An Isaiah 5:20 World
When I was a new Christian, and a much younger man, there were passages in the Bible that did not make a lot of sense to me. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe them, but rather that I didn’t really see the need. Isaiah 5:20 was one of those. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Ok, but who would ever do this, I thought. Now doing evil I could see, as unfortunately there were far too many historical examples. But Isaiah is not talking about just doing that which we should not, but an intellectual inversion of morality, that was for me, incomprehensible.
But over the last few decades, unfortunately many of these passages have come to make much more sense, Isaiah 5:20 being one of them. At times I feel like Charlton Heston in the upside down world of Planet of the Apes, and want to scream, “It’s a mad house, a mad house.” One of those times was this week with the controversy surrounding the Miss USA pageant.
Now I am not a big fan of such pageants. I don’t oppose them; I just don’t care about them much one way or the other. But as I learned the details about the controversy I became very bother, because it was one of those moments of clarity where you see how bad things have really become, and how unless stopped they will get much worse.
The basic facts are that a contestant was asked for her thoughts on legalizing same sex marriage, and said that she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman. It was an answer that the vast majority of Americans would give, and one that even President Obama, and many democrats have given.
Yet Miss California was denounced and condemned for her answer, and lost. Shanna Moakler a co-director of the pageant applauded her for being “willing to miss out on the opportunity of being Miss USA, to stay true to her convictions.” But then she when all to say that, “we don’t hate her. But it puts us in a difficult situation because we do have a difference of opinion.”
Miss California’s crime was supposedly not her position, but her answer was “insensitive” and not “compassionate.” In short, she should not have inserted “her own personal politics into it.” Here is what she said,
“I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other, but in my country, and in my family, I think that I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that’s how I was raised.”
The moral and intellectual inversion involved in the condemnation of this answer clearly qualifies this as an example of Isaiah 5:20. Consider the last part, that she should not have inserted her personal politics into the pageant. This complaint was made by the judge who asked her view about same-sex marriage. If her opinion on same-sex marriage did not belong in the pageant, then why ask for her opinion about same sex marriage? The judge who asked the question is a militant homosexual. Does anyone seriously believe that if her answer had supported same sex marriage this judge would have been “shocked” or that he would have posted the tirade against her on his web site? This tirade was so vile and disgusting, that the Host on CBS’s the Early Show had to caution him at the beginning of the interview that there show was a live family show.
Yet in the upside down Isaiah 5:20 world in which we live, vile and disgusting attacks on a woman who expresses biblical values are acceptable, even understandable. But saying that marriage should be between a man and a woman, well, that is just beyond the pale.
As a result, the world in which those with traditional values are allow to participate is a little bit smaller. Again I not a fan of such pageants so in many ways I don’t care. But I am a fan of liberty and freedom. I believe that true marriage is only between a man and a woman, not just because this is what the Bible teaches, but for a number of reasons independent of the Bible. More importantly, I believe the reasoning on this is so strong that given a fair and open debate the traditional view of marriage would remain the dominant position of society.
I also believe that this is why the minority that supports same-sex marriage is so intolerant of any contrary opinion. Their position is ultimately flawed, irrational and grounded in silly and false notions such as there is no real difference between men and women. In fact, the position is so weak that the only way it can survive is through the suppression of any contrary, that is biblical, views. That this minority controls virtually all the major media and pop culture, allows for this suppression.
And this is the true significance of the controversy at the Miss USA pageant for is shows how far this intolerance of biblical views has spread. The antipathy for biblical values is already in the movies, news, music, and most importantly the schools. The fact that the younger generations see no problem with same-sex marriage, is a testament to how successfully biblical views have been suppressed.
So now the suppression has expanded even further. In the name of tolerance and compassion, the expression of the biblical view of marriage can no longer be tolerated, and no compassion will be show for those who express such views. It is truly an Isaiah 5:20 world.
This is Elgin Hushbeck, asking you to Consider Christianity: a Faith Based on Fact.
