Do you love New York?

As you've no doubt heard, New York recently became the 6th state to legalize gay marriage (get that story here). Whatever you believe about this debate it has been an emotional battle for sure. It has been framed as an issue of rights but it really isn't (no one had the right to marry the same sex and everyone in our country has the right to marry the opposite sex - we all have equal rights). It is rather a debate about restructuring and tinkering with the foundation of our society in a way that will have many potential consequences (get some unbelievable stats from peer reviewed journals here). That being said, we, the "church" bear a tremendous amount of responsibility for the reality that our country has devalued marriage to the place we're at today. Christians have led the divorce revolution, showing through our lives and marriages that marriage and the family aren't worth respect or protection. We've also made this political issue more important than showing love to the gay and lesbian community that need to see God's love in a real way! I think the main thing for us to remember in all of this is that the gay and lesbian community are no different from any other demographic - they need Jesus! In stead of getting drawn too deep in this firefight I hope you'd take the time to love your spouse (and begin living a good example of marriage), pray and share your faith with any gay or lesbian friends you have. Here are a few great ideas for sharing your faith with gay and lesbian friends. Also, you won't want to miss the great video by Mike Haley below. So, to answer the question I began with, yes, I still love New York and hope you do too and I really hope we'll reach New York and the gay and lesbian community around the world for Jesus! Finally, this, like all news stories, provides a great opportunity to share the gospel. Get ideas on how to turn a conversation about this topic, or any topic, back to the gospel here.