Some words that I posted here and there on the internet over the past few days, pasted together... This was not written as a single coherent piece.
Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him. (Mark 12:17 NIV).
Unless I am asked to perform one of these marriages (which I can't since I am not ordained), or decide to marry some one of my own gender, which won't happen either, then this is really an issue for the state that does not effect my faith at all, unless it impairs my ability to love everyone, which is still ultimately an issue of my own sin, no one else's... Let's worry about our own marriages first, many of which are in crisis, before wasting any time or effort worrying about a distraction like this.
As a Christian, I am far more concerned about the state of our own marriages and I fear that issues such as this tend to turn the faithful against each other...
The enemy gains far more ground in these ways then through anything the Supreme Court has done today.
Christ spoke much on marriage, and most of what he said tends to be ignored or dismissed by many, and I feel we should spend a lot more time trying to live up to those messages than worrying about these mere political distractions.
Just to clarify, I am not suggesting an "as long as it doesn't affect me" attitude as much as I am advocating keeping these things in a proper scale. All the energy put out today from both sides... Imagine if that was put towards advocating for healthy marriages in general? Just to give one example, such as battling the idea in our culture that marriage is a disposable institution. "Oh well, he or she didn't work out, but I hope it goes better with my next spouse."
And of course, Jesus himself had some pretty strong words about folks who get divorced, much more than he had to say on today's issue, by far...
“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” (Matthew 19:7-9 NIV)
This effects many, many, many more of us than gay marriage, and it would be nice to see this sort of passion directed towards supporting healing our millions of broken marriages in America.
And when it comes to sin, even the best of us are horrendous, dirty sinners who deserve death and eternal torment, according to scripture. Whatever one's sins are, they are no better or worse than anyone else's, and salvation cannot be attained by any righteous mortal act we can ever do on our own, any lifestyle we choose or are born into through no "fault" of our own...
So all these folks so worried about who's going to hell or not are critically misinterpreting their Bibles.
All sin is abhorrent in God's eyes and the only way out is to turn over our own sins in exchange for grace, not earned through any other action, but given away freely to those who truly desire it. Nowhere in that equation is hating on others, condemning others, or denying rights to those who have different beliefs than you, in fact such behavior is clearly labeled as being vile in God's eyes and anyone doing that just has more sin of their own that they, eventually, must turn over to God.
So they ain't Savin' anyone, including themselves, by being awful in the name of Jesus. Rather, they need to be more focused on their own faults.
As Paul wrote: ...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13 NIV)
As Paul wrote: ...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13 NIV)
