Time for Reform: Issue 4 - Gay Marriage

Since I’m on a roll of finding hot-button topics, I might as well follow-up with one of the hottest. Gay Marriage.

Next to abortion, gay marriage is easily the dominant topic in the minds of politically minded Christians. This is evidenced by the amount of hub-bub that went around not too long ago about amending the US Constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Here’s the problem with this issue: it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter whether Adam and Eve becomes Adam and Steve. The biggest argument from Christians has been that gay marriage will shake the foundations of what marriage should mean. That’s interesting, coming from a group of people who are just as likely as the rest of the populace to get a divorce or have an affair.

Plain and simple - this is another issue where Christians can sit in their ivory towers and demonstrate their complete hypocrisy. Why do we care about gay people getting married when we can’t stay married ourselves? Why do we care about gay people getting married when many of the marriages that do avoid divorce are devoid of love and commitment? Have we looked at our brother’s eye to find a splinter while there is still a plank in our own?

If the church wants to “defend” marriage, why don’t we start with ourselves? It’s outrageous that Christians demand marriage be protected, when they are the very principals in undermining it in the first place. Indeed, when the church would appear to defend wife-beaters before it would gay men, all credibility is lost and we are nothing more than babbling fools.

Here’s another problem with the issue: the message it sends is one of exclusion and judgment. And before anyone puts words in my mouth, let me clarify what I am not saying. I am not saying churches should be forced to perform gay marriage ceremonies. I am not saying that churches should promote gay marriages. What I am saying, however, is that people who understand grace should be the first to grant it. The truth is, God doesn’t need us to do the work of judgment. He has called us to the work of loving one another, including our enemies. His call to us was clear and distinct. He never asked us to protect the vows of marriage. He never asked us to affect the political machine. He never asked us to single out people for their sin. And yet, these are the things we focus on.

People - gay marriage is a non-issue. If it happens, so what? How will it impact your own marriage? My marriage of 10 years will not suddenly be hurt because two men have taken a vow to love one another. My role as father and husband is not weakened because two women share the same bed. However, my mission in Christ is tremendously hampered when I take my eyes off the mission. And this issue has done just that to many Christians.

So, no matter what you think about gay marriage, put it aside.

If only Christians were as “fired up” about seeing to it that they fed the hungry and clothed the poor…

This entry was posted on October 23, 2007 at 7:19 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.