Last week there was an article in The Wall Street Journal that caught my attention. The article was entitled “Gay-Marriage Trial Wraps Up.” The article focused on a California trial in which the legality of the prohibition of same-sex marriages was being challenged on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. The lawyer who represented the plaintiffs, who wanted to get married, said that “laws prohibiting gay marriages were equivalent to statues that once outlawed interracial marriage.” This trial has huge ramifications as it seeks to overturn Proposition 8 which was a California state ruling that had banned same-sex marriages.
How does this affect us? Perhaps the greater question is how will this affect the church? With so much anger and animosity surrounding this issue we can expect further political and social pressure to conform to the standards of political correctness. When Proposition 8 was passed in 2008, many who were found to have been financial supporters of the proposition were forced to resign from public positions and others were blacklisted. It is apparent that those who are unwilling to support the legality of gay marriage will receive persecution.
It is not completely unrealistic that in the future those who take a biblical stance on this issue could be considered guilty of committing a hate crime. Does that mean that we should lessen our stance on the issue or be willing to conform to ideals of political correctness? The answer to this question is dependent upon where your loyalties lie. Are you loyal to the social ideas of what is acceptable or are you committed to the standard of biblical morality? It seems that so many are so concerned with being loving and accepting of those with different lifestyles that they have thrown God’s standard of truth out the window. While we should be concerned and focused with clearly showing God’s love to those who live lives that are directly opposed to Scripture, love is always connected with truth. Love that is not connected with truth, is not real love.
We can expect to hear much more about the issue of same-sex marriage in the months and years to come.
August 31, 2010 at 1:04 pm
Interesting you say “biblical stance” with the implication of a “biblical stance” meaning OUTLAWING. I don’t see how you can so boldly make that case when there is not one scripture that can be used to support the outlawing of marriage of homosexual people or that by getting married, they are sinning.
September 29, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Aaron, Sorry it took me so long to respond, I’ve been taking a little break from my blog. A “biblical stance” comes from a biblical understanding of an issue. The fact that there may not be a verse that directly condemns something does not mean that a biblical perspective cannot be abtained.
In the Bible marriage is presented as a covenant that was and is ordained by God. As such, there are covenant standards and a covenant design. Anything that breaks the covenant standards or goes against the covenant design is contrary to the biblical presentation of marriage. That includes any kind of gay marriage.