The NEA and Morality
By Bobby Witherington

A good friend and co-laborer in the gospel who lives in another state sent me a copy of a letter he received from the organization known as “Concerned Women for America.” According to this letter, “at its 1995 annual conference, the National Education Association (NEA) passed a resolution encouraging NEA member teachers nationwide to begin celebrating a Lesbian and Gay History Month in our public schools.” Specifically, this NEA resolution calls for “...the celebration of a Lesbian and Gay History Month as a means of acknowledging the contributions of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals throughout history!” Also from the same source we are told that ‘numerous elected officials including the governors of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Oregon have endorsed the idea of celebrating a Lesbian and Gay History Month in their states’.”

Well, there you have it! An organization consisting of over 2.2 million teacher members passing a resolution in which they are calling for the regular celebration of Lesbian and Gay History Month in our public schools. Apparently they reason that if it is proper to celebrate Black History Month, then it is equally appropriate to celebrate Lesbian and Gay History Month. The underlying implication is that sexual perversion is as normal as being black. Of course, I just used an expression (“sexual perversion”) that is not “politically correct” in modern times. However, Lesbians and Gays are perverts, and that is the most charitable way I can describe them. God called their passions “vile.” He described their conduct as being “against nature” (and this is the Bible way of saying “perverted”), their minds as being “debased” (Rom. 1:26-28) and said that both those “who practice such things” and those who “approve” of them are “worthy of death” (Rom. 1:32)! Apparently, the NEA could care less about what God thinks! Tragically, however, many members thereof do not even know that God exists! So what do they care about what He thinks?

Interestingly, the context of some of the passages which speak of homosexuality also mentions such sins as murder and fornication (Rom. 1:25-31; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10; Lev. 18:20-22; Lev. 20:10-14, etc.). A murderer, a fornicator, and a homosexual all have at least two things in common, namely this: (1) each is immoral, and (2) each is condemned by the God of heaven!

My point is this: What gives the NEA (or anyone else) the right to elevate any particular sin from its proper place in the gutter of shameful immorality and then elevate it to the height of human acceptability and respectability? Why don’t they propose the celebration of Fornicators History Month, or Murders History Month, and then inform our nation’s youngsters of all the wonderful contributions which these people have made to society?

Biblically speaking, it makes as much sense to dignify fornication and murder as it does to dignify homosexuality. Of course, any attempt to elevate any sin to the level of human respectability is to be guilty of doing what God has long since specifically condemned like in Isaiah 5:20 wherein He said, “Woe to them 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.”

A Proposal:

I am grateful that such organizations as “Concerned Women For America” are fighting this latest attempt on the part of the NEA to give honor, respectability, and yes, special privileges to lesbians and gays. However, if indeed the NEA has its way and its member teachers are coerced to begin celebrating Lesbian and Gay History Month in our public schools, then I propose they teach the actual historical facts about the entire homosexual movement. Be sure to inform our youngsters about the relationship between homosexuality and AIDS! Be sure and inform them about Sodom and Gomorrah! Be sure and inform our young people that homosexuality is repeatedly condemned in the Scriptures! Be sure and inform them that the homosexual movement is destructive to marriage, home, and family! Be sure and inform our young people that they would not even exist if their parents had engaged exclusively in same-sex behavior! And be sure to inform our youngsters that, historically speaking, no nation wherein homosexuality became common and acceptable has ever survived! Yes, if the NEA has its way and Congress ultimately goes along with the absurd notion of celebrating a Lesbian and Gay History Month in our public schools, then I suggest that a portion of every day during Gay History Month be used in teaching our young people the real facts about Lesbianism and Homosexuality!

Conclusion:

I do not hate homosexuals. Nor do I hate child molesters, fornicators, adulterers, drunkards, thieves, and murderers. But I do despise their conduct! Because God is a loving and merciful God, he has given all sinners certain very important “rights” – the right to hear the gospel (Mk. 16:15), the right to become believers (Rom. 10:17), the right to repent of their sins (Acts 17:30), the right to be “baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38), the right to become His children (Gal. 3:26, 27), and the right to henceforth “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:3, 4), always seeking thereafter to set their “affections on things above” (Col. 3:2). However, God has never legitimized sinful behavior. And any government which legalizes immorality will eventually self-destruct. As followers of Jesus Christ, there has never been a time when it has been more urgent than now that we be “the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13), and “shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15). Consider ye well! 

Editor’s Note: The article above by brother Witherington was written in 1996. That was 22 years ago. Unfortunately, the concerns expressed in his article are real and even more serious. I highly recommend you read the article titled, Homosexuality and Public Education, by Eric Lyons, M. Min., available on the Apologetics Press website. This carefully documented article explains how the American public education system is being used by gay activists to promote the homosexual agenda, with help of the courts, the government, the NEA, the mainstream media and Hollywood. Sadly, some public schools have become institutions of immoral indoctrination, when they are supposed to be institutions of education. — tgmc

Stephen Hawking Is Wrong, God Created the Universe
By Kyle Butt, M. Div.

Stephen Hawking is a brilliant scientist. He has battled a crippling disease since he was 20, made a name for himself on a global scale through his scientific prowess, and been an inspiration to many. But in his latest book, The Grand Design, he is just plain wrong. Michael Holden wrote an article he titled: “‘God Did Not Create the Universe,’ Says Hawking,” in which he stated that Hawking’s new book, co-authored with Leonard Mlodinow, proposes the idea that the laws which hold the Universe together do not need an intelligent Designer.

In fact, Holden quoted Hawking as saying: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist” (as quoted in Holden, 2010, emp. added). While the book is not yet on the shelves, there are already glaring flaws with Hawking’s reasoning.

First, Hawking cannot explain why the law of gravity exists in the first place. He says “because there is a law of gravity,” but he can give no reason why such a law is present, and is constant. Without an adequate explanation for the origin of laws, such as gravity, any explanation of the origin of a Universe dependent on those laws is incomplete. Furthermore, regardless of what theoretical, mathematical calculations Hawking has concocted, the simple fact of the matter is, if there ever was a time when nothing existed, there would be nothing now. The mere fact that Hawking suggests that anything can “spontaneously create itself out of nothing,” is, with all due respect, ridiculously absurd and completely unscientific! It is impossible to get something from nothing—any way you slice it. Using Hawking’s way of thinking, we could suggest that this article you are reading “spontaneously created itself out of nothing.” Yet such a conclusion defies all known scientific laws.

In Acts 26:24, the Roman governor Festus said to the apostle Paul: “You are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!” While that accusation did not accurately apply to Paul, it does, unfortunately, apply to Hawking’s concept of “spontaneous creation out of nothing.” The Psalmist wrote: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” Sadly, Hawking’s brilliant mind has been turned to false, unscientific foolishness. Would to God that Hawking and all his fellow scientists would turn to the God of the Bible who speaks “the words of truth and reason” (Acts 26:25).

REFERENCE: Holden, Michael (2010), “‘God Did Not Create the Universe’, Says Hawking,” http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100902/lf_nm_life/us_britain_hawking. — From Apologetics Press, http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=3768&topic=90.

Editor’s Note: Stephen Hawking, a brilliant mind but an avowed atheist, died at the age of 76 on March 14, 2018. I’m scripturally certain he is now no longer an atheist (Lk. 16:19-31; Psa. 14:1; Rom. 1:19-22). — tgmc