When Sin Becomes Normalized

Jim McGuire, an alumnus of River Valley High School in Marion County, Ohio, has sparked public outrage over his commencement speech to the graduates last Friday.

“My jaw dropped to the floor, and I honestly thought I was hearing it wrong,” said a 2018 River Valley graduate, Alexis Osipow. She said she was “outraged” and was further dismayed when people were clapping in approval of McGuire’s statement.

So, what did he say that was so outrageous?

Along with advice about life and pursuing future goals McGuire encouraged the students to spend time “learning God’s Word.” Then he made the following comment regarding romantic relationships.

“Choose a spouse, I suggest. I also strongly suggest to make sure to choose Biblical principles, you know, a male with a female and female with a male.”

One critic said it was “inappropriate.” Another suggested this thinking was so outdated and was like going back to the 1950s.

Now, one might argue that McGuire used poor judgment in using graduation to mention what the Bible says about marriage. Yet, the local response, which included the school board issuing a statement that McGuire was not an official representative of the school district and sharing his own personal views, is indicative of how sin has become normalized.

June has been dubbed by homosexual activists as “Pride Month.” And Google won’t let you forget as this holiday is embedded in your Google calendar.

Major League Baseball has also joined in the observance with 28 or their 30 teams featuring “Pride Nights” at their stadiums. Players are given special hats and logos on their uniforms celebrating the homosexual lifestyle. Interestingly, 5 of the Tampa Bay Rays players have refused to wear the uniforms citing it as “a faith-based decision.”

Ray’s pitcher Jason Adam offered this explanation “It’s a hard decision. Because ultimately, we all said what we want is them to know that all are welcome and loved here,” he said of the LGBTQ+ community. “… It’s just that maybe we don’t want to encourage it if we believe in Jesus, who’s encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior, just like (Jesus) encourages me as a heterosexual male to abstain from sex outside of the confines of marriage. It’s no different.”

Many businesses have decided to cater to the homosexual agenda and followed suit with various forms of recognition of “Pride Month.”

All of this is so ironic because in the early days activists denied there was a “gay agenda.” In fact, it was once labeled as a “right-wing conspiracy,” by Bible believers who were paranoid.

Well, this is what happens when sin is normalized.

The statements of McGuire, Adams, and others are not 1950s thinking. It’s Biblical thinking recorded in the first century. It is affirming the truth Jesus spoke in response to a question from the Pharisees regarding marriage.

“Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matt. 19:4-6).

When sin is normalized we become like the ancients whom Isaiah described with this condemnation.

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!
(Isa. 5:20).

When sin is normalized, people become like pagan Gentiles who Paul identified, as dishonoring “their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever” (Rom. 1:24).

When sin is normalized, people as the apostle Paul penned “become enemies of the cross of Christ,” and “glory in their shame.” (Phil. 3:19).

When sin is normalized, religious organizations like Mennonite Church USA, Lutherans, Methodists, and Presbyterians condone same-sex marriage.

When sin is normalized, righteousness is scorned, wickedness is praised, and sin becomes a reproach to our nation (Prov 14:34).

When sin is normalized people are criticized for simply citing what the Bible says.

It’s a sad day when sin is normalized.

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman