And now for something totally different...
When Brian McLaren was asked about gay marriages, he said, "You know what, the thing that breaks my heart is that there's no way I can answer it without hurting someone on either side." I love that answer. He has wrestled with the issue and he knows the impact his answers will have on us.
But fools rush in where angels fear to tread and I am such a fool.
There are at two concepts of marriage.
Marriage as instituted by God is a reflection of the imago dei, a reflection of Himself. We are made in His image, both male and female, and in marriage, the two become one bonded by Love. In marriage, we create: the love, the children, the life. It is a picture of our Triune God.
The other concept of marriage is the legal one and it is under the province of our governments. They define it and regulate it. And their primary, God given mandate is justice. As Gerald Vandezande is fond of saying, justice is not 'just us'. A society is judged by how she treats the least of her citizens.
A lot of marriages, even Christian marriages, are not good reflections of the imago dei. Some are broken, abusive and/or evil. But this reality does not mar the ideal. Single people and childless couples also bear the image of God especially when they love one another and create something good in this world. Can we truly say that two gay persons who promise to love and honour each other can not reflect God's image?
Jesus said there will be no marriage in heaven so this point will eventually become moot.
I think the greatest difficulty for Christians is the don't ask, don't tell and don't do policy. If gay Christians can not marry, then they can not have sex. This issue forces us to deal with people like Mel White and Bishop Robinson, sincere and mature Christians who have struggled with their identity and concluded that God loves them as they are.
This is where I'm currently stuck. I know some people who can see angels and demons and I want to ask them what they see when they look at a gay person and gay couples. This is where I want to walk by sight and not by faith.
The only impression I get from my heavenly Father is that it's not what others do that matters; it is how I treat them, how I respond that matters most to Him.
When Brian McLaren was asked about gay marriages, he said, "You know what, the thing that breaks my heart is that there's no way I can answer it without hurting someone on either side." I love that answer. He has wrestled with the issue and he knows the impact his answers will have on us.
But fools rush in where angels fear to tread and I am such a fool.
There are at two concepts of marriage.
Marriage as instituted by God is a reflection of the imago dei, a reflection of Himself. We are made in His image, both male and female, and in marriage, the two become one bonded by Love. In marriage, we create: the love, the children, the life. It is a picture of our Triune God.
The other concept of marriage is the legal one and it is under the province of our governments. They define it and regulate it. And their primary, God given mandate is justice. As Gerald Vandezande is fond of saying, justice is not 'just us'. A society is judged by how she treats the least of her citizens.
A lot of marriages, even Christian marriages, are not good reflections of the imago dei. Some are broken, abusive and/or evil. But this reality does not mar the ideal. Single people and childless couples also bear the image of God especially when they love one another and create something good in this world. Can we truly say that two gay persons who promise to love and honour each other can not reflect God's image?
Jesus said there will be no marriage in heaven so this point will eventually become moot.
I think the greatest difficulty for Christians is the don't ask, don't tell and don't do policy. If gay Christians can not marry, then they can not have sex. This issue forces us to deal with people like Mel White and Bishop Robinson, sincere and mature Christians who have struggled with their identity and concluded that God loves them as they are.
This is where I'm currently stuck. I know some people who can see angels and demons and I want to ask them what they see when they look at a gay person and gay couples. This is where I want to walk by sight and not by faith.
The only impression I get from my heavenly Father is that it's not what others do that matters; it is how I treat them, how I respond that matters most to Him.
