I have been musing, on the subject of Christianity and gay marriage. Gay marriage is very much in the news at the moment after the US Supreme Court came out [no pun intended] in favour of it. Their reasoning was that the US Constitution guarantees ‘liberty’ for all American citizens, and they took this to include the opportunity to marry anyone you like – as long as they are an adult human and you only marry one person at a time. (It’s hard to justify these latter restrictions on the grounds of ‘liberty’, so further legal challenges are expected in the US, especially to the restriction on polygamy).
Two things became clear from the debates that followed this ruling. Firstly, some Christians support gay marriage while others don’t, and the feelings are strong on both sides. Secondly, the basis on which Christians judge the acceptability of gay marriage is not usually ‘liberty’ (thankfully!), but something else. It seems to me that those Christians whose starting point is deciding whether gay marriage is right or wrong according to the Bible generally end up opposing it, while those Christians whose starting point is that God’s primary characteristic is love often end up supporting it.
So I thought I’d query the starting point. Is God’s primary characteristic love? Is it right and wrong? Can we find an answer to the gay marriage conundrum by choosing the best starting point?
If we’re talking about God’s PRIMARY characteristics, then a good place to start is his name, for in Hebrew culture, someone’s name tells us a great deal about their character. God is given a number of different names by humans, but in Exodus 34.6-7 he himself declares his own name. And it is:
"The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.”
In other words, God is full of love and compassion, AND he cares a great deal about right and wrong. It’s good to know that Christians on both sides of the gay marriage debate know their God in some aspects, but this doesn’t help us to resolve our debate.
So let’s turn to another verse – Revelation chapter 4. Verse 8 says:
Day and night the [four living creatures] never stop saying: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,' who was, and is, and is to come."
Brian Doerksen, the Vineyard worship leader, described in one of his books about how he came to write his song “”Holy is the Lord”, and how much he was inspired by this verse. And he added, “Isn’t it interesting that the chant of the creatures wasn’t ‘love, love, love’? … But love without holiness can become man-centred. The notion that we are the centre of it all is just not true.”
There are a couple of verses in the book of Joshua where an angel (possibly even God himself) meets Joshua before a battle, holding a sword. Joshua went up to him and asked, "Are you for us or for our enemies?"
"Neither one," he replied. "I am the commander of the LORD's army." At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence. "I am at your command," Joshua said. "What do you want your servant to do?"
The first thing Joshua was asked to do was "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy." And the second thing was to follow God’s very strange-sounding instructions on how to capture the town of Jericho.
I think that the answer to the question, “Is God’s primary character about right and wrong or is it about love?” is similar. “Neither,” says God, “I am holy.” And our response should be that of Joshua – to submit to God’s will, put Him at the centre, and ask Him what we should do.
