On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States
(SCOTUS) issued a landmark decision stating that same-sex marriages are
protected under the Constitution of the United States
Here is an example of a typical narrative from a
Christian to a gay rights proponent regarding same-sex marriage: “You are sinning against God therefore you
are going straight to hell”. Or
maybe a bit more subtle approach might sound like: “The Holy Bible condemns same-sex unions or relationships therefore you
are violating God’s Will (and you are going straight to hell).”
Fellow Christians, not only are we are not going to win any
arguments with this approach, we certainly are not going to lead anyone to
Christ this way either. Why? Because we
are presenting an invalid argument if the focus is on sin.
For a moment let’s forget
about this “gay-sex” sin and let’s just focus on sin itself. When we change the
conversation to generic “sin” we then must include ourselves into the equation
because we are all sinners. The “gay-sex” sin is no greater or less of a sin than
your sin or mine. We are all sinners, therefore “… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Rom 3:23), and “… the wages of sin is death” (Rom
6:23). But as Christians we
firmly believe that Jesus became our sin on the cross and through His death,
burial and resurrection, the sin of the world was taken away.
Now, that does not mean that
we no longer sin but the good news is that sin is no longer the obstacle to
eternal salvation, and because man could never “not sin”, God “… so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting
life” (John 3:16). So, it’s not by our sin do we
differ but through repentance! “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).
On the flip-side of this
same-sex marriage argument, the proponents state that this is an issue of love
and that anyone should be able to love (marry) whom they please. Then the other
tidbit is added to their conversation which is that those who disagree (Christians)
are labeled as “haters”! There you go! Then one or both parties will either agree to
disagree or they will just walk away forever admonishing the others beliefs
with some colorful language added in to make the event more memorable.
It is at this juncture where I
believe that Christians have not only lost the civil argument but also have a
golden opportunity to reveal the very essence of God’s Love for mankind. It’s
not often that Believers get an opportunity such as this to converse
face-to-face with non-believers and one of the unintended consequences of the
SCOTUS ruling is that this opportunity to share God’s love is now center stage not
only in the United States but across the World because the entire World is
watching, and discussing, this very subject. However, we appear to be so focused on
winning an argument that we lose the opportunity to win souls over to
Christ.
So here is my shocking
statement of the moment – the proponents
of same-sex marriage are absolutely right when they assert that the issue of same-sex
marriage is about love, or at least it should be about love. However, they
are wrong when they also assert that those that disagree (Christians) with them
about same-sex marriage are haters, because the Christian response is also
about love, or at least it should be about love, because it’s all about God’s love.
As Jesus reminded us “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless
those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who
spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matt
5:44).
Many times the gay-marriage
supporters will also use scripture within the Holy Bible to admonish Christians
that stand against their chosen lifestyle. One favorite tactic is when they
chastise us with … “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And yet they conveniently
forget the first commandment… “And you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your
strength”.
The
truth is that love for God and love for God’s Word is Christian love, or at
least it should be! It is because of our love for God, and knowing first-hand
God’s love for His creation, that we should not recognize any of man’s laws
that violate God’s Law. It is also our love for God that we respond to God’s
great commission: “Go
therefore and make disciples
of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit” (Matt 28:19).
OK, I know that much of this is Christian mumbo-jumbo and
that I might as well be speaking in “tongue” if I try to convince a
non-believer to believe by employing this tactic. The typical response will be
a glassy-eyed look of dismay. So what is one to do?
The simple response to a non-believer is the simple TRUTH.
Yes, the stated above is all truth but let’s keep it simple and lay it all
on-the-line, or let’s “put all our cards on the table”, or whatever bumper
sticker phrase works for you, so here it is, or at least I pray it is!
When a non-believer accuses us of “hate” because we don’t support
their stance on same-sex marriage, or perhaps abortion, of perhaps taking
prayer out of the classroom, or what ever the sin-of the-day is, remind them
just what it is that they are asking a Christian to do. Specifically, we are
being asked to love man before we love God; we are being asked to love man’s
law over God’s law; we are being asked to violate our beliefs in support of
their beliefs; we are being asked to lead them away from eternal salvation
instead of leading them towards eternal salvation, and we are being asked to
hate everything that we love (God). If that doesn’t put perspective on this
issue, then close with “…and you are
going straight to hell” (just kidding)!
And, if someone is expecting us to minimize and to
trivialize every belief we hold dear to our own being, is that someone expressing love or hate for us?
In closing I repeat from above, – the proponents of same-sex
marriage are absolutely right when they assert that the issue of same-sex
marriage is about love - because, for them, it is all about violating God’s love for
man's love.
“But those who obey God's word truly show how completely they love Him. That is how we know we are living in Him.”
(1 John 2:5)
