The world is leaving us and our values behind. If we don't get with the times, we may soon find ourselves isolated and irrelevant. If you think I'm talking about Christians and the recent Supreme Court decision on same-sex “marriage,” think again.
Of course, if you don’t read international and Christian news sources, you probably didn’t know that last week the UN Human Rights Council passed The Protection of the Family resolution. Not surprisingly, the mainstream U. S. media ignored the story.
The resolution, approved by a vote of 27 to 14, urges member states to adopt laws and policies that support the family—yes, the family—definite article. It calls the family, “the natural environment for the growth and well-being of all its members and particularly children.”
It goes on to insist that while governments have a place in protecting the human rights of all, “the family has primary responsibility for the nurturing and protection of children.”
While our country was splashing rainbows on government buildings to celebrate our un-defining of marriage and family, the global community was reaffirming God's created definition. It's an important moment that shows why, in the long run, federal judges cannot change the truth.
Speaking with LifeSite News, Sharon Slater of Family Watch International called the vote an “unprecedented,” “tremendous victory for the family.” And not surprisingly, progressive and pro-LGBT organizations wasted no time in condemning it. One group known as the Sexual Rights Initiative bizarrely warned that recognizing the natural family would “perpetuate patriarchal oppression, traditions, and harmful practices...”
But sad to say it was the 14 dissenting nations—including most of Western Europe and the United States—that really pulled out the stops to defeat this resolution.
‘[T]he United States lobbied [against it] with great energy,” says Slater, noting that pushing the LGBT agenda abroad has become a “primary objective of our nation's foreign policy.” She even reports that our delegation threatened to withhold foreign aid to developing nations if they affirmed the natural family.
Writing at “Touchstone,” Allan Carlson notes how under the Obama Administration, “threats, bribes, and extortion” aimed at “vulnerable lands in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe” have become regular strategies in our quest to export the sexual revolution.
Were it not for the enthusiastic support of China and Russia—major powers that spent the latter half of the last century trying to eradicate the natural family—this resolution may have failed. China and Russia learned the hard way how destructive anti-family policies are. And maybe it’s just a coincidence, but both countries have seen a rapid growth of Christianity in recent years.
Folks, if there's a wrong side of history, the United States of America is on it right now—at least when it comes to this issue. Thank God that despite bribery, bullying, and blackmail from the West, 27 nations voted to protect the family.
Even as I tremble for my country, it encourages me to realize that, as Allan Carlson writes, same-sex “marriage” is not only a recent problem—it's a regional one. Debates over sexuality and gender, he explains, are “merely the current enthusiasm of a relatively small number of deracinated, secularized, mostly childless, and largely white elites.”
It's easy to feel outnumbered and outgunned right now. I get it. But if we want to see God at work, taking a global perspective makes a world of difference.
BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today’s news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions.
John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
Publication date: July 16, 2015
