I guess it’s no wonder that so many in this country homeschool.
The American Family Association (AFA) issued a recent alert that “Ohio’s H.B. 176 threatens our most basic freedoms” raised one of my eyebrows. Considering some of their previous alarmist claims, I decided to look into it a little more. Unfortunately, much of what they say is true.
Claims that legislation like this do not create a “special class” fall pretty flat, actually. Providing “rights” to any group is affording them some type of protection. It raises the choice of sexual identity and the choice of sexual orientation to a level currently afforded by those who do not have a choice (physical gender, skin color, ancestry, national heritage).
I had to look pretty hard at the actual Ohio bill HB 176 to verify other claims. According to the AFA:
The Ohio Civil Rights Commission would be authorized to work with the Department of Education to insure that all public school students in Ohio are taught that belief in the Biblical truth regarding homosexuality and other distorted sexual behaviors is equivalent to prejudice and thus inherently wrong. Students who have been taught by their parents that homosexual behaviors are contrary to their religious beliefs would have to remain silent or risk being punished, criticized and/or bullied. [Note: Sensitivity training of this nature does not recognize the critical difference between respect for all persons and affirmation of their beliefs and lifestyles.]
The note in square brackets above is theirs, not mine, btw, which is incorrect usage.
I’m most skeptical of the AFA when it comes to claims about “education” and young “students”. In the past, it was often, but not always, overhyped propaganda. However, there is this interesting tidbit in HB 176:
(9) Prepare a comprehensive educational program, in cooperation with the department of education, for the students of the public schools of this state and for all other residents of this state that is designed to eliminate prejudice
on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, military status, familial status, national origin, disability, age, or ancestryin this state,to further good will among those groups,and to emphasize the origin of prejudiceagainst those groupsand discrimination,itstheir harmful effects, anditstheir incompatibility with American principles of equality and fair play;
Note the wording in the strikethrough font, annotating changes from the original. It not only helps to prove the point that sexual identity and orientation are now elevated to the level of gender, race and skin color, but it also shows that “educational programs” will target young children to indoctrinate them into the current state religion of human secularism.
Our tolerance of sin has increased to the point that right is wrong and wrong is right (Cf. Isa 5:20). Leviticus 18 lists all sorts of sexual sins that God considers abominable. It is only a matter of time before none of these will be considered unusual in this nation. Note how this section of Scripture starts out:
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.
~ Lev 18:1-3
Both Egypt and Canaan were judged for these sins on a national scale. How much longer before we are as well?
Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:
And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:
(For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)
That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.
~ vv 24-28
Is God a respecter of persons? If He judged the Canaanites in such a manner, why do we think we will escape such judgment as a nation?
Don’t be fooled! It isn’t just those who practice such things that will be judged!
Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
~ Ro 1:32
Our world doesn’t see the line between tolerance and acceptance. The world believes to be “tolerant” doesn’t mean to show mercy. In fact, the world is a very unforgiving place. However, they not only tolerate different viewpoints, but put the worst of actual acts of abominations on a pedestal. They elevate sin, glorify in it, and call those “good” who do evil. God says that is in itself deserving of death, naturally referring to the second death.