The Blog of St. Mark

The discussion about gay marriage in America ratcheted up a notch when Pres. Obama recently declared himself in favor of same-sex marriage.  He did it the same day that the state of North Carolina voted to add an amendment to their constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

In his statement, Pres. Obama says he evolved to his position of support mostly based on relationships with homosexual individuals.  But he also cloaked his decision with his Christian faith, using the Golden Rule — “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

This fails to recognize some things:

1. It’s possible to love one another and also say, “What you’re doing is wrong.”  We do it all the time with our children as we raise them.  So does God.  He proclaims both Law and Gospel.  The Law convicts us of sin, curbs sinful behaviors, and guides Christians in their walk of faith.  He also proclaims His gospel of forgiveness in Christ.
2. In other words, the Scriptures do not call homosexuality the unforgivable sin, any more than it calls divorce the unforgivable sin.   Sexual sins are not the only sins that God condemns and calls us to flee from.  Read the Ten Commandments.  Only one is immediately about sex.
3. Jesus never accepted people “as they were.”  He always called them to faithfulness to the Lord, for example, the woman caught in adultery in John 8.  He forgave her, and then said, “Stop committing adultery.”  And when He saw the young rich man walk away sad because He couldn’t/wouldn’t sell everything to follow Jesus, our Lord didn’t say, “Oh, wait a minute, come back here.  I’ve come to learn that you’re a nice, normal young man who just happens to break the first commandment.  You can go on doing that, we’ll call it an exception.”  He let the young man walk away until He could do what God asked of Him.
4. Love without truth leads only to a crash, just as much as a plane with only wing will crash (likewise, truth without love will lead to a crash also.  ”Speak the truth in love,” Paul says.)
5. The Bible speaks clearly on these matters, no matter how much people say otherwise.  The Bible defines marriage as an institution of God — a lifelong relationship between one man and one woman broken only by death (though sinful men and women can, and certainly do, break what God has joined together).  The Bible defines sexual intercourse as something that belongs only within the confines of a marriage between a man and a woman.  All other sexual behavior falls under the Bible’s term:  ”sexual immorality.”

In the end, our view of marriage, homosexuality, and sexuality in general comes from the Word of God and not from our feelings, opinion polls, or what we want to do, or others want us to do.

In addition, we want to speak compassionately and lovingly in the truth about these issues.  Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom we are the worst, whether we wrestle with sexual sins, money sins, obedience sins, stealing sins, coveting sins, talk sins, etc.  We dare not pick one sin and say, “THAT person is unclean,” as if all other sinners are somehow a rung above them.

Some passages to consider in this discussion:

• Genesis 2:18-24
• Romans 1:18-31
• Mark 7:14-23
• Matthew 19:1-10
• Mark 10:2-12
• Hebrews 13:4
• 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
• Leviticus 18:22
• 1 Timothy 1:9-10
• Matthew 5:27-28
• John 7:53-8:11