Broken World Word on the Week 15th April 2022.
There are so many signs of brokenness in the world that we need to go back the Genesis Chapters 1 and 2 for a refresher course. We can so easily forget how very good it all was in the beginning (chapter 1 verse 31). Adam had the helper made for him – perfect in every way with the creation ideal of faithfulness implicit in the covenant of marriage (Chapter 2 verses 23/24).
The one man plus one woman in a monogamous marriage was compromised by adultery so, on that ground and because of the hardness of the peoples’ hearts, Moses permitted divorce (St Matthew Chapter 19 verses 7 to 9). God hates the practice of divorce as, among other things, it thwarts his plan for godly offspring (Malachi Chapter 2 verses 13 to 16).
Divorce, or the practice of singleness, goes against the divine ideal. “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis Chapter 2 verse 18) so a covenant of companionship surrounded by self-giving love was created. There are those who, like the Apostle Paul are called to be single but, that apart, the creation ideal applies.
Nowhere is the world’s brokenness better seen than in the individual person’s sexual orientation and gender dysphoria. In the current culture where marriage is no longer automatically the custom many alternative lifestyles have competed to take its place. There has been a rapid spread of these new ideologies.
Events in Sligo town this week resulted in a man being charged with double murder. The deceased were on a gay dating site and the murderer came to their homes in the guise of a client. The homophobic responsible was taken into custody.
The dead men were members of the LGBTQI+ community There was a spontaneous outburst of support for the bereaved men from the community which took the form of parades and went countrywide.
Many years ago it was prostitutes who were the soft target in these hate crimes. They were thought of as marginal and of little worth. In fact, they occupied a similar place to the gays today.
Someone else was killed this weekend. He was the friend of the marginalised. In fact, it was sinners He was attracted to – but not in a sexual way. Rather he restored them to wholeness of life (St John Chapter 8 verse 11). His death caused death to die. It could never be the same again. He arose from the grave and offers eternal life to the gay believer and me! How about you? (St John Chapter 3 verses 15 to 17).