Gay Marriage & Gays in Church

I’ve been asked these questions to death:

What do you think about gay marriage?
What do you think about gays in church?

So, here’s the answer: I don’t think about gay marriage. I don’t think about gays in church.

I am so tired of this whole debate. Do I necessarily “agree” with or “support” homosexuality? Honestly, no. But it’s not my place to agree with that lifestyle any more than it is anybody’s place to agree with mine. I’ve caught a lot of flack over the years for being married interracially and if it weren’t for Richard and Mildred Loving fighting for the right to be married, I wouldn’t even have that right. What would be the reasoning behind the decision to NOT marry us? Christianity. Yep – that’s right. The judge who ruled AGAINST the Loving family before the case went to the Supreme Court cited religion as the reasoning, saying:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

The fact that I don’t personally believe God intended for people to be gay has absolutely nothing to do with what rights gay couples should have. But here’s the thing: do you lie? Cheat? Have you ever stolen anything? Do you gossip? Have you had premarital — or extramarital — sex? Do you judge people? Are you vindictive? HAVE YOU EVER SINNED? They allow you in church. They allow you to marry. What’s the difference? A sinner is a sinner, right? What makes you so holy that all of a sudden you get to determine how much lower another sinner is on the totem pole of Christianity? Nothing. A sinner is a sinner and we are ALL sinners. In addition to that, not every is a Christian. I wish everyone were, but that’s not the case. God doesn’t force Himself on us. He doesn’t force our hearts to accept Him. How can we, as Christians, force nonbelievers to operate under our system of beliefs? It’s a controversial topic … everyone has an opinion … if yours is different, that’s fine. I would appreciate it if you would NOT comment with Biblical Scriptures accompanied by a convincing argument about why I should change my viewpoint on the matter. The truth is, I know the Scriptures. And I’ve heard the argument OVER and over…

As a Christian so involved in ministry, people often look at me crazy when I disagree with them saying gay people don’t deserve this and that. But, is it my place to tell them what they deserve to have? What rights and liberties they should have? No. It’s not. I’ve had other Christian people get MAD at me for that, but here’s my thing: denying them legal marriage doesn’t make them any MORE or any LESS gay. Whether the law says they are married or not, they still are what they were to begin with: homosexual. What’s the issue? I’m not in SUPPORT of gay marriage… I’m just not in support of opposing it, if that makes any sense. I am in SUPPORT of equality, no matter what that means. Honestly I think we have much bigger fish to fry – there are more serious issues for me to concern myself with other than whether the states recognize gay marriages or not. At the end of the day, whatever you call them – girlfriend and girlfriend or husband and husband – they are still the same entity that they were at the start of the day – a GAY couple. Do I think God recognizes them as a union? No. But that doesn’t have anything to do with civil liberties and things like access to healthcare and other benefits heterosexual couples are afforded. Truth be told, there have been many things in my life that God didn’t recognize as being ‘of Him’ but I wasn’t publicly ostracized or restricted from anything socially because of them… was my sin ‘different’ or ‘better’ than someone else’s sin? I don’t think so.

That being said, I believe that since it is SUCH an issue of religious belief, ministers should be able to recuse themselves from marrying gay couples. If I were a minister, I would not be comfortable marrying a gay couple. Perhaps that serves as a double standard, but that’s just how I feel. Because the Bible specifically refers to same sex couples as an abomination to God, I don’t think there is any question as to the relevance of this issue to the Christian church. To further add to this whole double standard, I would also have to say that even though I don’t believe churches should be forced to marry gay couples {there ARE churches which have no problem with it} I don’t think anyone should make an issue of gay couples attending church. I’ve heard MANY people say that they don’t feel gay couples should be accepted in church. Married in church? Maybe not. Accepted in church? None of us {well, I HOPE none of us} actually commit our sins in the church. But we still go to church, knowing that we’ve sinned. Who are we to tell someone that because they live what we consider to be a sinful lifestyle {just like we ALL do in actuality} that they shouldn’t be able to find acceptance like the rest of us in God’s house? Isn’t that for GOD to say? I haven’t read anywhere in Scripture where Jesus bans gays from taking part in activities of HIS church.

Ok… I have kids to raise and dinner to cook so that’s that. I’m done with this issue. And yes, I believe Jesus loves gays, too. :)

Until next time...



Did you enjoy this post? Subscribe to my blog to stay up to date on all my posts!