Declare You Man and Wife
Thoughts on Wisconsin’s Proposed Marriage Amendment
In Wisconsin we are now deep into the election season. All around us are candidate scandals and rhetoric from both sides of the isle. Thou personally I may have some strong political views, it is not a topic that I would normally write about. Yet, this November, Wisconsin voters will have the opportunity to vote on a proposed amendment to the state constitution. This amendment would define marriage as only between one man and one woman. It would also make civil unions between same sex couples or any other arrangement similar to marriage invalid. The point of the amendment is to prohibit legal, homosexual marriage in the state of Wisconsin. Supporters of this amendment say it was made necessary by the action of the Massachusetts’ Supreme Court which ruled that state’s restriction of marriage to one man and one woman was unconstitutional, thus making homosexual marriage legal in that state.
The supporters of this amendment have made informing and mobilizing churches to get out the vote one of their major strategies to get the amendment passed. My church gets mailings a couple of times each week and phone calls on a regular basis. The problem I have with most of what I read and hear is that, to mobilize churches and Christians in general, the appeal is one either of fear or anger against those who oppose traditional marriage and are trying to “take away our Christian nation.” When any political group appeals to the local church to endorse their political position the church should ask a number of critical questions. In this case, the questions are as follows: How ought we to think about homosexuality in general and homosexual marriage in particular? How should we speak about homosexuality and how should we relate to the openly homosexual people we know and live around? What role does God want us to play in this legal/political debate both as individuals and as a church? What reasons should motivate us to either be involved or not be involved? So let’s explore these questions.
First, homosexual lust and homosexual behavior are a violation of God’s revealed will and like heterosexual lust and heterosexual behavior outside of monogamous, male/female marriage are hell-deserving sins, as all sins are (Matthew 5:27-30, Romans 1:24-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 18, Ephesians 4:17-19, 5:3-7, 1 Thess. 4:1-8, compare with Leviticus 18:22, 20:13). God only sanctions the expression of sexual desire in behavior within life long, monogamous marriage between a man and a woman. It is important to emphasize that homosexuality is not a worse category of sin than any other sin. God does not hate homosexuals anymore than he hates gossips and liars and drunks. “God hates all who do wrong.” (Psalm 5:5) God condemns everyone who is outside of Christ because “there is no one righteous, not even one.” God is opposed to homosexual marriage just like he’s opposed to unmarried men and women living together and divorce and drunkenness and employers refusing to pay a just wage to their workers and abortion and a whole host of other legal, socially accepted behaviors.
Second, every person who has homosexual desire or who has engaged in homosexual behavior can be forgiven of his or her sins and go to heaven to live with God forever by trusting in Christ as his or her sin-bearer. Thus, as Christians we must relate to homosexuals the same way we relate to all who are outside of Christ. We must love them, even as our heavenly Father loves them by giving them rain from heaven (Matthew 5:42-48). We must love them as we love ourselves. We must not treat them as if they are somehow worse than us. We must offer to them the free gift of salvation through faith in Christ as we have opportunity.
Third, it is the chief purpose of the church is to bear witness to the glory of God in the face of Christ, by our life together and by our teaching. We, as the body of Christ, are the visible manifestation of God’s saving grace in the world. We are to call people out of the world as it is headed for hell and to provide those who respond to the call of the gospel with what they need to make it safely to their heavenly dwelling place. We are aliens and strangers in the world. We are citizens of heaven and not of this world. So what is to be our relationship with the broader society in which we live?
Christians have answered that question in many and various ways over the centuries and across the various cultures where the church has existed. Most of the ways this question has been answered can be observed within the contemporary worldwide Christian church. Some have argued that we should have nothing to do with the broader society but should live separately by forming distinct, self-sufficient communities. Many of the monastic communities were formed for this purpose. Some of the Mennonite and other of the “peace” communities (Amish, Quakers, Shakers, etc.) have answered the question in this way. Others have argued that the world is like a sinking ship so we should try to save as many as we can from it but beyond relating to the world for the purpose of saving individuals we should essentially be separate from the world. Often this answer will seek to create Christian communities separated from the broader culture by dress and lifestyle choices and urge relationships with non-Christians only for the purpose of “saving the lost.” On the other side of the spectrum are those that argue that since the world belongs to God then the church ought to be working to take over the world not only by preaching the gospel but by seeking to take over the power structures of the world: education, media, law, medicine, government, politics, etc. There are various forms of this answer but they share in common a view that since “the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains” then the church should take dominion over all the cultures of the world.
However, it seems to me that the biblical answer to how the church is to relate to the broader culture and particularly to issues of public policy and law is not as clear cut as these alternatives. So the question is should we care whether or not the state of Wisconsin passes the “marriage amendment?” I would argue that we should care just as we should care about all kinds of public policies and economic policies and cultural forces that affect the people we live around. However the reason we should care is not because we think it our job to make a “Christian” nation. We are not to care because we want to live in a “pure” society, where our children can grow up without such “perverse” moral influences.
The reason we should care is because we love our neighbors and want good for them. Therefore we care about law and government and cultural forces that affect our neighbors. We know that because God made the world and he made us to live in his world that the best and happiest way for any people to live is in accordance with his revealed will. We know that obedience to God’s commands really does result in happy and free people. We also know that “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” It is the task of government to “reward those who do right and punish those who do wrong” (Romans 13:3-4, 1 Peter 2:14). While we recognize that no government can, nor should make every sin illegal, yet it is the task of every civil government to seek to restrain evil by coercive force and to promote just and moral behavior through the rewards of public policy.
Since we know that homosexual desire and behavior is an absolute moral evil and that lifelong monogamous marriage between a man and a woman is an absolute moral good, then government ought to have laws and public policy that restrain and limit homosexual behavior and promote long lasting marriages. That is not to say that all homosexual desire and behavior must be illegal and therefore punishable by imprisonment or fine or some other negative consequence. It would certainly be wrong for a society to discriminate against homosexual sinners in basic human rights such as housing and free speech, etc. Yet, government has the moral obligation to wisely seek to legislate against homosexuality, just as it is obligated to legislate against property theft, slander, sexual relations between unmarried people, sexual exploitation of the young, polygamy, etc. This will lead to happier and healthier families and society as we live more in accord with God’s revealed will for human beings.
While I cannot know with certainty that God wants the “marriage amendment” passed, nor can I say with absolute certainty that this is the wisest way for the government to restrain evil and reward good, it does seem to me that it would be a moral good if this amendment were to pass. Given the current climate in our society, I would encourage Christians in Wisconsin to go to the polls in November and vote yes for this amendment. I are not saying that every Christian must support and vote for this amendment. Nor am I saying that a Christian cannot oppose passage of this amendment. Some may feel that this move is unnecessary, or that a constitutional amendment is not the right action. I simply cannot know that passing this amendment is God’s will and so cannot require that all Christians support it, though I think it wise to do so.
(Much of the thought from which this was drawn from is an open letter sent by the Elders at River Hills Community Church to their congregation.)
January 27th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Wow! Thank you!
I always wanted to write in my blog something like that. Can I take part of your post to my blog?
Of course, I will add backlink?
Regards, Timur Alhimenkov
January 28th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Hi Timur,
Feel free to use what is helpful.