The Big Questions About the Christian LifeSample

What About Same-Sex Marriage?

This question is one of society’s very controversial questions. Typically, you will find religious people on one side of the debate and people who don’t believe in God on the other side. This is not always the case, as I have Christian friends who are very supportive of same-sex marriage.

I don’t think you can get around the Bible’s teaching that God’s intention from the beginning was that marriage is for men and women. In the same way, you can’t get around the Bible’s understanding that same-sex marriage ultimately falls short of God’s original purpose and will.

However, we need to consider other essential aspects of this question. One is that people who are not heterosexual often seem to have very little choice. Because we are in a world far from ideal, many environmental and possibly even genetic factors lead to people adopting lifestyles outside of God’s original plan.

One of the Bible passages often used by Christians to condemn homosexuality is the first and second chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Still, there’s something important to notice. A careful reading of that passage tells us that activities like gossiping and disobeying your parents are just as bad as what the text calls “unnatural sexual relations.”

In the past, Christians have liked to go on “crusades,” focusing their attention on one particular thing they consider evil. Why not go on a crusade against gossiping, then?

The focus of my attention is on Jesus and my relationship with him. I’ve got enough going on in my life with stuff I know is wrong that I have no time to focus on trying to work out whether someone else is wrong.

For a minute, let’s stop focusing on the possible “sin” side of the equation and look at the “grace” side of the equation.

When Jesus walked among us, he loved spending time with those whom the religious types considered scum, the outcasts of society. He received a lot of criticism for that activity. These were people who weren’t quite holy enough for church. They were considered really bad sinners who would never have dared set foot in the church. When Jesus associated with these people, they didn’t feel judged by him or pushed away. Remember, the only sin you ever find Jesus speaking out against was the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.

Certainly, there is right and wrong. Christians might not always agree on where the line goes, even though we all read the Bible. There is something definitely all Christians must remember, and that is our Christianity will be revealed not so much by what we believe but by how we treat others.

– Eliezer Gonzalez