For the most part, Christian ethics are pretty straightforward. Don\u2019t steal. Don\u2019t slander. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.<\/p>\n
Expressing those things on a personal level is usually fairly clear and simple, but doing so at a national policy level is much more difficult. \u00a0Our diverse and complex nation tries to be Christian and not-Christian, progressive and conservative, freeing and protecting, responsible and permissive all at once. The legal and ethical schizophrenia can be severe. In that environment, our desire for a God-honoring definition of marriage goes easily unheeded.<\/p>\n
So as we consider New York\u2019s recent approval of gay marriage, let us be clear about a few things.<\/p>\n
First, Scripture clearly tells me to love homosexuals<\/strong>. \u00a0Christ\u2019s call to love is not reserved to those with similar faith or ethics, not strategically shaped to avoid uncomfortable situations. \u00a0Love means when you have a homosexual coworker, you befriend them. \u00a0When you have a homosexual neighbor, you build a relationship with them in all the ways you would a normal neighbor. And when a homosexual person tells a story, you listen just as intently and appreciate their sincerity just as much as you would for anyone else in the world. These things sound simple and obvious, but fearful and unfriendly reactions to homosexuals are common and need to stop.<\/p>\n Second, Scripture clearly tells me the practice of homosexuality is sin<\/strong>. \u00a0Scripture proclaims it to be a perversion of God\u2019s good gifts, a challenge to his order, a lack of trust in his design. \u00a0This means that ultimately, like abortion or adultery, Christians are saddened and dismayed by anything that expands and legitimizes the role of sin in our everyday lives.\u00a0 This sounds simple and obvious, but the temptation to simply declare homosexuality to be perfectly acceptable is an increasing problem in the church, especially some of the more liberal denominations.<\/p>\n Third, the Christian hope is never in human government to correct hearts that naturally turn to sin<\/strong>. While we do try to display the hope and beauty of the life God offers, we know the path to destruction will always be wide and well-populated.\u00a0 In a world where society will never fully submit to Christ until his return, morality based on his Word will likewise never fully prevail against a self-idolizing culture.\u00a0 This sounds simple and obvious, but you might be surprised at how many people in the church think of culture wars as a chess match with an endgame, rather than a challenge that will not find final resolution until the Lord returns.<\/p>\n When we arrange those thoughts correctly in our minds, we are better prepared to take on a question like the recent New York law.<\/p>\n In some ways, the conservative outcry over this issue makes sense.\u00a0 Allowing two men or two women to classify themselves as married really is an assault on the classic definition of marriage, and there certainly cannot be such thing as a homosexual marriage which is not an affront God\u2019s commands in this area.<\/p>\n But in another sense, the idea of marriage was already under heavy assault.\u00a0 Divorce laws have made union, even between a man and a woman, an easily breakable thing.\u00a0 And the massive rise of cohabitation and civil unions has already dismissed, \u201cmarriage as a holy institution,\u201d and made lifelong freedom the cultural norm. The simple fact is that marriage has lost its grandeur, and has already become merely another word for a temporary civil union, a legal entity whose primary purposes include having a beautiful wedding and simplifying health insurance.<\/p>\n So as Christians, how can we protect marriage in a country that has clearly fallen away from God?\u00a0 And how can we renew the beauty of God\u2019s design for marriage when the word is being stolen out from under us?<\/p>\n First, we should make the debate about the government\u2019s right to recognize the family unit as the long-term building block of civilization, rather than using the \u201cGod said so,\u201d defense.\u00a0 In other words, this is a secular political debate based on principles of citizenship, rather than a religious debate of sacred texts. Too many times I have heard Christians say the reason two atheist men cannot have legal familial privileges is that, \u201cGod made marriage to be between one man and one woman.\u201d (or, worse, that He made, \u201cAdam and Eve, not Adam and Steve\u201d).\u00a0 This is a non-starter of an argument in a multi-cultural, multi-religious society.<\/p>\n Christians get very defensive about their family lives. We do not want the government or anyone else telling us how to educate our kids, how to handle discipline, or how we should worship.\u00a0 Is it any surprise, then, that those who do not claim Christ as their authority are defensive about how they structure their families?\u00a0 At one moment in history, the majority of this nation was Christian and could be expected to converse about the law using principles from the Bible.\u00a0 Those days are long gone, though, and we would be foolish to expect that muscling Christian ethics through secular political institutions will somehow bring those days back.<\/p>\n However, as Robert George has shown in his work at Princeton, there can be a special recognition of the monogamous one man, one woman familial unit as the building block of humanity\u2019s continuation.\u00a0 The argument, though primarily pragmatic, is a good reflection of our trust that God\u2019s way for society is the healthiest, and it nicely sets marriage apart from other civil unions.\u00a0 We really can make good arguments for healthy political life, based on godly principles, without trying to enforce our religious ethics on those who do not believe.\u00a0 That\u2019s one good strategy for protecting the institution of marriage.<\/p>\n More important, though, is this: honor your marriage.\u00a0 If we want to tell the world that marriage was designed to display God\u2019s created order and to model the relationship of Christ and the church, we need to treat it that way.<\/p>\n That means that when you fight with your wife, divorce needs to be banished from your mind.\u00a0 It means that when a couple at your church seems to be struggling, you go out of your way to help them find counseling resources.\u00a0 It means you open up and allow young couples and even your kids to see that, \u201ccommitment,\u201d means there will be bad times too, and that working through those times is part of the deal.<\/p>\n Christians want marriage to be set apart, and I understand that.\u00a0 I agree with it.\u00a0 I am no happier about the legalization of homosexual, \u201cmarriage,\u201d than you are. But until our version of marriage is so radically different from the culture\u2019s that it can\u2019t help but notice, an unbelieving world will continue to see us as domineering rather than as ambassadors for the hope of Christ.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The American Church could use some perspective. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1224,"featured_media":12033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-headline"],"yoast_head":"\n