The Difference Between Supporting Gays and Accepting Gay Marriage

To call it a controversial topic is an understatement, but it’s one that must be addressed. There’s a big difference from a Christian perspective when it comes to accepting homosexuals in the church versus participating in gay marriages.

First and foremost, let’s get one thing very clear. Every human ever created was created by God. It’s one of those statements that may sound simplistic, but let it truly hit home. Judas was created by God. Hitler was created by God. Members of ISIS, Westboro Baptist Church, and the KKK were created by God. As such, they all have had the opportunity to come to Christ and accept Him as their Lord and Savior.

Every human since Adam has sinned. Mother Teresa sinned. David sinned. No matter how righteous a person may strive to be, they have sinned. As a result, every gay person was created by God. Every gay person has sinned. They are no different in this regard than any heterosexual who has ever lived.

Let’s make another thing very clear. We are against any government-imposed decrees that tread on the rights of individuals or business owners. This includes anything that pertains to domestic situations. If any couple, whether straight, gay, or even just domestic partners in the name of family or friendship, wants to enjoy the governmental rights that the state decrees such as tax benefits, health benefits, or rights normally associated with being married, that’s perfectly fine.

Where the line is drawn is in the holy covenant of marriage. It has always been understood through a Biblical worldview that marriage is the formation of a relationship that replaces the parent-child relationship so that a man and a woman can establish their own family. It’s a chain that does more than the biological continuation of the race. It was a type of relationship that was created to be a blessing.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.Genesis 2:24 (KJV)

There is a reason that the concept of being “one flesh” is only physically possible between a man and a woman. On an emotional level, it’s possible to create the same concept between people of the same sex; I have no doubt that gay couples love each other. Just as with any sin, our emotions and spiritual well-being are often opposed. Emotionally, we might want to keep a wallet we find on the street with a lot of money in it, but we have to push the temptation back and do the right thing even if we know there is no chance of being caught by anyone… other than God. The power to fight against temptation is within us all.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV)

Notice what this verse really says. It doesn’t say that avoiding temptation will make us happy. It doesn’t say that if we overcome temptation that we’ll be more emotionally fulfilled. Escaping temptation can be heartbreaking. It can tear us apart emotionally when we really want something but we fight against it because we know it’s wrong.

It is for this reason that tolerance and the constantly “evolving” worldview that is driving many churches to accept or even perform gay marriages is wrong. Churches should always accept gays (and everyone else) into the congregation.

A good portion of the law that binds our country and other nations of the world is purely secular. This is by design; God has allowed us to govern our own affairs through a series of general decrees. Leviticus gave the Jewish people at the time certain specific decrees as a baseline for the formation of governments for all time and many of those have become obsolete, replaced by better laws, but the laws He gave to all of mankind have remained universal guides for how we’re supposed to live. The Ten Commandments are all still in play today, for example.

There are themes and established practices in the Bible that do not fall under the category of “laws” but that should guide our actions as individuals as well as govern the influences over man-made laws. The latter should be minimal; even though the Bible talks of charity, taking care of those who cannot care for themselves, and a need to help those who fall onto hard times, the need to tax and spend on programs that aim to accomplish these things must be carefully monitored.

Just as we are told to take care of widows, we are told that marriage is between a man and a woman. One can make an argument that the commandment to honor your mother and father speaks to the concept of heterosexual marriage, but that’s another topic altogether. Even if it’s not a commandment, it’s set forth in the Bible as a way to live and we must honor that.

Gays are given the right to have a relationship with Yeshua and the church should embrace this concept. Governments should allow all of the worldly benefits that have been attached to marriage by man to be enjoyed by anyone, but the actual covenant of marriage itself has been and always will be between a man and a woman. In this regard, no government is allowed to interfere.

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