Today is Tuesday, April 2nd, 2024

 ...and it's the middle of the night, about four o'clock in the morning, rather, here in the great American Southwest. Greetings and salutations, dear Reader, on yet another day on this side of the grave. If you're breathing in and out, you have at least one thing to be grateful for. In unimportant news:
I'm still taking the fourth course of Prednisone doctors have given me over the last few/several weeks to treat asthma/COPD. Since it's a blast-tapering course, I'm down to 20mg a day and can feel the results of the decrease, that's all. That's why I'm up so early today.
Anyway. 

Without any further delay, I'll share today's Proverb from the Book of Wisdom with you (Proverbs 2, this time from the New International Version): 
Behold, the Word of the Lord (highlighted): 

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

2 My son, if you accept my words

    and store up my commands within you,

2 turning your ear to wisdom

    and applying your heart to understanding—

3 indeed, if you call out for insight

    and cry aloud for understanding,

4 and if you look for it as for silver

    and search for it as for hidden treasure,

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord

    and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom;

    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 He holds success in store for the upright,

    he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

8 for he guards the course of the just

    and protects the way of his faithful ones.

9 Then you will understand what is right and just

    and fair—every good path.

10 For wisdom will enter your heart,

    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

11 Discretion will protect you,

    and understanding will guard you.

12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,

    from men whose words are perverse,

13 who have left the straight paths

    to walk in dark ways,

14 who delight in doing wrong

    and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,

15 whose paths are crooked

    and who are devious in their ways.

16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,

    from the wayward woman with her seductive words,

17 who has left the partner of her youth

    and ignored the covenant she made before God.[a]

18 Surely her house leads down to death

    and her paths to the spirits of the dead.

19 None who go to her return

    or attain the paths of life.

20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good

    and keep to the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright will live in the land,

    and the blameless will remain in it;

22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,

    and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

Footnotes

Proverbs 2:17 Or covenant of her God

And something that even in the short time I've been awake just today I'm already having to be reminded of: 

This Petra song is good, an oldie but goodie. I'm going to share the lyrics with you here, and they'll be highlighted, like I do with Scripture:

In heavenly armor we'll enter the land

The battle belongs to the Lord

No weapon that's fashioned against us shall stand

The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory and honor

Power and strength to the Lord

We sing glory and honor

Power and strength to the Lord

The power of darkness comes in like a flood

The battle belongs to the Lord

He's raised up a standard, the power of His blood

The battle belongs to the Lord

And we sing glory and honor

Power and strength to the Lord

And we sing glory and honor

Power and strength to the Lord

When your enemy presses in hard, do not fear

The battle belongs to the Lord

Take courage my friend, your redemption is near

The battle belongs to the Lord

We sing glory and honor

Power and strength to the Lord

We sing glory and honor

Power and strength to the Lord

The battle belongs to the Lord

The battle belongs to the Lord

About two months ago or so, our friend Vince came over to visit. He's also a conservative Christian and he challenged me in my own faith. I love how, in God's economy, we perfect one another as iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17). Anyway, our friend challenged me, that some of my own beliefs were not congruent with God's Word and His commands, specifically my (previous) endorsement of gay marriage.

There are so many non-hetero people who I know and dearly love that it has taken me more than a few decades to reconcile myself to the fact of the Word of God. Through this experience, I now know what the Scripture means that the Gospel is a stumbling block (see I Corinthians 1:23). Because of my emotions, I had refused to accept the Truth of what His Word says in this regard. But "there is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to Death" (Proverbs 14:12) We are not asked to like all that He says in His Word to us. But if we are Christians, we are (at some point before Death) required to reconcile ourselves to Him and His Word completely. Now, nowhere in the Word do I find anything telling me that I cannot love my non-hetero friends and that's precisely what I plan to keep on doing. Perhaps I'll have the honor of praying others into the Kingdom. Loving them in. (Oh Lord may it please be so!) But, at least on a political level, I cannot in good conscience endorse the institution of gay (specifically the word) "marriage". Now,  since civil unions are a matter of Law, should two people of any gender wish to unite legally who are we to stop them from doing so? It's just that the word "marriage" has a very specific definition and meaning. And allow me to reiterate here that I love all of the non-hetero people in my life and want only what's best for them and what is best for any human being is salvation in Christ Jesus. I will never stop being passionate for all to be saved. ALL, like Jesus. Because that's what His desire is (I Timothy 2:4) 

Even if it turns out that I'm wrong*, I feel confident in my Source and trust Him and His Word implicitly. These days, people are turning to professional actors and professional athletes in their search for a moral compass. 
This is not me. I understand that an actor is qualified to act,  and an athlete is qualified in sport. 
I look to Jesus Christ. I pour over the ancient writings of the great philosophers. I study the psychologists, and the sages. I heed the words of our Founding Fathers. 
Who do you turn to for morality, dear Reader, and why? 

*edited to add: The truth of God's Word and the reality of His divinity resonates with me at my deepest level. I believe with all of my being that His Word is Truth and Life. It goes well beyond mere human reasoning and transcends the animal instinct of mere base emotion.