What's a Christian to do About Gay-Marriage?
By Reagan Rose

I'm dusting off the blog because in the hopes that I can be of some small service in shedding light on this current event. Take it for what it's worth.

So the President has come out and said he supports gay marriage, and in an election year! At the same time North Carolina has voted to legally define marriage as between a man and a woman, thus excluding same-sex couples from the equation. What do we do with this news?

Now, I realize I speak to two audiences here, and I hope that this can be helpful to both. First, to the Christian who doesn't know how to respond to the issue of homosexual marriage, I hope that this will give you some clarity on that. Second, to those that don't accept the Bible's authority to say what is right and what is wrong. To you I hope this will help you to at least understand where (most) Christians are coming from and why we just can't seem to agree on some things!

There are two issues at work here.

Let's make a few things clear. Sin is sin because God says it is, not because it doesn't hurt anyone else. That is the difference between Christian morality and secular morality. Christian morality makes the arbiter of right and wrong the transcendent God as revealed in the Bible. Secular morality (and this too may come in Christian packaging at times) makes man the authority of right and wrong. The secularist will nod in approval to the golden rule. Of course, how can a society function unless laws enforce the doing unto others as they would do unto you? (I don't want to have my stuff stolen, so the law should punish me if I steal other people's stuff. Makes sense!) However, secular society has no category for when a Christian comes in and says, "actually what you do at home in your bedroom is wrong." From the secular standpoint they conclude, "Mind your own business, you weirdo!" Thus we come to an impasse and all conversation ceases to be fruitful until we acknowledge these presuppositions.

Now most Christians (I would hope) would agree that homosexual acts are a sin (See 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Romans 1:24-32). You have to do some serious self-deception to make the Bible "unclear on these things". Homosexuality is an abomination against God because it defies His natural order and His clear commands in Scripture.

Great, Another Hater

Does this mean I hate gay people? Nope. And by the way, calling everyone that disagrees with you a hater, is pretty rude. Stop it. I don't hate liars or adulterers either. If I hated people that sin I'd hate all of mankind and myself. I'd keep my lips zipped about God's righteous judgement on sin and the glorious provision of Jesus Christ as the only answer! If I didn't care I wouldn't say a word, and everyone would like me!

Now let's make a quick distinction:

There is a difference between feelings of homosexual attraction, which is a symptom of a sin-sick world (akin to how some people have a predisposition to drink to excess), and the indulging in those feelings to the point of homosexual lust or homosexual relations. Let's think in terms of Jesus' teaching on adultery here (Matt. 5). Let me be clear, I don't think anyone chooses to have weird feelings (temptations), but they do (like the whole world!) choose to indulge in sin.

Certainly, there is an extra element at work in the issue of homosexuality that I would be remiss to ignore. Paul seems to indicate that it's homosexuality and societal approval of it and other sins is a symptom of God removing His restraining hand in judgement (Rom. 1:27,32). But on a basic, how-do-I-respond-as-a-Christian level, homosexuality is a sin that damns, like lying damns, like stealing damns, like how ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD damns us all (Rom. 3:23). So we must be careful not to get all high and mighty and say, "look at those unbelievers sinning!" Playas gonna play and sinners gonna sin. Our job is to show them that IT IS sin and that they, like us, and the whole world, need to repent and turn to Jesus Christ as Lord to save them from God's righteous judgement (that's why it's called the Good News). Sinners saved by grace show grace to sinners.

2. What about Gay-Marriage?

Obviously the issue is compounded when you throw in a political element. If you agree that homosexuality is a sin in God's eyes then the redefinition of marriage to include gay couples is rightly disturbing to you. Furthermore, as messed up as it is in America, the family really is the backbone of civilization. And YES marriage that God recognizes is between a feller and a lady (Gen. 2:20-25), so when a group of a people or a president of a nation, say "HEY, let's change this thing", that's a big deal!

So how do we respond? What is the Christian's responsibility politically? Let me make it simple (Look up these verses):

Pay your taxes (Luke 20:25), obey the government (Romans 13:1-7, 1 Peter 2:13-15), and pray for your leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2). Now of course, if the law forces us to act in opposition to God's commands we must be like Peter and obey God rather than men (Acts 4:19-20). So if at some point the government tries to force our churches to marry people of the same sex, we will politely say, "no, we have to obey God on this one, jail us if you want." That's it. Really, I would be happy to see a cogent Biblical argument for a Christian's responsibility politically, because I just can't find it. We are ambassadors for Christ and citizens of His Kingdom, all societal transformation that results from us is a byproduct of exemplary righteous living and the conversion of other lost people, not political activism, else our archeologists would have uncovered "Peter for Proconsul!" buttons by now.

Conclusion

Christian, you are rightly saddened by this symptom of sin further decaying our society, so respond in this way: pray, vote if you want, call people to repentance for sin, but outlawing sin doesn't actually solve the problem, the gospel does. Yep, this extends to other political issues too.

And the gospel is this: Everyone who has lived has sinned and is therefore condemned before God. At the end of time all people will stand before Him and be judged by the righteous standard of His law, and everyone who has not forsaken their attempts at making themselves righteous and clung completely to Jesus Christ as the sacrifice and savior for sin, and the Lord of their lives, will face an eternity in hell.

You can say, "well I don't believe in God or sin or any of that," but it is true, and we're all going to face him, and I think deep down you already know it. So quit lying to yourself. Forsake your sin, turn from your rebellion against God and believe on the King, Jesus who died and received God's wrath, so that you don't have to. Grab a Bible and start reading the book of John, see if this man Jesus does not compel you.

And Christian, just remember; Nations come and nations go. God is sovereign over all. He's got this (Psalm 103:19, Daniel 2:21).