Addressing this sensitive issue from a Christian, specifically a biblical, perspective requires a step-by-step approach. The steps are really questions, which help clarify and accentuate the issues in this debate.
What Is Hate?
According to Dictionary.com, hate is "to dislike intensely or passionately; [to] feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward [something or someone]."
Gay marriage proponents often argue that all those who oppose same-sex marriage fall into the category of "hate." McDonald's is an example. Defending the McDonald's decision to join the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, spokesman Bill Whitman declared: "Hate has no place in our culture."
Evangelical Christians consider such claims by same-sex marriage proponents to be unfair. Christian opponents of same-sex marriage point out that it IS possible to disagree with someone or something (even strongly), and not be guilty of hate.
Says William Einwechter, editor for The Christian Statesman and vice president of the National Reform Association: "The true Christian does not condemn sodomy and 'same-sex marriage' because of fear or hate, but because his faith in God’s revelation requires him to do so."
What Is the Bible?
This is a fundamental question to the religious aspect of the gay marriage debate. Those who consider the Bible to be God's revelation argue that both human reason and emotion must subordinate themselves to God's authority. More liberal or "progressive" Christians claim the Bible is the product of human hands. Accordingly, they believe the church is free to respond to changing social mores and pressures.
Those churches that hold a liberal or progressive view of the Bible invariably favor (or are moving toward favoring) gay marriage. One need only see the divide in the Anglican Church as an example of this. The "conservatives" in the Anglican Church oppose same-sex marriage and the ordination of gay bishops, while the "liberals" favor both. The same dynamic is playing out in virtually every Christian denomination.
An open-ended, progressive view of the Bible is why John Shelby Spong, a former Anglican bishop and popular progressive thinker, can describe the religiously conservative position on homosexuality as being "trapped inside dying definitions" and praise those favoring gay rights as part of an "emerging new consciousness."
What Does the Bible Say about Homosexuality?
If one accepts the accuracy and authority of Genesis (again, see the conservative vs. liberal divide discussed above), then God's marriage model is clearly articulated in the Garden of Eden. And that model is presented as one man and one woman (see Genesis 1-2).
Additionally, the Mosaic Code is replete with condemnations (and penalties) for homosexual conduct. While the Old Testament penalties for homosexual conduct (and also witchcraft, teen rebellion, adultery, etc.) are not practiced by the Christian church today (and, say evangelicals, shouldn't be -- based on the New Testament dispensation), the moral principles remain.
In his letter to the church at Rome, the Apostle Paul adds his condemnation to homosexuality, when he writes:
"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due."(Romans 1:26-27, NKJV)
In Homosexuality: A Biblical View, Greg Bahnsen puts it bluntly:
"God’s verdict on homosexuality is inescapably clear. His law is a precise interpretation of the sexual order of creation for fallen man, rendering again His intention and direction for sexual relations. When members of the same sex (homo-sexual) practice intercourse with each other...they violate God’s basic creation order in a vile and abominable fashion."
The Attack on the Bible
Whether marriage laws should be biblically based is a debate that is beyond the scope of this site, but clearly the Bible (at least when read and understood in a straightforward, historical-grammatical framework) is no friend to gay marriage proponents. And this is why most gay marriage proponents have resorted to attacking, undermining, or redefining the Bible.
Bishop Spong, for example, writes: "The Bible...was once quoted to support slavery, to oppose science and to prevent women from achieving equality. On every one of those issues the Bible was quite simply wrong. To quote it now to uphold the evil of homophobia is no less wrong."
Most Bible-believing evangelicals would disagree with Spong's assertion that the Bible was "wrong" on those issues. Rather, they say, people misquoted and abused the Bible to "support slavery, oppose science, and prevent women from achieving equality."
Conservatives don't reflexively oppose examination of the Bible. On the contrary, to examine the Bible objectively and fairly (including whether our interpretations of or understandings of it are flawed) is something that all Christians are encouraged to do. The Apostle Paul, after all, urged his readers to "test all things" (Philippians 3:9) and to "study to show yourself approved unto God" (II Timothy 2:15).
Evangelical Christians caution, however, that people shouldn't judge the Bible's accuracy or authority based on their own preferences and emotions. What it says about homosexuality has nothing to do with whether the Bible is God's Word. If it's God's Word, then God expects us to bring our lives in conformity with His revelation, whether people wish to do so or not. Bible-believing Christians point out that the doctrinal issues of homosexuality and gay marriage aren't questions of wish or desire.
As one pastor said: "The Bible is either God's Word or it's not. It's either divinely authoritative or it's not. It is not for us to determine the answer, but rather to discover it."
**The preceding article has been written from an evangelical perspective. Those with differing opinions are encouraged to sign up as Contributing Writers with Suite101.com and offer their thoughtful perspective.
Brian Tubbs - Brian Tubbs is a minister, writer, and former educator living in Northern Virginia. He writes on personal development, faith, and ...
