Is that picture of the White House troubling? I hope so!

The ramifications of the United States Supreme Court decision to sanction same-sex marriages and require such marriages to be licensed in all 50 states are many. One of the most damaging is the impact on children. They are the biggest losers.

Dr. Michelle Cretella, President of the American College of Pediatricians (an apparently secular group) issued a statement saying:

“This is a tragic day for America’s children. The SCOTUS has just undermined the single greatest pro-child institution in the history of mankind: the natural family. Just as it did in the joint Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton decisions, the SCOTUS has elevated and enshrined the wants of adults over the needs of children.”

Whenever a legislature passes a law or the judiciary issues a ruling that

1. expands or ignores the God-given boundaries of morality,
2. encroaches on the sanctity of life,
3. infringes on the sanctity of marriage, or
4. encourages abortion,

they always do so to satisfy the selfish desires of adults and is always at the expense of children.

Imagine you are asked to identify the most selfish decisions any person can make. Inescapably, the list must include

• abortion,
• divorce,
• sacrificing child rearing on the altar of career, and
• identifying parenthood as anything other than the child’s natural parents.

Each of the selfish decisions is scorned by God, but approved, sanctioned and encouraged by the government (most government entitlements subsidize sin). Children pay a fearful price for all of them.

Only the natural parents are directly charged by God with the responsibility of raising their children to be adults of strong character. Same-sex ‘parents’ cannot do it. The churches cannot do it. The schools will not do it. Children simply cannot raise themselves. Yet, many today find themselves with little direction from parents who are suffering from career absenteeism.

When we fail to raise our children to become adults of strong character, their lives are compromised, the cohesiveness of the family is seriously damaged, and the weakened culture will eventually self-destruct.

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.^“ [Matthew 18:5-6 NIV]

The Supreme Court ruling codifying same-sex marriage is simply a barometer of a much broader cultural decline. Today, we are very near the point of cultural implosion. Nearly 200 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that, “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

He also summarized the results of his search for America’s greatness:

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers – and it was not there . . . in her fertile fields and boundless forests and it was not there . . . in her rich mines and her vast world commerce – and it was not there . . . in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution – and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. (emphasis added)

Same-sex marriage is wrong according to God and every reasonable temporal measure. It is now the law of the land, ultimately because the body of believers allowed it to happen just as the body of believers have allowed every other compromise and cultural controversy to emerge. Sadly, the body of believers have adopted many of the same compromises as the background secular culture. Sin has all-to-often become the new norm. After all, we must be “tolerant.”

Do America’s pulpits “flame with righteousness” today? If not, why not?