Why the Supreme Court Decision does not invalidate my traditional marriage

I’m going to make some people unhappy with this post. I may even lose my angry-white-conservative-Republican membership card.

Oh wait. I tore that up.

The Supreme Court decision announced on Wednesday regarding the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 dominated the news, and Facebook and Twitter and more on Wednesday.

I posted some of the reactions over at Richmond Bible Examiner: Reactions to the SCOTUS decisions on DOMA and Proposition 8.

I’ve already written about my opinion on the issue way back in March when I said:

…in a free society we have to accept the fact that 1) some people interpret Scripture differently or, more commonly, 2) some people don’t choose to live according to Scripture. That’s where that whole “freedom of religion” thing comes in.

In other words, if someone does not profess to be a Christian or even has a different interpretation of what Scripture says…wait for it…I’m not their judge.

I Corinthians 5:12 says:

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

Uh oh.

See, my thought is that if Christians want to defend “traditional marriage” that we would be a lot more effective working on our own marriages and being a lot less judgmental.

There’s a whole debate over whether the divorce rate among Christians matches the national average. Whether that’s true or not, I don’t know. But it doesn’t have to be true for me to state that the divorce rate is quite high among evangelicals and in many churches it’s not even really frowned upon because “things happen.”

Absolutely, we’re all fallen creatures in need of a lot of grace.

But isn’t it hypocritical to give divorce a wink and a nod while at the same time condemning same-sex relationships?

Oh. He went there.

The Bible mentions gluttony more than twenty times. That’s about five times as many times as it mentions homosexuality.

Let’s make that a topic of discussion at our next pot luck dinner. I hope somebody brings banana pudding.

See what I mean?

Some Christians judge certain sins to be worse than others. That’s just not Biblical.

And there are professional Christians out there that make their living pushing legislation and running to the talk shows about how our country is going to hell.

Well, our country probably is. I don’t see anywhere in the end times scenario that fits in the United States. But that’s another story.

I turn 55 next week (and will be lining up for my senior citizen discounts). I have spent the last thirty-plus years in government and public policy. Along the way I have tried to reconcile that with what I’ve always felt is a call to some sort of ministry (not the pulpit, don’t get excited).

I’ve been trying to come to terms with this concept for some time. I believe Christians should indeed be actively engaged in public policy debates. The pro-life issue is a prime example, as well as human trafficking, poverty and more.

Still, Christians have become far too dependent upon government for the solutions of what ails the world.

Don’t we remember what the government (and the religious leaders) did to Jesus?

The Apostle Paul said:

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.
~ Philippians 3:20

We’re not home. It’s not perfect here. And it’s time we stopped pretending that we can elect people and pass laws that will make this world perfect.

Don’t panic, I’m not going Amish. Government has its place.

I probably stayed up too late to write this and am going to regret some of the phrasing (but not the meaning) in the morning. That said…

I’m not asking my fellow Christians to deny what Scripture says, only to consider that perhaps the emphasis is in the wrong place.

When asked about the greatest commandment Jesus said “love” and he showed us how that should look. He spent his time with sinners, not condemning them for who they were or what they had done.

Jesus loved them and spent time with them so they would want to have a relationship with him.

We should learn to follow his example.