On March 5, the California Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments about the constitutionality of Proposition 8, a ballot measure voters approved last fall to the displeasure of many liberals in our state and around the world. Prop. 8 adds this language to the California Constitution: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Only 14 short words that may result in years of legal battles in California. See, “Gay Couples Await Thursdays Prop. 8 Challenge,” http://www.ocregister.com/articles/court-marriage-laguna-2320172-gay-city.
I agree with Prop. 8, even though I sorrow at the need to add the language to our constitution. I am, however, squeamish about one of the arguments used to justify the amendment.
First of all, for Christians to call the proposition a “protect marriage” or “defense of marriage” initiative seems to me both self-serving and self-righteous. I think we have lost standing to use the issue of homosexual marriage to defend the sanctity of our God-ordained institution. As a group, Christians’ record of divorces, broken homes, spousal and child abuse, infidelity and sexual addictions rivals the world’s.
If we want to protect the sanctity of marriage, we need to start with our own house before we knock on someone else’s door. We could do a lot more for the defense of marriage than a constitutional amendment does if we would just remain true to our marriage vows in thought, word and deed. Many of us have had good cause to repent for our failure in the area of marriage. And some of us still need to confront the habitual sin destroying our marital intimacy.
Second, the way God created the universe needs no defense. It simply is the way it is. I, in my faux compassion, might have done things differently. I may have decided everyone has the right to love one another anyway they choose. I may have determined that any form of love, after all, is better than indifference. But there is a good chance I would have messed things up.
God, who is neither arbitrary nor capricious, designed the world with an unequalled and magnanimous intelligence. Rules and laws derived from him were created for our best interests. And in that Genesis 2 act of completion that formed male and female from one man, God set in motion his best plan for mankind. He did this knowing that we would corrupt his original purpose to such an extent that it would take Jesus, the one-time sacrifice for all sin, to make things right.
For a list of the ways man has corrupted God’s design, read Romans 1:18-32, an account of godlessness and wickedness of men. Sins including on that list include idolatry, sexual impurity, homosexuality, envy, gossip, arrogance and disobedience toward parents. These actions stir up the wrath of God, Paul writes. “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death,” he admonishes, “they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
And that is why, my own and the church’s failings aside, I am for Prop. 8. In both prayer and advocacy, I want to agree with God. For me to be silent, I feel, not to challenge the powers of darkness at work to destroy mankind, is approval of wickedness by inaction.
But I am called to much more than speaking the truth about God’s design. My motive has to be love from a pure heart. And to do that, I need to connect to and try to understand Jesus’ heart of love toward homosexuals and his longing to set them free from the bonds of the enemy in order to live healthy lives.
I believe the root of the drive for homosexual marriage is the desire to be blessed by God. And even if all the Christians in California got out of the way, God is never going to bless that lifestyle, whether or not same-sex marriage is legal. It would be such a hollow victory for those who believe a civil rights violation is all that stands between them and happiness.
We know differently, and that is why we are charged with not only being ambassadors of the Gospel of truth but also with allowing Jesus to break our hearts for people who not only crave God’s blessing but who also desperately need his healing and redemption.
You see, Prop. 8 isn’t about us. And even though it says so, it’s not really about marriage. It’s also not about politics or judgment, and it’s not about anyone’s agenda. This may sound patronizing and condescending to people whose understanding has been dulled by Satan’s lies, but what Prop. 8 is really about is loving people enough to ask our government to stop the legitimatization of a practice that will only lead to their ultimate destruction.
So I am praying that the courts and the legislature will uphold Prop. 8. And I am also praying for freedom and salvation for members of the homosexual community in our city. Part of that prayer comes from Isaiah 56: 4-5. Although God was speaking to eunuchs, I am theorizing that the blessing in these verses meant for those forced by circumstance into sexual abstinence will apply with much more grace to those who choose sexual purity out of obedience to God:
"For this is what the Lord says: To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant – to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off."
Perhaps that doesn’t offer as much as some desire in this life, but it provides everything in the life to come. And it doesn’t require a constitutional amendment.
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