Sunday, March 28, 2010

Gay weddings in D.C.: A sign of the times

So the District of Columbia is the latest U.S. enclave to recognize homosexual marriages. This will draw ire from social conservatives and evangelical Christians just as surely as a lightning rod attracts static electricity. However, those criticisms may be ignoring the larger problems.

Marriage is more a religious than legal institution. Religion, expressed in true faith, answers to a higher authority than government since legality isn’t necessarily synonymous with spirituality. Therefore, unless homosexual couples admit to worshipping government as their “higher authority” they can make no claim to marriage. And if they worship government they have adopted a false god, which renders their religion and their unions invalid.

Irony being what it is the first couple to plunge into D.C.’s gay marriage pond was two female reverends. Darlene Garner and Candy Holmes are leaders in the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), a church dedicated to canonizing the gay and lesbian community. What’s more, their ceremony was conducted at the offices of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), an influential lobby for the gay rights movement.

To say that MCC and HRC are biased is an understatement. In any other situation their partiality would result in their legitimacy being questioned. However, political correctness has deemed all things homosexual beyond reproach. Therefore all questions must come from a different angle, the religious angle.

How can Garner, Holmes and the MCC reconcile their ceremonies with the Bible they claim to believe? Biblical text, from beginning to end, contains vivid denouncements of homosexual activity. The Apostle Paul explicitly addressed homosexuality in his letter to the Romans, calling it “unseemly” and “vile affections.” Furthermore, Paul declared that people who commit homosexual acts realize their error but take pleasure in it anyway. The Mosaic book of Leviticus refers to same-sex relations as abominable. Moses taught that anyone engaging in such acts will face consequences.

The Metropolitan Community Church isn’t deterred. The MCC has rationalized these passages until the text fits both their sexual preference and civil agenda. An MCC ad campaign considers Christ’s healing of the centurion’s servant in Matthew’s eighth chapter as the divine endorsement of a gay couple. Another ad claims that Ruth entered into a lesbian relationship with her mother-in-law, Naomi.

I have no doubt that Christ will forgive sinners; that is the basis for Christianity. In John, chapter eight, Jesus forgave a woman caught in the act of adultery, which could’ve resulted in the woman being stoned. He will likewise forgive the homosexual. But Christ’s forgiveness isn’t unconditional; repentance is required. Jesus also told the adulterous woman, “go, and sin no more.”

The MCC not only shuns repentance, ignores sin and promotes unsound doctrines but also twists the Scriptures to condone their positions.

Jesus himself spoke of such false prophets. The New Testament repeatedly warns of apostates, people with knowledge of the truth who have turned from it and taught others to do likewise. It’s difficult to view “Rev.” Garner, “Rev.” Holmes, and the Metropolitan Community Churches as anything but wolves in sheep’s clothing.

This is where many Christians make a mistake. We assume that government can rescue us from our moral descent. That change must begin in the hearts of men, which means in the church itself. Is that likely when churches publicly reject biblical teachings and cling to unsound doctrines?

We have all sinned. Yet there’s quite a distinction between repeating a sin and explaining it away. Christians cannot influence the world when the Christian witness is compromised and basic morals are ignored.

The answer to our cultural abyss doesn’t lie in governmental legislation or decree. It lies in the individual Christian’s witness and that of the church overall. I fear we’re failing that obligation.

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