Gay and Lesbian Marriage in the Church

Written from a straight Christian perspective (scriptural quotes taken from the NIV) it is sure to anger people on both sides.

She… goes to chapel and she… is getting married. Today, my younger cousin is getting married. She seems excited, hopefully engaged, and “in love.” The ceremony will take place in a small church in a fairly quiet southern town. The same church that she and her girlfriend have attended for a few years. None of her family will attend (actually I would, but I can’t). In fact, no one in her family approves of this marriage. This is the bible belt After all, marriage is clearly defined as a sacred union between a man and a woman, right? Or one man and several women? Many of the Bible passages that are used for our modern Christian definition of marriage have been taken from the Old Testament, where some of the greatest heroes also come with multiple wives (no need to get divorced, just marry someone else and put your wife and wife together). previous wife). in kitchen service). I’m not saying that I personally don’t think marriage should be between a man and a woman, but you can bet my wife does! What I am saying is that it is possible to try to apply verses in situations where they don’t quite fit. Like the one who says that you have to throw stones at a woman who is caught cheating on her husband until he dies.

Will the true judge rise? A few thousand years ago, a woman was dragged into the temple (the center of worship and law in Jerusalem) where Jesus was teaching. Those who brought it were the religious leaders of the time, beyond rebuke and full of authority. Hers was an open and shut case: she was caught in the act of adultery! She had no excuse and the penalty was clear and precise: death by stoning. Of course, these religious hypocrites were just using this woman’s situation to trap Jesus and deny the law of Moses (I think they knew he would never tolerate the cruel death of a wayward woman), but I also think they came fully prepared to charge. with death. prize out. Finally, Jesus spoke. He told the angry crowd that the without sin You must cast the first stone. And only Jesus qualified. only jesus ever it does. One by one they dropped their stones and walked away. Not surprisingly, the older men left first. When everyone left, he asked the woman where her accusers were. She asked him who, after examining his own hearts, still had the gall to claim a pure and sinless life to cast that first stone. She replied, “No one, sir.” Now, Jesus did not excuse adultery. He did not say that adultery is natural and should be celebrated. But he said, “Then I don’t condemn you either. Go and sin no more.” True to form, his words are both merciful and just. He had nothing positive to say about his actions, no celebrate adultery- but the only thing he threw at this guilty woman was mercy. It is interesting to note that the only execution that Jesus openly approved of was his own.

Sin or no sin? This is where the discussion becomes offensive to many people. Although I am convinced that it is not a “super sin” that towers over many others that we tolerate (gluttony, greed, sloth, lying, greed, lust, anger, etc.), it is still a sin according to the Bible. . I’ve read some pretty insightful comments trying to get around it, but nothing convincing. You can also use the Bible to argue that lust and covetousness are not sins either. And, like all sin, it comes with its own peculiar set of consequences and challenges. I will say this though: I think it’s a lot more complicated than what I was taught in Sunday school!

But isn’t homosexuality a unique sin? Sin is a curious snake. When it points to something in my life, especially something that I have little or no control over, then I think of it in different terms. Words like: struggle, defect, personality, bad habit, defect, imperfection, quirk, addiction, etc. All words that put sin against God in a softer light. Some even shifting the blame off my shoulders entirely! When it points to something I don’t understand and for which I have no sympathy or temptation, after turns black and white: SIN. Homosexuality may seem unique to me, but to God it is simply included in the list of sins and hopes, like the rest, to be eliminated one day. In fact, here are a couple of lists (including homosexuality) that will damn you to hell. “But the cowards, the disbelievers, the vile, the murderers, the fornicators, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, will be sent to the lake of fire of burning brimstone. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)”Or do you not know that evildoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who have sex with men, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that’s what some of you were. But you have already been washed, you have already been sanctified, you have already been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor 6, 9-11). The best list of sins, in my opinion, is the one that Jesus makes us assume with a simple and impossible mandate: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48). He may be able to duck, dodge and dive my way off the Paul & John lists, but Jesus leaves no wiggle room. We are all sinners and our only hope is that a perfect savior will miraculously remove our sins and give us a righteousness that we had no power to earn. A washing that we cannot do, a sanctification that we cannot understand, and a justification that we do not deserve. Paul wrote another list of sins in his first letter to Timothy. It included all the usual things (including sexual immorality) and ended, as it would seem at first sight, in a strange note that the holy apostle uses to communicate almost half of the new testament: “Here is a faithful word that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst, but precisely for this reason mercy was shown to me, so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus would show his immense patience as an example for those who believe in him and receive eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:15-16). Is homosexuality a unique sin? Only if all other sins are unique too. Does it seem weird to me? Yes… but only because I don’t struggle (there’s that soft word) with it like I do with many other sins. What I’m trying to say might be clearer compared to another sexual sin…let’s say, adultery.

Adultery Vs. Homosexuality: Cage Fight! Just to put things in perspective, try doing a quick BibleGateway search for the two words. Different translations skew the results slightly, but even anti-gay picketers would have to admit that the Bible has a lot more to say about adultery than it does about homosexuality. I find it strange that the church is so harsh on this type of illegitimate union when marriages 2, 3 and even 14 just shake their heads. After all, it was adultery (not homosexuality) that made it into the top ten carved in stone at Mount Sinai… coming in at number seven. And, before we start disparaging these hideous adulterers, we should listen to what Jesus (the one whose judgment counts) considers to be adultery: “It is said, ‘Whoever puts away his wife must give him a bill of divorce.’ . But I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” And if that doesn’t sound grim enough: “You heard that it was said: ‘You shall not commit adultery’. But I tell you that whoever looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in her heart.” (Frame 5)This confrontation between adultery and homosexuality was just a trick to try to illustrate the fact that we are all in the same sinking boat. If adultery doesn’t hit your heart, replace it with the biggest thorn in your flesh. Anyone who claims any merit outside of Christ is on dangerous ground. And really, only those who believe they have no sin should worry (but those “holy people” won’t read this far anyway).

Born that way? A large number of people believe that homosexuals stuff his sexual disposition (perhaps a subconscious act of immoral rebellion?). And a large number of people believe that homosexuals were born that way (a side effect of the fall…perhaps a genetic mix-up?). This is anecdotal but I was born heterosexual. I never stuff being straight (I just am) and I sure as hell wouldn’t to choose being gay And I think I’m both natural and normal in that sense. I’m definitely not perfect, I sin every day, and I don’t feel better than any of the homosexuals I have met, but it is not my particular weakness. I hope that most gays and lesbians can admit that the heterosexual model is natural: what we were designed to be and what gave them life. And, to be frank, the Bible refers to homosexuality as unnatural. (Revelation 1:26-27). No homosexual would be alive today were it not for the natural union between a man and a woman. But back to the question of choice… There is a strange passage in Romans that has always puzzled me: “…God gave them over to shameful passions. Even their wives exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural intercourse. natural relations with women, and were inflamed with lust for one another.” (Romans 1:26-27) My question comes at the beginning: “God gave them up…” Does that mean they were already leaning toward homosexuality and God just threw up his hands or does it mean that God brought about this sexual confusion as a form of punishment? If we use only that passage, it seems that these “shameful desires” were not explicitly chosen. The first chapter of Romans is quite dark. I’m glad you have a few more chapters! I should also add that it’s really not our place to judge whether someone was born gay or not. It is enough to know that we are all sinners. Here is another relevant passage: “You, then, have no excuse, you who judge another, because at whatever point you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge do the same things.” (Romans 2:1)

So what’s a homosexual to do? I guess the same thing the rest of us sinners do…put all of his chips on Christ and what He accomplished on the cross. Trust in God. If you keep reading Romans, if you can get through the rough patch of things at first, there is a bright light of hope for all of us sinners. “Now to the one who works, wages are not counted as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts in God who justifies the wicked, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Romans 4:4-5) Does that mean that we can continue sinning because God will save us regardless as long as we put our faith in Jesus? No he does not. But we will and God knows our hearts. He knew that the only way to save us sinners was to provide both our forgiveness (through Christ’s sacrifice) and our righteousness (through Christ’s perfect life) until the day everybody sin is destroyed. This world and all the sinfulness in it will pass away and those with faith in Jesus Christ will be cleansed and renewed in holiness, no longer sinful by nature but as they were meant to be in the beginning: innocent and pure. Until then, we are all sinners in need of grace and love.