into thinking this sort of thing is normal. Whether you're a person with spiritual values or not. This sort of activity should not be brought into a public media. Especially when innocent children are needlessly exposed to such equivocal behavior. Well my kids are not going to be subjected to such trash. Don't get me wrong. My children are taught to respect everyone regardless of who they are. But they are also taught right from wrong as well. Which is more than ABC can ever say..."
The last comment was unsigned, but it is given exactly as printed in The Coffee Break. I did find it interesting that the last-cited commentator thinks that "The hell with being ‘politically correct’" is compatible with being "morally correct," but that’s another subject, I suppose. There’s just no accounting for people, but at least, nobody could accuse that person of being a Bible thumper!
There is always a tendency for spiritually minded people to see themselves against the rest of the world, and to be frank, that is not always a wrong perception. It seems that at every turn we are bombarded with innuendo or blatantly offensive images and words. Even our own homes are the venue in which our children are subverted from the simplicity of Divine wisdom. It’s no wonder we think we are standing alone.
Yet, we need to remember that there are still some, however few they may be, who are as incensed as we are about these excesses in society and the media. There are still some, however few they may be, who are not interested in the twisted logic of those who pander to special-interests. There are still some, however few they may be, who still believe that mommies and daddies are made, as "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27).
These are the people who, with those of us who are bringing a spiritual perspective to the table for consideration, need to be cultivated as potential allies in this struggle. But, what better way is there to make them our allies than to bring them into fellowship with God and to obedience to His will?
We need to be finding and identifying those who will stand with God, and with us, in this struggle. We have much in common with them, and need only to make common cause with them on the basis of faith in Christ, to make our mutual effort the more effective.