Much has been made about this topic. Whether it deals with how the Bible is outdated, that Christians are judgmental, or that marriage is some sham of an institution not even upheld by heterosexual couples. Some even go so far to believe that an openness to homosexual marriage will create a slippery slope to bestiality or show the statistics that seem to prove that homosexuals cannot be monogamous. Needless to say, this is a hot-button issue.
What should our opinion be as Christians?
Let’s start with what the Bible says about homosexuality. There are the verses in the Old Testament that speak directly to homosexuality as sin: Lv 18:22, 20:13. Further, there are many passages that deal with the wrath of God towards the cultures that did not stand against sodomy: Gn 19, Jg 19:22-24. It should be noted that much of Genesis and Judges develop a key idea, “man did what was right in his own eyes.” Much of the Old Testament gives man a guidebook for how to live while developing a cavernous gap between a holy God and sinful man. It sets us all up for Jesus – the forgiveness of our sins. Some things surely seem unusual, as many have pointed out – shellfish, beards, etc – but all the law shows us that we need to think about what we do and fall in line with His purposes, not just do things ourselves. In some cases, the law has been loosened…
unless it is also “carried” into the new covenant that Christ gives us. If the New Testament deals with the same topic as the Old Testament, this is the standard we Christians (many of us Gentiles) must follow and let God lead us in. Therefore, Paul’s commands in various places must be met with obedience, at least causing us to pause: Rm 1:24-27, 1Co 6:9-10, 1Ti 1:10. Also, John’s Revelation should support the belief that sexual immorality is sin (shown repeatedly to include homosexuality): Rv 22:15.
Marriage
Marriage is a covenant relationship between two people. It is not just a contract or a trading of goods with people involved, but it is meant to be a covenant made before God that faithfulness and growth will occur – no matter what. It is a biblical concept given by God and provided by Him for us to follow – in learning how to grow together as a believer grows in relationship to God. This is why so many passages of Scripture speak of marriage in a way similar to Christ’s love for the church: Ep 5:22-33. Re 19:6-9. In fact, the whole concept of marriage was one of completion and complementing the other (sexually is just one component of this!) and therefore suggests that marriage is for one man and one woman.
It is no surprise that many have not held to the concept of marriage as rightly as they should. This does not mean that the vast majority (I would suggest all) Christ-followers do not. In fact, I view it so highly that I would not sanctify a marriage that does not hold to Scriptural laws. Whether this is a Christian determining to get married to someone that does not share beliefs (2Co 6:14) or a couple that knows Jesus yet is not striving to remain pure before their wedding (He 13:4). This is not a legalistic view, but a principled stance due to the judgment I will have to stand someday. This judgment is due to the fact that we are not in control, but God is. True, God is love – but love is just as well. He has a way for doing things and we must abide by them. There is always room for repentance and forgiveness, but we must come into line with His ways and thoughts first. We must at least surrender to His ways.
This line of thinking is why I oppose same-sex marriage. I am not unloving, nor am I blind to the struggle of those in this position. However, I cannot support an amendment or law that could force me to go against Scripture one day and perhaps force me to condone a “marriage” that I view as anti-Scriptural. This stance has been taken since the beginning of the church and I don’t know why it would suddenly change.
All this leads to this: I know that we live in America. I know that we are free or at least believe we are free and can do whatever we want. This freedom ideal may in fact make my statement and view unconstitutional. This is why legally I can see why civil unions that afford many of the concepts of marriage without the title of marriage should be upheld and fought for. I just do not believe that a law should mandate something for a church to abide by that Scripture does not.
Comments?
christopher stukenberg 
“However, I cannot support an amendment or law that could force me to go against Scripture one day” …I feel like this is why it is sooo hard for me to go out to vote…Either way, you are supporting something Jesus said to support and going against another thing. I feel that people are going to do what they want sexually regardless of what the law states, so when I vote, I am choosing to not let that issue sway my decisions. I focus my energies on determining which candidates are going to support the poor, widows, orphans, and disabled population the most.
I have never heard that the government was trying to force churches into something…There are some churches that will marry homosexuals (Unitarian). I have a friend that was married by her church and not by our state. Do you have friends that are homosexuals? How do you balance the conversation of loving them and sharing Jesus with them?
Hi Chris. Mike Ross from high school here. I appreciate your analysis on this topic. However, I was under the impression that any law put in place for gay marriage would be to “allow” those marriages to take place, but not to force any particular church to condone or conduct those marriages. If I can use prohibition as an analogy, after prohibition was ended, alcohol consumption and the sale of alcohol was “allowed,” but that doesn’t mean the church was “forced” to sell whiskey.
So if it is just a matter of gay people being allowed to marry, and any church has the right to marry or not marry anyone they please, do you still object to it being allowed? And by object I am not asking if you object on moral grounds that it is wrong to do, we already know the answer to that. But do you object so much that you think there should be a law preventing gays from being married by someone who was willing to marry them?
I have wrestled with this topic a lot myself. What I have concluded is that even if we agree that this is wrong according to our morals, does that mean we can have a law enforcing our morals? We believe adultery, bearing false witness, not honoring your parents, and worshiping another god are all sins and morally wrong, but we do not have laws stopping people from committing them. So ultimately I don’t think it’s a matter of whether we think it’s right or wrong, but simply, can we legislate others to follow all of our beliefs? I don’t think we can.
Hey Mike –
Thanks for the question… I am not implying that this law would do this now. I am just seeing this as a possibility for the issue of “hate speech” to one day become an issue if I deny the couple a chance. As far as legalizing morality, I am not sure it has ever worked. People need Jesus, plain and simple.
Thanks for talking about this topic! I’ve been a part of many conversations where this was a focal point, and it’s always a hard one to verbalize. I have a similar concern as Tanya– how can you be loving as you tell them what the bible says about homosexuality? People often say that you are born with your sexuality and there’s nothing you can do to change it, so how do you approach that?
Thanks ladies – I am working on a response to your questions… give me a couple days and next week I will be rolling again with posts (school work almost done… I think.)