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Gay Marriage in the Church
Written by a young high school student
Within the past 12 years interest in the biblical acceptance of homosexuality has peaked and Christians have found themselves backed into a corner, forced to answer the million dollar question: "Is it sinful to be gay?" Recently there have been meetings with the leaders of large churches such as Capital Christian, Bridgeway, and The Rock of Roseville to discuss this very question. Some of these pastors have said, "I used to think being gay was a sin, but now I've changed my mind." Every day more Christians conform to the social standards set by homosexual propaganda. However, I remain intransigent. We, as Christians, have to believe that God is immutable and we must refuse to manipulate the bible to meet the wants and needs of this disaffected social era; we must examine the Bible and refrain from calling sin "good."
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With her mother |
Gay Christians or Christians who support gay marriage have set out to prove themselves and preach that it is biblically acceptable to be gay. Matthew Vines is a 22 year-old gay Christian who released a youtube video called "The Gay Debate" that quickly went viral, catalysing several Christians to exonerate homosexuality. In his video, he addresses the 6 main passages that identify homosexuality as immoral and "disproves" them all. The counterargument to Matthew Vines' sermon lies within the first 7 minutes. He says "I am gay, I didn't choose to be gay. It is not something I would have chosen. Not because it's bad but because it is extremely inconvenient."
When we know that we are wrong, or are doing something wrong, we try to "make it good" so that we don't have to feel guilty. Who can blame us? Guilt is an awful feeling. However, just because we label it "good" in order to satisfy our emotional needs, does not make it good. Matthew Vines grew up a Christian in a Christian home, he knows the Bible, he began his video by quoting the scripture that clearly states that homosexuality is a sin; he knows he is doing something "bad." Now because we are born with a tendency towards a sinful life, he, like all people, will feel strong temptation to live a sinful life. That doesn't change the fact that he has learned the truth about sin from the bible, and that what he's doing is wrong. Now that his sinful flesh and knowing heart are at odds, he feels guilty, and so he devoted himself to calling his sin "good."
Vinces quotes Genesis 2:18 when God says that it is not good for man to be alone, so he created a companion for Adam and that was Eve. Matthew continues to say that a woman is an appropriate helper and companion for the majority of men, but that only encompasses straight men. He says that even though he is gay, if he is alone he is complying with what God called "not good." However, in 1 Corinthians 7 Paul says "it is good to remain unmarried. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord." Leviticus 18 states that homosexuality is an unlawful abomination and that the punishment is death. Christians have questioned the applicability that Leviticus' warnings have on present day Christians. They speculate that the Old Testament's rules were fulfilled by Jesus and the new covenant. In Roman 7: 7 it says "What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means!" God tells us that he has written his law in our hearts. That means each of us are going to have different struggles and temptations. Mine may not be homosexuality but I struggle with doubt, self-obsession in the way I look, I idolize food and what I eat, I gossip, I've stolen, I'm disrespectful. The only thing that separates me from a person that actively practices homosexuality is that I know that I am sinful and each day I ask God for help in relinquishing my idols to him. We must daily surrender our sin to him so that we may do his perfect will with no distractions.
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On the Cal campus
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Romans 1:27 "and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error." Christians in support of gay marriage are fallaciously preaching that this passage needs to be redefined. They say that the men and women mentioned in Romans 1 are blameworthy because they started as heterosexual then rejected it. But this can not apply to the gay people of our day and age because they were "born this way;" they started as homosexual; so in point of fact "it would be unnatural for them to pursue a heterosexual relationship." They have debauched the bible. If this were the case, then nothing in the bible holds any weight. We were all born sinful, that is everyone's natural way. It is our duty as Christians to take up our cross and deny our individual temptations. By exempting homosexuals from their quotidian burden we are exculpating their sin and allowing exposure to the aspersion of sin. If we truly love them we will hold them to the standards that will ultimately allow them access to eternal life and the splendor of heaven.
How can we call ourselves Christians, when we blatantly disobey what the bible tells us? I know that it is uncomfortable, scary, and hard to go against the social norm when everything around us, tv, magazines, celebrities, family, friends, are telling us that it's okay it's fine to be gay. We are called to be different, because we are different. We have the holy spirit living inside of us. We need to have faith in the bible and have faith in his promise that he will protect us, that he will never give us more strife than we can take. One day every tongue will confess, one day every knee will bow, still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose him now. We need to gladly choose him; does that mean that we will always be glad to choose him? Absolutely not, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
It is extremely disheartening that sin has so perniciously seeped into the lives of powerful Christian leaders who influence thousands of people. As followers of Jesus, we cannot give in to the ways of the world or use the world as our standard. We need to set our sights to our eternal glory and daily remind ourselves to openly reject the world's persuasion. People have blurred the line between acceptance and love. In our effort to prove that Christians aren't hateful homophobes, we have overstepped and are no longer loving them but letting them continue without opposition on their path to eternal damnation. We must show our love by teaching them the same way out of sin that we were given. God's grace, salvation, and sacrifice can not be replaced by conciliatory gestures and compromised bereft of meaning.
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