Biblical Responses to the SCOTUS Ruling on Same Sex Marriage

To those who do not profess Christ as Lord and Savior, please kindly move along, for nothing in this post applies to you. For those who do claim Christ, however, then we as the church are obligated according to the Scriptures to hold each other accountable, and this list of 40 questions raises questions worth serious consideration.  It is a great resource for checking one's own stance on this issue.

"17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people." (Romans 16:17-18)

How the Lord must grieve over the division in His church which He established to function as one united body under His headship. The church should be responding with love and unity to this issue, but instead, social media resembles a civil war of sorts, both within the church and without.  How those outside of the church respond to this issue is not for us to judge, but for those of us in the church, a Biblical response is necessary.  The problem is that some only accept the parts of His word that make them or others feel good temporarily while ignoring or using white-out on the rest.  This fluid approach to the scriptures does not place oneself under God's authority but under the world's. Yes, we may each interpret passages in slightly different ways, but the same fundamental truths apply throughout. God is love, and the greatest commandment is to love Him, and the second is to love others as ourselves. Love is unconditionally sacrificing oneself for the GOOD of the other as Christ demonstrated for us on the cross. So we must serve, listen, give, sacrifice, show hospitality, offer support, and be a friend withOUT partiality and with humility, not thinking too highly of ourselves. Let us not let political distractions keep us from doing the good work God has for us to do. But love is NOT approving of the same actions (or any host of other actions God hates that may tempt any of us) that nailed Jesus to the cross. Love WON at the cross, not with a 5/4 SCOTUS decision. Christ died to free us both from the penalty for our wickedness AND from wrong desires so we may walk in righteousness. God judged the world with a flood because of actions some now celebrate as heroic, and the rainbow is His symbol of that judgment. Let us love without compromise. (Romans 16:17-18)

"Double-alaskan-rainbow" by Eric Rolph at English Wikipedia - English Wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

For those who are in panic mode, this article provides some much needed perspective, and is by far my favorite published piece on the subject thus far. The church lost this war with no-fault divorce decades ago.  The family has been eroding ever since with more children being raised in fatherless homes than ever before.  Sex before and outside of marriage affects a much larger proportion of Americans, so while we grieve over this blatant approval of homosexuality and disregard for the sacrament of marriage as God ordained it, we must not stop fighting for sexual purity, strengthening Biblical marriages, and nurturing healthy families.  The world will see the difference doing marriage and family God's way makes as they gain all the rights and privileges they thought would satisfy and still end up feeling empty.  Only Christ can fill that void, so let's be ready to love them into the kingdom instead of casting stones. Judgment of anyone outside the church will only push them further away.

As Jonathan Parnell writes in "Why Homosexuality is not like Other Sins", we as Christians must not stand in the acceptance camp where we wave our rainbow flags in celebration of this ruling, but we also must not place ourselves in the hate camp, for God does not hate homosexuals. He loves them lavishly and so should we.  Instead our message must be one of acknowledging the sin (ours first), and proclaiming God's love.

“We’re far worse than we ever imagined, and far more loved than we could ever dream.”  - Tim Keller

As for the Constitutionality of this decision, there is none.  Any arguments claiming it is in the ascents are squishy at best and set a dangerous precedent for the courts to approve anything and everything imaginable while squashing the first amendment.  Courts do not have the right to make law, so this ruling is a tremendous overreach of power, and the four dissents for this ruling articulate that clearly.  

"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who would pervert the Constitution." (Abraham Lincoln)

Thankfully believers do not put their faith in the government to save the world or solve its problems.  We are ultimately under the authority of the Sovereign Lord, and He has told us how this story ends.  Only a perfectly holy, sinless, God whose love is infinite and whose knowledge is perfect can judge rightly.  We need only continue to trust in Him.  The Supreme Court cannot redefine what He has established, and no one can put Christ back in the grave. He is risen, and He is victorious.  Rejoice in Him!