2/29/2024 0 Comments Bible study for couples bethkeYou can live with your sister, your mother, your grandfather, your dog, or three buddies from work. You can have one friend or three friends or a hundred. The state doesn’t tell us who we can be friends with or who we can live with. There are an almost infinite number of friendship and kinship combinations which the state does not recognize as marriage. It denies marriage licenses to eight-year-olds. The state denies marriage licenses to sexual threesomes. Any legal system which distinguishes marriage from other kinds of relationships and associations will inevitably exclude many kinds of unions in its definition. The issue is not about controlling “what people can do in their bedrooms” or “who they can love.” The issue is about what sort of union the state will recognize as marriage. The state is not going to legislate whether two adults can live together, profess love for one another, or express their commitment in ways that are sexually intimate.The state is not going to prohibit those in homosexual relationships from committing themselves to each other in public ceremonies or religious celebrations.Texas (2003), same-sex sexual behavior has been legal in all fifty states. Since the Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy laws in Lawrence v. The state is not threatening to criminalize homosexual behavior.Let’s think about what is not at stake in the debate over same-sex marriage. That’s a good question, but before we try to answer it, we need to be sure we are talking about the same thing. Even if I don’t agree with it, shouldn’t those who identify as gay and lesbian still have the same freedom I have to get married? After all, we don’t have laws against gossip or adultery or the worship of false gods. And yet, you wonder what’s wrong with supporting same-sex marriage as a legal and political right. Perhaps you believe that homosexual behavior is biblically unacceptable. I know this is an increasingly unpopular line of reasoning, even for those who are inclined to accept the Bible’s teaching about marriage. I want Christians to see why this issue matters and why-when same-sex marriage became the law of the land-the integrity of the family was weakened and the freedom of the church was threatened. Many Christians are keen to resurrect the old pro-choice mantra touted by some Catholic politicians: personally opposed, but publicly none of my business. Achieving some legal and political end is not my primary calling and yet, I’m concerned that many younger Christians-ironically, often those most attuned to societal transformation and social justice-do not see the connection between a traditional view of marriage and human flourishing. My concern is with the church-what she believes, what she celebrates, and what she proclaims.
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