Gay Marriage
Mar 20, 2004 Print This Post
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 Ill 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, Im not going to deal fully with this part of the issue because in all honesty, I think its 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 Christs 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 were 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 dont 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 dont 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. Its an unfounded, unwarranted FEAR. This is the name of the heavy chain that is burdening the Church in this issue.
Thoughts?
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