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The Mystery and Wonder of “One Flesh”

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“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife,
and they shall become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24, ESV)

Perhaps you have wondered what “one flesh” means in Genesis 2:24. I have tried to answer that question many times as a pastor. Certainly “one flesh” sounds intimate. How do two people, a man and woman, become one flesh in a marriage covenant? The context of Genesis 2 suggests that “one flesh” refers to something physical, but is there also something deeper?

The one-flesh bond involves a physical act with the potential of reproducing another human being.

The context in Genesis focuses upon Adam’s need for a partner if he/they were to populate the earth. Our physical bodies reflect our uniqueness as male and female to complement each other in the act of reproduction. And that is something that a relationship between two men or two women can never accomplish—no matter what people may claim today.


God had created the animals out of the soil and commanded them to multiply and fill the earth. He also formed the man from the dust of the ground and placed him in the garden to manage it. Adam was to name the animals. (I like to imagine each pair of animals—male and female—passing before Adam to receive their name. If sufficient time had passed to permit some of the animals to have already mated, Adam might have seen his first litter of kittens.)

One fact became all too clear: Adam was the only living creature in the garden without a mate. He was alone! Although surrounded by natural beauty and a plethora of amazing animals, Adam must have felt an empty place in his soul. Certainly, he enjoyed the evening visits with his Creator, but something was missing in his life. Someone! Someone to provide the opportunity to reproduce another human being and to populate the earth.
Someone like himself but…delightfully different as well.

It is at this point in Genesis that we discover the first negative words recorded in Scripture—words from the lips of the Creator Himself:
“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18)
So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
(Genesis 2:21–23, ESV)

Adam’s almost spontaneous response, upon discovering the partner that God had created from him and for him, is the first poetry recorded in the Bible.

Because the woman was formed out of the man (Ish), Adam named her Ishah. Note the play on words. This new arrival in the garden was unique from all the animals that Adam had named. She was “like him” because she shared his flesh and bones. Simply speaking, our physical bodies primarily consist of flesh and bones. Our skeletons serve as a frame on which to attach muscles and a shell to encase and protect our vital organs.
The poetry ends at this point.

Verse 24 introduces commentary to describe this unique covenant relationship between one man and one woman.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:24–25, ESV)

The man was to leave his family and to commit himself to his wife. The Hebrew word translated “hold fast to” or “cling to” could be translated “fuse himself to” his wife. (“Fuse” is the word that I used in a previous post, borrowed from a scientific article describing how the fusion of an egg and a sperm forms one cell called a Zygote, a new living organism capable of reproducing itself and becoming another human being.) That wonderful mystery of two cells fusing together to become one cell helps illustrate the biblical description of marriage as two people.

A man and a woman becoming “one flesh.”

Note the comment that follows the words “one flesh”: “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” Clearly, there is a physical/sexual aspect in the one-flesh relationship within the marriage covenant between a husband and wife, with the Creator-God as both a witness and partner. This, of course, is a covenant far, far deeper than today’s “hooking up” or “recreational sex.”

Could there be clearer evidence of God’s plan for marriage? “One flesh”—no longer two—with the wonderful, almost mystical ability to reproduce another human being! And this carries with it the clear and natural assumption that the baby will be protected while it matures inside its mother’s womb for nine months, preparing for its first gasp of oxygen with its own lungs and its first cry with its own vocal cords!

One flesh involves something deeper than physical.

Stepping outside Genesis 2, consider evidence from the New Testament that “one-flesh” relationship includes something deeper than a physical act. Something almost spiritual. (I hesitate to use the word “spiritual” because of its overuse today. Anything and almost everything has been described as being a spiritual experience. Sharing a white chocolate latte by candlelight with a friend is considered “spiritual.” Even a walk along the beach or gazing up at the stars on a clear night.)

Consider Paul’s warning against sex outside of the marriage covenant—a behavior almost considered “normal” in the Corinthian culture:
“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, ‘The two shall become one flesh.’ But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.” (1 Corinthians 6:13-16)

Clearly, in the above passage, “one flesh” involves something deeper than a flesh-on-flesh physical act. When the man in Paul’s illustration “united himself” with a prostitute, the two became “one flesh.” That one-night stand was a cheap reflection of the almost sacred act within a marriage covenant. (However, two men or two women in a homosexual relationship can never become “one flesh.” They will always remain two. Such sexual activity is not simply immoral; it is unnatural—an attack against nature itself. God considers it an abomination.)

Because God is both witness and co-participant in the sacred marriage covenant, to violate the one-flesh covenant is to sin against Christ, against the Holy Spirit who dwells within a believer and against our own bodies. Sounds like spiritual suicide.
Paul continues his instructions regarding sex and marriage in 1 Corinthians 7, where “one flesh” has deep, spiritual connotations. Sex is both a privilege to enjoy and a responsibility. Sex can strengthen the marital bond when each partner seeks to serve the other. Paul also warns that Satan will attempt to use sex as a weapon to weaken the marital covenant, so it seems there is something spiritual about becoming one flesh.

One flesh includes the potential to experience a deeper social relationship.

Consider Paul’s instructions to the church at Ephesus:
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” (Ephesians 5:25–33, ESV)

Something amazingly profound happens in the covenant relationship. So amazing that Paul actually calls it a mystery. Christ’s unselfish love for His bride—the Church—is the model for a Christian husband. Christ literally gave Himself up for the Church. It cost His life. He is committed to making us holy like Himself. He loves the Church as if it was His own body, and we are. In the same way, a godly husband will cherish and protect his wife as he would his own life. It is in this unselfish relationship that personal relationships can grow deeply.

Paul, once again, reaches back to Genesis 2. Just Imagine two people entering into a covenant that fuses them into one flesh, with each unselfishly cherishing the other. Such selfless commitment will draw them closer and grow them deeper into their relationship. Imagine the potential for true intimacy. It’s wonderful! I know, for I speak as a man that has been married to the same woman over 57 years. The love, the trust and the desire to please each other has grown deeper until we almost think as one. This is the relational aspect of becoming “one flesh.”

So, once again, Paul has anchored his teaching about marriage on the one-flesh statement in Genesis.

The one-flesh bond is so strong—so severe—that it is to be unbreakable.

When Jesus responded to the Pharisees’ “trick” question about His position on divorce, He refused to land on either the strict or the more permissive views about divorce being taught by various Rabbis. Instead, He reaches back to Genesis 2. “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6)

Notice that Jesus added this comment to the passage in Genesis: “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”

These are severe words. Words I have used when performing weddings. Regretfully, sometimes the words proved to be no more than ink on paper.

Something has happened, or was intended to happen, when a man and a woman and God entered into a covenant that makes marriage more than a legal contract. More than a sheet of paper to be signed and filed at the county courthouse. So special, so spiritual and so binding is this one-flesh relationship—this covenant before God—that it is almost beyond comprehension. Perhaps it needs to be experienced before one can even begin to comprehend the mystery of two people becoming one flesh.

To willfully, selfishly break this covenant not only derails the personal relationship between the couple but dishonors our Creator. I share a quote from the Expositors Bible Commentary:
“Divorce is contrary to the divine institution, and contrary to the nature of marriage, contrary to the divine action by which the union is affected. It is precisely here that its wickedness becomes singularly apparent—it is the sundering by man of a union God has constituted. Divorce is the breaking of a seal which has been engraven by the hand of God” (Murray, Divorce, p. 33).

So how can two unique people become one flesh? The one-flesh bond involves a physical/sexual relationship intended for pleasure and procreation. One flesh involves such a deepening unselfish love that the partners would literally die for one another. One flesh is a spiritual relationship that reflects Christ’s love for His church. One flesh is a covenant made between two people and God that is so strong it ought only be broken by death.

Next to the privilege of knowing and enjoying God Himself may be to experience the mystery of two people becoming one flesh.

The High Cost of Defending the High Ground

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The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest single battle in the Civil War. Over 160,000 Union and Confederate troops struggled for three days between July 1-3, 1863. Gettysburg would prove to be the turning point in the war, and the turning point at Gettysburg was the failed Confederate charge to take the high ground – East Cemetery Hill and Culp’s Hill- away from the Union forces. The failed Confederate assault to take the high ground, cost nearly 65% of the troops, sent Lee’s army in retreat across the Mason Dixon Line.

Some have debated whether the loss of so many American lives- both Union and Confederate- during the Civil War was worth the price. Those who understood the cancer of slavery said yes. Every black slave that finally tasted freedom would say yes.

Consider another war and another battle to control the high ground on June 6, 1944. The Allied invasion on the beaches of Normandy resulted in severe casualties, especially at Omaha Beach where brave American soldiers, and many filled with fear, left the protection of their landing craft and leaped into the Atlantic surf seeking safety on the beach and discovering German landmines, barbed wire and the relentless staccato of Nazi machine guns reigning down from the higher ground.

Was D-Day worth the cost of thousands of lives? Those prisoners still alive in Hitler’s death camps would respond, “yes!” What would life be like today if Hitler’s demonic vision to rid the world of people deemed to be an inferior race?

Today, another war, another struggle over the moral high ground is being fought. Or, at least it was. Seems to me, we have relinquished the high moral ground in the debate over abortion when we celebrate a state law restricting abortion after 21 weeks gestation. Certainly 21 weeks is preferred to abortion up to the minute of a natural birth.

But, is this any different than the failed compromises preceding the Civil War? Did the Missouri Compromise make slavery less immoral south of the Mason-Dixon line? The Kansas-Nebraska Act permitted each new state that joined the Union to decide whether to legalize or to forbid slavery. Sounds like the abortion debate today.

When I began posting here on standingonthepromise.com, I never intended to treat the issue of abortion in four consecutive posts. However, the stakes are so high with so many innocent lives at risk, I soon realized I couldn’t say all that I wanted in one post. So, consider the following as an addendum to the previous posts about the struggle over abortion. I believe abortion on demand is the greatest evil- a moral epidemic- in our culture today.

The rapid increase of deaths caused by an overdose of fentanyl or other opioid drugs has caused some people to consider it an epidemic. Pictures of homeless people, sprawled on the sidewalks of our cities, injecting drugs into their arms appear on tv newscasts.

One of my initial responses to these images was to ask myself, “Why are they doing this? Why are they risking death for another high? What is the pain that is causing them to self-medicate?”

There’s enough blame to go around. It is easy to point fingers at the drug cartels that smuggle illicit drugs across our porous southern border. Liberal politicians- both state and national- that refuse to enforce the Law also bare responsibility for the opioid epidemic. Even I, who watch the pictures of people lying on the sidewalk or staggering down the street bear some responsibility. Have I prayed for them? Have I ever risked trying to speak to them- to even ask their name? Of course not! It’s too dangerous? After all they’re miles away from Troutdale. It’s not my problem.

Yes, the opiod epidemic is taking the lives of too many people. But the differences between the abortion epidemic and that of opiod deaths are stark. Every person that inhales or injects or swallows drugs has chosen to do it. Perhaps it was just curiosity the first time. Or, perhaps it is an attempt to escape reality by burying the inner pain caused by life’s harsh experiences. However, no matter the reason, it was a choice that each victim of a drug overdose has made. A risk they chose to take.

In contrast, the epidemic that I am thinking of is never the choice of the victims. Far more deaths in our country result from abortion than from drug overdoses.

Every life is a terrible thing to waste. Every death should be grieved whether occuring in a lean-to tent on the streets of Portland or in an abortion clinic.

Sadly, without legal protection and a fresh spirit of compassion, infanticide will continue in our self-centered, pleasure-seeking culture. Today, we seem to be in a race to make abortion legal at any time and for any reason. However, man-made laws can never make something that is inherently evil morally good.

I realize that I may be “preaching to the choir.” People who already believe that legalizing abortion is wrong. Perhaps, these blog posts may be just a “voice in the wilderness.” But, if you also feel compassion for the most vulnerable among us, I invite you to also pray for and to cry out for justice for unborn.

Oh, how I long for that day when pain and death will no longer make headlines. When justice and compassion will flow like a river and innocent blood will be vindicated.

That wonderful day will be the fulfillment of the promise I stand upon, that someday the “seed of the woman” will deal a death blow to the great serpent- the enemy of everything that is good. Meanwhile, I am sustained with anticipation and will continue to offer my voice on behalf of the victims of this great epidemic.

The Mystery and Wonder when Two Cells Become One

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“For You formed my inward parts;
You knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are Yor works;
My soul knows it very well.”
(Psalm 139:13- 14a. ESV)

My original intention when I set out to write this post several weeks ago was to explore the familiar “one flesh” statement in Genesis: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24, ESV)

How can two people, a man and woman in a marriage covenant, become one? I pondered whether there might be something from the natural, physical world that might help illustrate “two separate identities becoming one.”

My mind turned to human reproduction. The search was on. The Internet replaced Biology and Human Anatomy text books. I discovered more than a potential illustration of how a man and a woman become one flesh in the marital relationship.

My research immediately pulled my mind back to the question that I have addressed in the previous blog posts:  When does a baby in the womb become a person deserving legal protection? I believe the answer lies in the following information lifted from my research:

When two unique cells- an egg and a sperm- come together they lose their identity and become one very special cell- a living organism that can divide and grow into a baby boy or girl- another human being.

In human reproduction, the male produces thousands of sperms- single cells with a nucleus but with only half of the chromosomes that identify us as being human. The woman’s body produces ova/eggs that are also single cells with a nucleus but only 23 chromosomes. Because the sperm and egg contain only half of the number of chromosomes, they are call haploid cells. In the human body, only egg and sperm cells are haploid—containing only 23 chromosomes.

These cells, sperm and egg, are not living organisms and cannot survive unless fertilized. Both sperms and eggs have a very short shelf life if fertilization does not take place.

Now I quote from a textbook: “sperm and egg cells, known as gametes, fuse during fertilization to create a Zygote. During fertilization, a sperm and ovum unite to form a new diploid organism.” (Note my emphasis.)

This new human diploid cell contains the full set of 46 chromosomes and has the potential to multiply by dividing. To grow and mature into another human being. But, note in the bold print above how the sperm and egg have “fused” together. They have become one cell with a full set of 46 chromosomes that will determine everything about the baby that is developing in the mother’s womb. This cell- this tiny cell- is a living organism with its own identity while living within but not part of its mother. It is a distinct organism from its mother. Its life could potentially extend through nine months of gestation and decades outside the womb.

So, it is here inside the mother’s body that something special, something wonderful, has happened.  Two unique cells have fused to become one new living being. This truth from human reproduction- from science- convinces me that life begins at conception and has potential to live and mature for nine months in its mother’s uterus. If not destroyed.

So having shared three previous posts asking when does an embryo become a person, I choose to land on these words above: “fuse” and “form a new, living organism.” Any deliberate attempt to prevent its maturation and a live birth is to take another human life. It is wrong. It is inhumane.

That is why I have written these posts. I add my voice to those who, like the 19th century abolitionists who demanded the immediate end of slavery. A war was fought. Blood was spilled on American soil to remove the curse of slavery. Pictures and stories about the suffering that black slaves endured helped turn public opinion.

Today, after the death of Roe v Wade, it’s as if another war has been declared. A war against life itself. Liberal politicians rush to protect abortion on demand. Liberal states advertise that they’re open for business. Even some more conservative states are being caught up in the abortion riptide.

Two pictures are unwelcome at a proabortion rally or in front of the local Planned Parenthood building: pictures of the tiny miracle sucking his thumb while living inside the womb of its mother and especially unwelcome are real pictures of the “product” of an abortion- whether burned by saline solution or dismembered and suctioned or poisoned. (Yes, those are harsh words, but it’s the truth about abortion. The truth they want to hide. The truth, like that of slavery, that the public needs to acknowledge.)

Let us join the struggle to remove this blight that tarnishes our claim to be a civil society. Let us reclaim the high ground in the struggle to protect all human life. Let us demonstrate compassion for the pregnant woman who is being pressured to abort her baby. Let us walk with her through her pregnancy- both prenatal and postnatal.

Let us help reveal the mystery and wonder that is happening inside the womb. I encourage you to go on Line to be, as I was, overwhelmed and exclaiming “Wow! Marvelous! Unbelievable! Wonderful!”

I share a very few examples of the wonder that is transpiring inside the womb:

By the 4th week of pregnancy, the neuro tube that will become the brain and nervous system is forming and the head is beginning to form as is the head with eyes, ears and mouth. (The formation of the eye between the 3rd and 10th week is a marvel in itself.)

5th week: Cells that will become the heart are beginning to pulsate at 110 times per minute.

6th week: arms and legs and taste buds are forming.

7th week: Cartilage is beginning to become bones.

8th week: All major organs have developed.

10th week: Arms, hands with fingers fully formed and nails beginning to grow; same with feet and toes.

12th week: The circulatory, digestive and urinary systems are working- creating urine.

16th week: The baby can hear her mother’s voice and will also respond to light.

From this point on, the baby will grow and gain weight to prepare for his/her birth. That, in a nutshell is a snapshot of the miracle and the wonder that happens when two cells- an egg and a sperm- fuse to become one new living organism!

Imagine, if David could have known, what we now know about the wonder when two cells become a new, living organism- another person growing in its mother’s womb.

The debate over abortion ought to be when is a baby a person deserving protection- a wonderful miracle not just a piece of tissue to throw away.

If you agree, please add your voice.

When is a Person a Person?

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Can a sheet of paper change property into a person?

A recent episode of the TV show Finding Your Roots, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., helped a popular black entertainer discover how just one sheet of paper—and a few words written with ink—forever changed her family’s trajectory.

Decades before the Civil War or the Emancipation Proclamation, a slave owner wrote a few sentences on a sheet of paper, declaring that her female slave would be set free the next day at a specific hour. At that almost magic moment in time, the ancestor ceased being “a piece of property” without legal rights. She became a person with full legal rights to pursue life as she pleased.

That piece of paper changed the direction of the emancipated slave’s descendants forever. They would also be born as free persons, not as slaves. But there was one thing the sheet of paper did not do, nor could it ever accomplish. It did not transform a piece of property into a person—a real person—not three-fifths of a person. No piece of paper can do that. Only our Creator God can make that call.

Human laws may err; God’s laws do not. The Dredd Scott Decision and Roe v Wade were wrong-headed. Each became the law of our nation; each needed to be expunged and, thankfully, were declared to be unconstitutional.

Today there is controversy over the issue of abortion—over the question “when does a baby deserve protection in the womb of its mother?” Each of the 50 states have laws specifying such a date. Some states choose 20 weeks gestation. Others, 28 or 36—or perhaps when the fetus can survive outside the womb. Regrettably, almost beyond imagination, a few states essentially provide no legal protection even up to the moment of birth.

How can this be? Why the confusion? Why so many different laws determining if or when a baby can be aborted, and his or her life terminated?

Why the race, in some states, to place the right to abort a baby at any time for any reason as a constitutional right? If abortion is a matter of life or death—and it is—why all this subjectivity? That is exactly the reason some people today have chosen the title abolitionists. Like the bold people in the 19th Century that called for complete eradication of the evil of slavery throughout the nation. Today, those abolitionists remain heroes.

Where are the voices of those who, when polled five years ago, said they believed abortion was wrong? How can the issue of taking the life of an innocent person no longer be a moral issue to oppose? Abortion is either right or wrong—evil or just. There is no middle ground if the life of another human being is being terminated.

So the issue remains: When is a baby a person? Answering that question is all-important. Is it at conception? Is it when it reaches an embryo or fetal stage? Or does it become a real-live baby when it gasps for its first breath? Or maybe somewhere in between the above options?

Since abortion involves premeditatively killing something or someone that is alive, dare we subjectively choose a date during gestation to insert the scalpel or to drink the poison?

If I am a deer hunter in the forest seeing something move—something obviously alive—but I can’t determine if it has antlers, should I pull the trigger? What if in that instant I realized that the movement might also be my son, hunting with me and moving through the trees? Should I take a chance and pull the trigger? Of course not! How then can we justify subjectively setting an arbitrary date to terminate a human life in the womb?

It isn’t just senseless. It’s evil. And words on paper inserted in a state constitution can never make it right.

Now a personal note about God’s grace:

I realize that what I have written in this post sounds harsh. However, I am not suggesting that abortion is an unpardonable sin.

David committed murder to hide his sin of adultery, yet was forgiven. Saul of Tarsus, prior to encountering the resurrected Jesus, pursued physical violence against Christians including the death of Stephen. Paul would later write that where sin abounds, God’s grace is greater. Paul would also call himself the greatest of sinners, yet he had experienced overwhelming mercy.

So, if you are struggling with guilt over an abortion, I encourage you to confess and to experience God’s forgiveness. Perhaps, also seek godly counsel with a pastor or a counselor at a Pregnancy Resource Center near you.

I am also writing to caution anyone who may be contemplating an abortion. Knowing that something is gravely wrong, and yet pursuing it, is to presume on God’s grace. Consider alternatives to abortion. Receive help and compassion at a Pregnancy Resource Center.

Look Westley, It’s a Watermelon

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The demise of Roe v Wade has not ended the public debate over abortion. In fact, it has motivated those who favor abortion. Millions of dollars have been invested to influence elections in several states. Some are trying to place “abortion on demand” as a guaranteed right into their state constitutions.

My concern is that the debate over the issue of abortion has been derailed. It seems that the most basic issue regarding abortion is no longer being debated in the public forum, or for that matter in the halls of justice: “When does an embryo or a fetus become a baby—another human being?” That is the question. Or should be.

The metaphor below is written by a great grandfather that has two great grandsons, Calin and Westley. Both are filled with life and curiosity. But great grandfather has used Westley in the story because his name begins with a W as does watermelon and because his mother is pregnant with Westley’s baby sister.

Imagine, my great grandson, helping me plant a watermelon seed asking, “Papa, what is that little black thing? Why are you putting it into the dirt?”

“Westley, it’s a watermelon seed.”

“But, it’s so little! It doesn’t look like a watermelon.”

“Just wait, you’ll see. Inside that little black seed is something that’s alive. It’s just waiting to grow into a watermelon.”

Several warm, sunny days pass. Westley and Papa go out to the garden.

“Papa, look. What is that little green thing?”

“Westley, remember when we put that little black seed into the ground? It was alive. Look at those little green leaves popping out of the ground. It is a watermelon plant. It will grow bigger and bigger and become a long, winding vine.”

Weeks pass. Westley comes to visit again.

“Papa, look! There’s a big yellow flower on the watermelon plant.”

“Yes, Westley. That flower will become a watermelon. Just wait, you’ll see.”

Weeks pass. Days filled with sunshine and plenty of water. “Westley, come look at our watermelon plant.”

“Papa, what is that little, round ball where the flower used to be?”

“Westley, that’s a watermelon.”

“Papa, you’re teasing me. It’s too small to be a water melon. It’s no bigger than a pea.”

“Yep. But, just wait. It’s a watermelon. It’s going to grow and grow, and one day it will be a delicious watermelon.”

The melon is now big and green. Ripe and ready to pick. Westley comes to visit again.

“Oh, Papa, look at that watermelon! It’s so big!”

“Yes, it is big, Westley. Remember that little, black seed that we put it in the ground and covered with dirt? Those first little green leaves pushing their way up out of the soil. Remember that first big, yellow flower on the vine and that tiny little pea-sized ball? Now, here it is a big, round watermelon. It was always a watermelon. Even when it was a little, black seed buried out of sight in the ground. Later, when it was a flower and then a little round ball it was always a watermelon.”

“Westley, this watermelon reminds me of what is happening in your mommy’s tummy. One day your daddy helped plant a seed inside your mommy’s tummy. In a very special way that God has planned, your little sister began to grow like that watermelon seed that we couldn’t see because it was in the ground. But it was alive and was growing until one day we saw the first leaf of the watermelon plant.

“Now your tiny baby sister is growing bigger and bigger inside your mommy. Her tummy will get bigger and bigger. One day your mommy and daddy will go to the hospital and when they return, they will bring your baby sister home with them. You’ll get to see your sister for the first time. She will finally be your little sister to hold and to love. But, Westley, remember she was always alive. She was always your little sister even inside your mommy’s tummy.”

Today, the debate over the issue of abortion has been derailed. We have changed the narrative to a woman’s right over her own body or reproductive health, but the question remains: is it ethical to ignore the plight of the innocent life within a womb? Is it right—not whether it is legal—to take the life of another human being?

That raises a greater question: If an embryo or fetus is a living person, or a potential person, can it be just or moral to premeditatively take another life? I realize that I will be accused of being crude and insensitive to use the word, murder. But isn’t that what our legal system calls the premeditative act of taking another person’s life?

So, the narrative ought to return to when is a baby really a baby? Does passing through the birth canal suddenly make it a baby? Does the first gasp for air make it a baby? The first cry?

Was it a baby at 26 weeks gestation when in some states, just three days ago it was legal to kill? Did something magical happen on the 182nd day to make it a person? A person deserving legal protection?

That’s the true narrative! Not “women’s health care” or the right of a woman over her own body while ignoring the plight of another little body—a living person.

That should be the debate.

Standing on the promise

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If you grew up in church and sang out of a hymnal you may have read the above title as Standing on the Promises (plural). Remember that old gospel song? However, the singular word “promise” is not a typo.

There are many, many promises in the Bible. Not every promise is ours to claim, but some are meant for everybody.

I have chosen the very first promise in the Bible as the focus behind the title of my revised blogsite. (Standing on The Promise was also the working title of another book that I had begun to write a few years ago.)

Bible scholars have attempted to isolate the biblical concept or truth that unites the Bible. Some have suggested the word “covenant”. The Bible contains covenants that God made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David as well as the New Covenant introduced in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and shared by Jesus with His disciples in the Upper Room. The New Covenant is also referred to by Paul and the author of Hebrews. So, an argument can be made that covenant is the unifying truth in the Bible.

Other scholars have suggested that “redemption” unites the Bible. Redemption by blood, beginning in the Garden of Eden, flows like a scarlet stream throughout the Bible.

“Promise” has also been offered as a theme that unites the Bible. The promise that God made to Abraham in Genesis 12 is repeated and expanded in chapters 15, 17 and 22. God’s promise to Abraham provides the framework for almost every major promise that follows in the Old Testament. In fact, God’s promises to Moses and David are anchored in His promise to make Abraham a great nation and to bless all nations through him.

However, I believe the promise recorded in Genesis 3:15 provides both the foundation and the focus behind every story recorded in the Old and New Testaments. I like to describe this promise as the thread that stitches every book in the Bible into one grand story—one holy book.

Let’s consider “promise” as one side of a coin that contains what is being promised. Flipping the coin over, there is a subjective response to the promise that has been made. If the promise has been made by someone who is trustworthy and also has the ability to keep their promise, the natural response is to experience hope and expectation. Biblical hope is not wishing on a star. Biblical hope is confidence that the God who has made the promise WILL keep His promise. That’s the kind of faith defined in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Such confidence in God’s promises and His character is illustrated throughout Hebrews 11 by Old Testament people who chose to claim God’s promises.

As support for hope serving as the thread that stitches all the Bible stories into one, consider Romans 15:4. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Now, let’s consider the promise God made to Adam and Eve because it is still relevant today. It is one of those universal promises.

The first three chapters in Genesis set the stage for everything that follows. The Bible begins with a simple statement: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” That one sentence refutes atheism, polytheism and naturalism.

Genesis 1 and 2 answer the big questions like “Is there anybody out there? Does God really exist? What is God like? Can we know God? Who am I? Why am I here? Is there anything after this brief experience we call life?” In these chapters in Genesis we also discover that our first parents lived in paradise. Life was good. The most anticipated moment each day was the evening visit with their Creator- the protagonist throughout the biblical narrative.

That sets the stage for meeting the antagonist—Satan, the great serpent and enemy of God. His misquotations of God’s words seduced Eve to doubt God’s goodness and to disobey God’s command to not eat of the forbidden fruit. That decision changed everything and still does. Everything was broken. Ruined. Paradise was no more. New words entered their vocabulary. Words like guilt, shame, mistrust, alienation and death. Life was dark and hopeless. They were escorted out of Eden and forbidden to attempt to return. But God graciously gave them new words like grace, reconciliation and especially the word hope. God pronounced judgment upon the man, his wife and the serpent. Within these curses God also added a promise: The seed of the woman would ultimately crush the serpents head and the serpent would only bruise the seed of the woman.

That seed of the woman is Jesus Christ. His life capsulized by this description, “He went about doing good.” However, His cruel death on the cross and the burial of his lifeless body in a tomb seemed to be a deathblow. All hope seemed lost. Everything would remain forever broken.

But the best was yet to come. Jesus burst out of the tomb. No longer bound by grave clothes. The same Jesus, but in a new kind of body not bound by time or space. Death had been conquered forever! Evidence there truly is life after death.

Jesus’ promise that He would rise again was true after all. Hope bloomed anew.

Prior to returning to heaven, Jesus added another promise: “I will come again!” That is our blessed hope today. We wait with anticipation because He, who has made the promise is trustworthy and has proven Himself to be competent. He is the great promise keeper.

In the meantime, our world is filled with injustice, pain and inevitable death. Throughout history people of faith, who have clung to the promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent, have survived hardships, endured persecution and even faced martyrdom because they had hope. Today, the promise of Jesus’ return to rule with justice provides hope to sustain us through life’s hard times.

That is why the title, “Standing on The Promise.”

We’ve Moved!

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I set up my first blog site and began sending short, informal messages after retiring from Foundry Church, in Bend, where I served twenty-four years as lead, teaching pastor. My initial site was called Ramblings of a Retired Preacher, but after encouragement from friends, who felt I had matured past rambling, I chose a new title about a front porch swing. Old homes often had front porches where people sat and visited in the cool evenings. Front porches helped bring neighbors together.

Then the inquiries came… how much for a porch swing, etc. So we’ve rebranded with a new site and name. I hope that you’ll find the content of the same level. I welcome your input.

We’ll be moving some of the posts from the old site soon.

Syd

The War on The West

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Retirement has permitted me to read books that I wouldn’t have had time when I was an active pastor.

I have essentially ended these once-weekly blog posts and will probably close down the Welcome to the Front Porch Swing in February when my contract renews.

Occasionally a book is so relevant that I want to share it with my former blog followers. However, I usually don’t share anything, but today I will.

The book, The War on The West, was an eye-opener. The author is Douglas Murray, an international bestseller. His latest book was released only a few months ago, and I predict it will be another bestseller. It ought to be. In fact, it ought to be required reading for every person concerned by the dramatic social, political changes that threaten to tear the fabric that once held us together as a nation. Or as a civilization.

Murray lays out evidence exposing the sinister effort to destroy all western civilization. Nothing is sacred anymore, it appears. Western art and music that has endured and been cherished is under attack simply because they are the product of white men and women.

If you want to understand contemporary issues such as woke, BLM etc., this book is a must read. The root goes far deeper than racism.

As we watch, statues and memorials that once honored great men and women are being toppled or defaced, if for no other reason than an ancestor might have benefited by slavery. I emphasize “might have”. Buildings on college campuses are being renamed. Even the statue of an elk in downtown Portland was not safe because it was on land that once belonged to native Americans.

Yet, statues in honor of Karl Marx remain unmolested.

It is clear that much, if not most, of the anger supposedly driving this movement has nothing to do with slavery or race. The root goes far deeper than the death of a black man at the hands of a renegade cop.

Karl Marx, in personal letters to his friend, Friedrich Engels, are laced with racial slurs especially against Jews and blacks. Marx frequently tosses the “N” word around in his ranting. Yet, he is safe from all this madness.

We can determine the root of a tree by its fruit. The focus of Murray’s book is to expose the root that is driving this war against all western civilization.

Will they succeed?

Yes, unless enough people and enough corporations get enough courage to say, “enough!”

One final concept from Murray: He observes that there are no boats filled with migrants going south across the Mediterranean ocean. There are no masses of people crossing the Rio Grande going south to escape the United States of America.

Go figure.

The Air We Breathe

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It is time to break my silence.

My focus has been on ministry in our local church over the past several months. Therefore, I have resisted writing new posts.

However, I recently discovered a book—so relevant—that I have read it a second time and have encouraged my friends to check it out for themselves. Now I want to share the challenge on the Front Porch Swing.

The book, The Air We Breathe, by Glen Scrivener reveals that the values we all—both secular and religious—claim to believe in are the products of the influence of Christianity. We value freedom, kindness, progress, education, democracy, compassion and equality. We oppose slavery and seek to protect the physically and mentally challenged among us. We abhor the tragic results of Nazism and Communism. We believe that every person should be free to choose their religious belief—even atheism.

The preamble to the Declaration of Independence assumes that certain values are self-evident. That they are so obvious as to never be challenged. Consider these words:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The preamble to the Constitution of the United States opens with the stated desire to pursue justice and tranquility and to promote the general welfare of every citizen.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

What profound thoughts from the minds and the pens of our founding fathers! Not all were practicing Christians, but each had been influenced by Christianity. It was the air they breathed.

But the question is, “Are these truths, these values, truly “self-evident?” Are they, or have they always been, obvious in other civilizations? Other constitutions?

No! A resounding “No!”

Not one ancient civilization or culture has ever held these values. In fact, most were constructed on the opposite. The mighty and powerful deserved to rule. The weaker deserved to be ruled and even abused. The Greeks philosophers did not offer true democracy. Only the elite, those privileged by the gods, had a voice in making and enforcing law.

 Pax Romana may have kept the peace but at what cost? Slaves and less” valuable” people served the powerful. Life, even that of a new born baby, was expendable at the whim of the powerful father or the emperor.

When did “everything” change? When did compassion for the weak become norm? When did every human life—women and children and other races—deserve equal protection and value under the law?

That is the point made by Glen Scrivener, author of The Air We Breathe.

Today, the Christian Church has fallen into respect in our secular culture. Sometimes, rightfully earned by those who call themselves Christ-followers. Our secular culture seeks to push us aside or to blame us for the social ills.

We may wonder if we need to apologize for something? For everything?

Let me share my response as influenced by this book:

Jesus, by example and words, brought light that exposed the evil darkness. His followers, nicknamed Christians by their critics, won the culture war through their unselfish, Christ-like lives. Unwanted babies were rescued from Roman garbage dumps and alleys. The sick and dying, during plagues, were cared for by Christians while the elite fled to safer ground. The bloody “entertainment” in the Coliseum ended through the influence of Christ-followers, sometimes at the expense of their own lives.

So, if you believe that women should be treated equally in the business place and honored in the home, thank Jesus.

If you believe the more vulnerable—the aged, infirm, mentally challenged or physically disabled—among us deserve protection under the law, thank Jesus. He honored women, blessed little children, touched lepers, healed blind and fed the hungry.

If you believe that a fetus, that has been diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome, deserves an opportunity to live, thank Jesus.

If you believe that no human being—regardless of race or gender—should be bought or sold for profit, thank Jesus.

If you enjoy the blessings of scientific research, thank Jesus.

If you’ve experienced compassionate medical treatment in a hospital, thank Jesus.

Jesus and influence of faithful Christians have created the air we breathe- the blessings we enjoy today.

Jesus and His followers, have transformed the world—changing the way things used to be-and have created a revolution that declares every human being is valuable because he or she bears the image of their Creator.

I strongly encourage you to check out the book: The Air We Breathe.

Let’s get some dialogue going here on the front porch.

Clarification regarding the Potter’s Wheel post

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Thanks to each of you that responded to the brief post last week about the sermon that I preached from Jeremiah 18-20. Several of you commented that you anticipated me once again publishing more posts on The Front Porch Swing

However, that was not my intention. I don’t know if I will continue the weekly posts or not. I am trying to determine where to most effectively use my time and gifts during this last leg of the journey. I want to finish strongly.

I wanted to encourage you to watch the video of the sermon since the topic is so relevant. The response to the sermon has been very encouraging. Even this morning at a men’s prayer breakfast several men commented on how the sermon impacted them.

I do not say that as a promotion but as an encouragement to listen to it. I share the address to the church website again since I am not certain it was done correctly in the previous post.

Go to: phccgresham.org and find sermons. The most recent one is listed first.

Thanks for taking time to listen. As I stated, we are either on the potter’s wheel or may soon be in one of those situations when we are blindsided with situations that we do not understand.

Syd