Gay Marriage
Mar 20, 2004 Uncategorized
So, continuing on with Jimi’s thoughts from a few weeks ago, here is an excerpt from another article on Gay Marriage:
My first problem with this whole thing is that the issue of legalizing Christian marriage and the issue of bringing it into the Church are two totally different things. It seems obvious according to I Timothy 3 that any church leader ought to live a lifestyle that is above reproach. A practicing homosexual is not above reproach, (given that homosexual acts are in fact sinful, which I’ll get around to addressing in a moment) and so should not be appointed to leadership. This is true in the same way that an ineffective communicator, or a lazy person or a person who struggles unsuccessfully with alcohol abuse should not be appointed to leadership. So, I’m not going to deal fully with this part of the issue because in all honesty, I think it’s fairly simple. However, I will address the legality: Hello out there! Attention everyone! This is not a Christian country. I repeat, this is NOT a Christian country. Oh, it is? Oh, it was founded on Christian principles? All right then, I will be collecting ten percent of your income today to be tithed to your neighborhood Christian church. And I will be instituting laws that do not permit sex before marriage, working on the Sabbath or the practice of any other faith. You will be taken to jail if you lie, flip the bird at a bad driver, run a stop sign, complain or argue.
I think we all know that we do not want Christian principles controlling our nation, because even the most dedicated Christian wants to live in the freedom of Christ. He/she wants to live with the freedom to work out his salvation with God on a personal level, chipping away at impatience, selfishness, unhealthy view of men/women, chronic lateness, etc. This brings me to my second issue. Why do we elevate homosexuality above other actions/lifestyles that are more socially acceptable.
When we look at the issue of homosexuality through the lens of Scripture, we can see that it is clearly not what God meant for us. God intended for sex to be an occurrence between a man and a woman, within the context of marriage. According to Scripture, the main purpose of marriage is to be a reflection of Christ’s relationship to the Church, the man representing Christ and the woman representing the Church. This given, we can conclude that homosexual activity is sinful and it offends God, which Scripture states rather obviously (I Corinthians 6). But there are lots of things that the Bible mentions as being less-than-wholesome that people do all of the time. We tell white lies, we flirt with strangers even though we’re in a committed relationship, we gossip, we call in sick when we really want to leave early for a weekend trip.
These things are wrong. But no one would ever question whether any of these things should be legal, and certainly we would not take the time to publicly condemn these “crimes” in the name of Christ, even if they were illegal. For example, the Bible talks about stealing being wrong, but you don’t see Christians out there on the courthouse steps telling Martha Stewart to repent. However, the anti-gay t-shirts, the tracts, the bumper stickers, the radio show calls, and the signs all abound. There is no sensible reason that this issue gets the airtime it does. The bottom line is that people have, in the name of God, beaten down, offended, taken issue with, condemned, judged and hated an entire people-group for one particular set of practices that don’t even directly affect most of the people who are doing the protesting. This particular thing makes people uncomfortable, maybe in the same way that people of color make some white people uncomfortable. It’s an unfounded, unwarranted FEAR. This is the name of the heavy chain that is burdening the Church in this issue.
Thoughts?
March 20th, 2004 at 2:32 pm
Man, I don’t think I’d want this guy being in charge of creating a country based on Christian principles. I also don’t understand why the author believes that a country based on Christian principle’s wouldn’t have one such principle being that we have the freedom of Christ.
Anyway, on to the issue of homosexual marriage. The author makes a valid point that legalizing marriage and bringing it into the church are two different issues. I wish they would have touched on this issue a little more. Their use of Christians ignoring stealing in the Martha Stewart case and attacking gay marriage seems rather absurd to me. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone, Christian or non-Christian, that believes stealing is OK. People are of one mind on that issue. The same can’t be said of homosexual marriage. It does a disservice to the discussion that is taking place on this topic when the author doesn’t acknowledge loving Christians who really do have reservations about changing this institution of marriage. It’s definitely true that some Christians spew hate when they talk about homosexuals, but not everyone who is against gay marriage wears anti-gay T-shirts or drives around with anti-gay bumper stickers. Many Christians are trying to work their way through this issue in an earnest attempt to find how Christ would respond to it. The bottom line is that there can’t be an honest discussion/debate on this issue as long as we equate being against gay marriage to having a hatred of homosexuals.
March 20th, 2004 at 4:11 pm
“Man, I don’t think I’d want this guy being in charge of creating a country based on Christian principles…”
Um, yeah don’t follow you here. I think that Christians trying to create a “moralized culture” seems inward and selfish. It seems that we want to create a nice, clean place around us so we can be “sanctified.” Like Noel said in one of his sermans (something like this) “you don’t hear the apostles complaining about how the Roman leaders were gay (some of them were) and how that was such a bad example and was tearing apart society.”
Here is a quote from someone on this issue that I think I agree with.
“Isn’t the answer to remove the government from the responsibility of defining marriage? I think the gov should institute civil unions, for EVERYONE. Marriage is matter that is between you, your partner and God. The government shouldn’t be involved in defining what is and isn’t marriage. This is the job of the Church.”
March 20th, 2004 at 5:09 pm
A moralized culture is exactly how the author makes a society founded on Christian principles sound. I disagree with his idea of what a group of people, in this case a country, living by Christian principles would look like . His description sounds a lot like what Jesus condemned in the Jewish culture of his time.
You seem to think that I’m against gay marriage…My point was that some Christians have real problems with the idea for whatever reason. The answer isn’t to assume they are self righteous or that they believe they are holier than everyone else. Personally, it seems like an injustice to deny gay couples the rights married couples have.
It seems that people are too busy trying to prove the other side wrong instead of discussing it and getting all sides of the issue out on the table. If you’re against homosexual marriage you’re self rightious and selfish and somehow against God if you are for it or at the least indifferent. It’s really a discussion where people feel they must attack the other side, when what we should be doing is listening and really taking to heart what both sides are saying.
March 20th, 2004 at 9:56 pm
Right on man. I agree.