A few
days ago, gay marriage became legal in all 50 States of the United ones of
America. It is heralded as a victory of human rights. It is also considered by
a few to be a victory against Christians, conservatives, and the like. Many
Christians are indeed "outraged", worried about the moral pulse of
the nation. I have then also seen those in strong favour of marriage equality
take the SCOTUS ruling as an opportunity to deride Christians in general. Seems
both sides can make generalisations, can they? But this isn’t the point.
After the
announcement of the ruling, and with Facebook bleeding rainbow, I began to
think about my reaction to all of it. My initial reaction was one of
indifference; calling neither for fire and brimstone nor a gay pride victory
parade. Ashleigh, my fiancé, brought up the news when we chatted other day,
giving me the first time vocalise my sentiments. Again, it was one of
indifference. I do not think it is right, but I won't stop people from it, nor
raise a stink of it. It affects me in no way at all.
I further
mused about how Christians should react to sweeping legalised gay marriage. I
believe it is well understood and for the most part widely practiced that
Christians do love and care for their gay friends, family, and general public.
But it seems to me that some - not most, but certainly not least enough to not
be glanced over - Christians, or conservatives to put it even more broadly, are
still hung up on putting a ban on gay marriage. For them, the nine supreme
justices suddenly morphed in the Nazgul, beckoning the dark ages.
This is a
post for those who feel our Christian way of life is under siege. It is not so.
I will be
putting aside the legal and Constitutional arguments from either point of view.
Representatives of Idaho insist the Supreme Court is stepping over the toes of
the states deciding what marriage is to be. On the other side, as a friend
pointed out, the Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment (Section
I) protect the rights of the minority "from
the whims of the majority," as the friend said. A debate on the
Constitutional logistics of the decision is not my focus. Also, a discussion on
proposed bills on the protection of religious expressions - like ones
introduced in Idaho and elsewhere to protect your
local Christian florist from sprucing up a gay wedding - will not be had here.
(Though, in short, I do find it fair that a Christian business should not be
punished for not accepting to cater to something they don't believe in; but
then again, what a wonderful ministry opportunity it is for a Christian pizza
parlour to serve a wedding they don't agree with!)
My focus
is how should Christians be acting and reacting to legalized gay marriage?
Similar questions circulate around in congregations across the country/world.
The easy answer is love all like Jesus loved all. The just as easy answer is to
continue to live your life in Christ no matter what is going on around you.
Jesus
indeed is the supreme model of unconditional and brotherly love. Jesus
conducted his love without the need of grand law or legislation. I argue that
Jesus makes it clear that the
worship of the Lord and the practice of government and law are separate things (give to Caesar what is Caesar's, give to God what is
God's). Therefore, as Christians, we don't need Christian-inspired laws
surrounding us to act and be and do what Christ calls us to do.
Let's
take for example the call for how slaves were to conduct themselves
whilst in servitude as described in Colossian
3:22-24. Whether slaves were considered in
this context to be indentured, willing servants of a master or as freedom-less
humans treated like cattle, as we typically view slavery in modern terms,
Jesus' point is still the same: to do everything "with sincerity of heart
and reverence for the Lord," whether the master's eyes are on them or not.
This is an address on holy living, on how to inject Christ-likeness into the
world.
Jesus did
not come into the world to abolish the Roman Empire and establish a new
government. His love and message did not evade the traitorous tax collectors of
the region, nor the sick, the prostitutes, or the Romans themselves. Jesus had
no need to rewrite the way of life in the harsh Roman Empire to establish the
Kingdom of God.
Jesus'
call to his followers was to act like himself, express Godly love and care to
everyone despite the system of governance and life they currently were in.
Indeed, the hardships for the young church only got worst during Paul's
ministry when Roman emperors made it a point to find and kill Christians.
Amidst the hunt for Christians, Paul and the early writers maintained the
original message of Jesus: live with sincerity of heart and reverence for the
Lord. They perpetuated the address of injecting Christ-likeness into their
world seeking to reject Christ.
If Jesus
were to first arrive in this world today, he would not be seeking to overturn
the ruling of legalized gay marriage, pot smoking, or whatever. The message
would be the same: live with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. We
need to inject Christ-likeness into our world today. We don't need laws and
legislations to do it.
And let's
put down the narrative that there is persecution of Christians in the United
States today. We have known all along that we will be social pariahs for
following Jesus. The Man himself said in John 15:18-19 "If the world hates
you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it
would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to this world, but I
have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." Go
talk to Iraqi Christians about persecution.
We have
nothing to complain about.
Slaves
were called to act like Christ in a time of systemic slavery. Christians were
called to act like Christ in a time of systemic persecution of their church. We
are called to be like Christ in a time of systemic religious freedom. God’s
kingdom does not need any sort of political framework.
Yay or
nay with your personal views to legalized gay marriage, our call is the same:
Be a
Christian through your actions, not through our legislation.
