Disasters like fires, earthquakes, and floods order one’s priorities very quickly. And if the Big One strikes California, which could happen at any time, the priorities will suddenly be re-ordered and the issue of sex in my native state and county of Kern will certainly be knocked off the headlines. But I’m beginning to wonder if it will take something so catastrophic to get the attention of people to what the real priorities ought to be? Well, God has used things of such magnitude to get people’s attention in time past and I suppose this is still a viable option.

The Bible is remarkable in many respects, one of these being that no matter where you turn in its pages you find something of interest, especially regarding sex. This came to mind as my native county of Kern has been thrust into the spotlight over this issue. As Henry Thoreau remarked of economics that it may lend itself to levity but cannot so easily be disposed of, so it is with sex. Joking about it won’t make the matter of any less gravity, and there is much to be said for the Biblical view of sex having to do with original sin and the curse of God as told in Genesis. That the curse seems to fall disproportionately on women is a point I have attempted to understand for a very long time, and whether one accepts the Biblical account or not it cannot be denied that women suffer the results of sex far more than men and it has been one of the reasons for male domination throughout history.

Religion has certainly been a means by which men have subjugated women to a role of lesser value, a means by which men have notoriously and even infamously declared women to be inferior to men as Harper Lee so eloquently expressed it in To Kill A Mockingbird. But it isn’t a point being addressed by those attempting to use religion as an apologetic against homosexual so-called “marriage.”

The issue of sex confronting Kern County is making national headlines and ideologues and hypocrites on both sides are using inflammatory rhetoric to propagandize their causes. While I don’t support homosexuals demanding their perverted view of marriage be acknowledged as “normal” in any sense of the word and using bullying tactics to force others to accept such a minority view, neither do I want those in the churches to resort to bullying in return. I’m more than willing to allow the decision to be made at the ballot box, though I’m acutely aware the will of We the People is too often circumvented by judicial fiat. That I have personally suffered in the workplace bullying tactics of both homosexuals as well as good Baptists simply means that good people will do good and the evil will do evil no matter their sexual or religious affiliation.

However, the whole idea of marriage, the ideals of family being the foundation of a society has been under attack for so long and suffered such devastation by the onslaughts of legislators and courts that no matter how Kern County or California comes out of this I do not see America surviving with anything approaching the ideals of the family structure that once dictated the morals of our nation. Just what, I ask myself, is the future of a nation without the foundation of family in the normal and traditional sense of the word? Nothing good, I have to suppose because there is no other viable substitute.

But while the Bible is clear on the subject of sexual perversion being an abomination to God the opening chapters of Genesis regarding the creation of Adam and Eve are confusing. There is the matter of a council of gods in making the determination to create humankind in their own image, then there is the matter of differentiating between the first generic Adam meaning both male and female, and the later reference to Adam being male and Eve being female. But while Adam is said to have named his companion Eve because of her being the mother of all living, Adam is not called the father of all living. Why not? Scholars of the Hebrew language and Old Testament are of no help in this matter.

The New Testament has it that the Jews were threatening to stone Jesus because he called God his father and that by doing so he was making himself equal to God. But Jesus called their attention to the passage in Psalm 82:6 declaring we are gods and the scripture cannot be broken. And while we may recognize God as our father even as Jesus taught the disciples to pray, while we may accept we are children of God this does not help us understand why Eve should be called the mother of all living but Adam is not called the father of all living. The subject of sex may come to the fore by way of explanation, but this would presume Adam knew Eve would bear children even before The Fall and the curse was pronounced upon our first parents, something that only leads to more confusion in attempting to make sense of the narrative.

Biblical studies have not only been my resort of interest and scholarship, but my refuge when the world seems too full of misery and suffering and I can do nothing about it. The Bible addresses the issues of life with which I am concerned, and though it has its weaknesses nevertheless within its pages there is always something to ponder and helps me to make some sense of the too often seeming futility and lunacy of life.

For example, while Young Frankenstein is a real hoot of a movie the idea of reanimating the dead is a very sober issue, though often the stuff of horror films. After all, what would be the point of experimenting with death unless there was hope of such experimentation having a positive impact on life? Even the many experiments having to do with life and death begin with life in some form, and science still has no understanding of either of these. Life may be considered energy, or spirit as the Bible has it, but that is only a label in lieu of understanding and death is the cessation of life. But what animates at birth and departs at death is still the greatest mystery of all. And rather than tilt at the windmills of so much prevailing evil in the world, I choose rather to give my attention to the great mysteries of our universe, of life and death and what could possibly be the meaning of it all?

We carry the fire of life about in these mortal bodies, but the real value of life to me is others I love and cherish; family and friends. These, and only these, make life meaningful for me, and it is the love we have for one another that I believe will triumph over death in the end. So while ideologies bring people into conflict, while monsters in the guise of human beings prey on the innocent and men without either soul or conscience wage incessant wars I have to find the answers that soothe my soul and mind in the love I believe God has for those who truly love Him and declare that love by their love for one another. It does not make the monsters go away, it does not make the world any less evil or perverted, it does not diminish the number of bullies or protect families from the depredations of those intent on destroying any semblance of a normal family in America, but it does distinguish between the children of God and the children of the Devil. And in the face of so much evil and inequity throughout the world that has to be answer enough for me.

Certainly it would be astounding to discover other intelligent life in the universe; it would be astounding to discover we are alone in the universe. But whichever it proves to be we will all die. Whether our questions will be answered then is also unknown. In the meantime if the stars declare the glory of God to me, if they speak to me in the language of God none are able to dispute this because such things are a matter of the soul and spirit and not subject to disputations of men. But I keep in memory the story about the death of a wealthy man, and when someone asked “How much did he leave?” another replied, “He left it all.” Despite what the MSM and others consider the priorities, death remains the great equalizer and being the ultimate final disposition of life and all worldly affairs orders and arranges all of our personal priorities in the end.