What do you think about the gay marriage ruling? In your mind, what is the biblical way to interact with "sinners" who are gay?
Perhaps it's not much of a surprise to some, but I was shocked to learn that Same Sex Unions are now legal in California. This seems like a HUGE change in American culture. While homosexuality has been accepted for a long time, gay marriage is new - adding a new wrinkle to the face of American Homosexuality.
This turns up the heat on the Homosexual issue in the Church! It brings to the fore several questions:
- Would you perform a gay marriage?
- What is the biblical, appropriate way to relate with gay folks?
- Is banning gay marriage good? Is it better to let people do what they want?
All kinds of controversy and debate swirls around these questions. Here are a few links of people talking about this:
The Fermi Project has a new essay on the topic.
In The Agora has an interesting piece on gay marriage, with diverse opinions in the comment section.
The Christian Post has 6 articles on this. This one talks about the ramifications for California churches.
QUESTION: What do you think about the gay marriage ruling? In your mind, what is the biblical way to interact with "sinners" who are gay?
I have never understood why gay marriage hurt hetrosexual marriage. Heterosexual marriage is in trouble not because of gay marriage but because of other problems, one of which is sin within the church. If we want to strengthen marriage start inside the church.
Marriage should be about the church, not the state. If the state recognizes gay marriage that does not mean a thing to the church. I would not perform a gay marriage, but California is not asking me to.
This is similar in my mind to the abortion debate. Many people are very “concerned” about legalization of abortion, but will not lift a finger to help unwed mothers and other women in poverty or in other situations that make it difficult to bring a child into the world. Same way with gay marriage. We want to complain that gay marriage is ruining hetrosexual marriage, but we don’t want to do a thing to help the marriage of a friend down the street that is in trouble.
-----
Comment by Adam S - May 27, 2008 @ 11:19 AM
Do you have any data to support your rather jaded assertions that people care about marriage, but don’t do anything to help people or that christians care about stopping abortion but don’t do anything to help unwed mothers?
Comment by J. R. Miller - May 27, 2008 @ 04:50 PM
Here are my answers to the questions provided and some brief thoughts on marriage.
1. No, I would not do a gay marriage, I believe homosexuality is just as much of a sin as immorality between heterosexuals. I also would not do a marriage with two people who were living immorally if they were heterosexuals.
2. The biblical appropriate way is to relate to them as you would any other lost person, you love them, without judging them and you pray that God would save their souls. I think there are some sensitive ways you have to deal with them specifically but the basic principle is the same.
3. I think banning gay marriage is a good thing. I am not under the impression that it would by any means fix the problem but here’s why I would. I believe God judges nations on a whole. I don’t have enough time to give a long answer, but I believe that when our government allows legal gay marriage to happen, it brings our government and our nation under the judgement of God. America is a Republic, not a democracy, which means that we elect people to make decisions for us regarding our laws. We don’t vote on every law, that’s what politicians get paid to do. I believe the reason it is important for Christians to be involved in politics is that the people that we elect technically represent our values. Now I know we won’t agree with every politician but that is what we are doing. As Christians, we get the type of government that we deserve.
Lastly, my thoughts on marriage are simply this. Marriage is the first institution created by God. Marriage is not a political issue it is a Bible issue. We as Christians must lovingly define what marriage is, because it was our God’s idea. It is not the state’s idea, it is not the governments idea, its God’s idea. I believe that when we as Christians abdicate our responsibility to communicate about the truth of marriage and the marriage covenant we are abdicating our responsibility to communicate Biblical truth. I can’t help it if our culture and political scene has turned it into a political issue, its always been God’s issue. We get so swayed by the spirit of the age and back down from the truths of the word.
We as Christians have the ultimate authority to define the marriage covenant between a man and a woman but I think it is still important to have the government define it because of the spiritual implications.
Comment by Ross Middleton - May 27, 2008 @ 08:28 PM
My earlier comments may have sounded jaded. But my metric is the average view of the church. When you ask someone outside the church what the church does about abortion, the average person would say that the church is trying to ban it or protest it. Some people may know about the fairly strong network of crisis pregnancy centers, but most do not. In the political realm, many Christians worked to get Roberts and Alito approved as judges because of the abortion issue, but didn’t protest against lack of funding for SCHIP or cuts in funding to Head Start. The vast majority of single parents in the country qualify for one or both programs and if we are going to cut the need for abortions, then we need to help get programs that single parents will need funded.
Marriage is talked about as the base of society by the church. The church I am currently going to is the first one I have ever attended that has a regular program for marriage enrichment. Most churches in the US do not require pre-marital counseling in spite of the research that says that it reduces divorce 10 to 20 percent.
The book UnChristian has been talked about a lot by Catalyst. A significant finding is that the majority of Christians think that the church is homophobic. So of course the world outside the church thinks that the church is homophobic.
My point isn’t that there are not great ministries that are really working on Abortion, Marriage or Homosexuality. My point is that these ministries are not the norm. When the church is know for its care of unwed mothers or for its strong investment strengthening heterosexual marriage, then maybe we can speak with a stronger voice on homosexual marriage.
Comment by Adam S - May 28, 2008 @ 08:41 AM
I would not perform a gay marriage as I believe it goes beyond the grace which has been imparted to me.
1 Peter 4:10-11
I would try to relate to homosexuals in the same way Jesus related to the Samararitan Woman; that is with the express purpose of offering the gift of the knowledge of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. I would try to engage him/her in dialog, confront thier sin in a humble and honest way, present the Gospel and pray with them to repent and accept Jesus as thier Lord and Saviour.
John 4
Banning gay marriage from a legal perspective is a secular issue; as far as scripture is concerned it is already strongly worded. I think the faithful should focus on improving their own marriages so that others may see our good fruit and glorify our Father in heaven. Furthermore one is not considered righteous by following a law, but by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Comment by Todd - May 28, 2008 @ 04:42 PM