Gay Marriage: Theologil and Moral Arguments - Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Contents:

• THE CHRISTIAN SE FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• SAME BIBLE, DIFFERENT VERDICT ON GAY MARRIAGE
• CHRISTIAN NATN SERI: A CHRISTIAN SE FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS
• THE DEBATE: THE BIBLE AND GAY MARRIAGE
• A CHRISTIAN CASE FOR GAY MARRIAGE?
• WHY ‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN’ IS WRONG ABOUT THE BIBLE AND SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS

THE CHRISTIAN SE FOR GAY MARRIAGE

”V is the thor of the book God and the Gay Christian and founr of The Reformatn Project, a nonprof group that aims to give LGBT people nservative, Christian muni and their straight alli the tools necsary to argue favor of gay rights on strictly biblil terms. He was gay, and he wanted to be open about to his muny, but there was no precent for young people who had grown up his church and then e out immediately separated themselv om the spirual fay that had nurtured them. ” Like how crics of anti-gay relig arguments will pot out the hypocrisy of how people will pick and choose which parts of the Bible they want to follow to the letter.

Matthew V, an openly gay, evangelil Christian and the thor of “God and the Gay Christian: The Biblil Case Support of Same-Sex Relatnships, ” has been actively enuragg nservative Christians to re-evaluate their beliefs about homosexualy. Caleb Kaltenbach, lead pastor of Disvery Church Simi Valley, Calif,, to talk privately wh a small group of evangelil lears to discs what the Bible says about gay relatnships. Kaltenbach is the thor of the forthg book “Msy Grace, ” which is about how he rencil his nservative Christian nvictns wh his experience as the child of gay the ssn, they were each asked to terpret some of the most ced vers relatg to homosexualy the Bible.

SAME BIBLE, DIFFERENT VERDICT ON GAY MARRIAGE

Therefore, Christians today have to ask whether gay relatnships n fulfill the re prcipl of Scripture’s teachgs about marriage.

Do not be ceived: Neher the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostut nor homosexual offenrs nor thiev nor the greedy nor dnkards nor slanrers nor swdlers will her the kgdom of God. In this text, Pl two Greek words—malakoi and arsenokoai—that likely refer to some forms of male same-sex behavr, but not the morn ncept of homosexualy. So the fact that many churchgoers have changed their views about gay civil rights recent years is one of the major unr-reported reasons why same-sex marriage is now legal ne stat.

CHRISTIAN NATN SERI: A CHRISTIAN SE FOR GAY MARRIAGE

It is also one of the reasons that the nstutnal challenge to Proposn 8, which took away gay Californians’ right to marry, may get a hearg the Supreme Court this term (an announcement is expected on Monday). TIMELINE: Gay marriage chronologyAlthough each of the beliefs was based on the leral words of a particular Bible passage, all of them were opposn to the msage and life of J and the prophets. Most New Ttament Greek scholars now pot out that there are only three passag that al wh homosexualy the New Ttament — Romans 1:23-27, 1 Corthians 6:9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:9-10 — and those passag don’t al wh homosexualy as we fe today but rather wh temple prostutn and other ab.

But most of acknowledge that if we took all of the Old Ttament’s orrs lerally, at least half of wouldn’t make to age 40, bee of mands to kill those who m adultery (Levic 20:10), kill rebell sons who disobey their parents (Dteronomy 21:18-21), kill anyone who works on the Sabbath (Exod 31:15) and the never addrsed the subject of homosexualy, other than what n be ferred om his example of lovg and acceptg everyone, pecially the opprsed and those whom the relig tablishment nsired Christians will disagree, potg out that J said marriage was between a man and a woman. He was not sayg anythg about same-sex marriage, which didn’t exist at the never spoke agast homosexualy, but he did speak very clearly agast divorce. But why not make the same cultural allowanc for gay upl 2, 000 years later that Christian church have long ma for the divorced (as well as women, the disabled, and others who faced discrimatn back then)?

GAY MARRIAGE: THEOLOGIL AND MORAL ARGUMENTS

”An ever-growg number of Christian clergy and lay people now believe that rejectg gay civil rights bee of a leral adherence to certa vers directly ntradicts the them. They pot out how the views are hurtg all of the church, pecially s most vulnerable members: young gay people who are nvced that their very sence is sful. Furthermore, they n no longer support unjt laws that penalize mted same-sex upl and their more and more church members thoughtfully and prayerfully nont the evince, will only be a matter of time before the majory of Christians of all strip bee alli rather than antagonists for jtice and equal rights for gay people.

Pearce is the thor of “This We Believe: The Christian Case for Gay Civil Rights, ” and the director of media relatns for Claremont School of Theology and Claremont Lln Universy. While liberal Christians argue the Bible should be terpreted as society chang, nservativ argue for a more leral readg, leadg to differenc belief about God and homosexualy. Homosexualy: In Biblil Terms It's te, says Carmen Fowler LaBerge: You n be a Christian and support same-sex marriage, but, she says, "nobody n say gay marriage is biblil.

Still, LaBerge says, om Levic to Pl's wrgs Romans and First Corthians, homosexual acts are lled vile and ttable, and legalizg same-sex relatnships do not change the s. Reactn In Black Church Homosexual behavr is a flt le spltg Christian nomatns two — Epispalians, Methodists, Prbyterians, Catholics — there's even a wi gulf between young and old Evangelils.

THE DEBATE: THE BIBLE AND GAY MARRIAGE

" Hagler not that there are plenty of blacks who are gay, and they, too, should have accs to the God-given stutn of marriage. Today we will look at gay marriage, a right that, much like women’s hard-earned right to choose abortn, uld easily disappear if nservative Christians get their way.

Not jt nservativ, but also many progrsive Christians stggle wh the issue of same-sex marriage, as we’ve been tght “what the Bible clearly says” about homosexualy. (My own change of heart happened – as I’ve scribed before – when a ar young man, bt iend of one of my children and equent gut at my home, me out as gay.

A CHRISTIAN CASE FOR GAY MARRIAGE?

The book remds that the (now funct) anizatn, Exod Internatnal, which practiced “nversn therapy, ” ultimately had to “give up on all s mistri aimed at ‘curg’ gay and lbian people of their same-sex attractn. Achtemeier’s book quot a well-known Catholic and gay thor, Andrew Sullivan: “You n’t ask someone to supprs what mak them whole as a human beg and then to lead blamels liv. At the heart of the claim that the Bible is clear "that homosexualy is forbidn by God" is poor biblil scholarship and a cultural bias read to the Bible.

WHY ‘GOD AND THE GAY CHRISTIAN’ IS WRONG ABOUT THE BIBLE AND SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS

Although s unlikely that the biblil thors had any notn of sexual orientatn (for example, the term homosexual wasn't even ed until the late 19th century) for many people of fah, the Bible is looked to for timels guidance on what means to honor God wh our liv; and this most certaly clus our sexualy. ” In askg, “What do the Bible say about homosexualy” (or more appropriately stated, “what do the Bible say about attractn to someone of the same sex, ”) our task is to explore what the relevant biblil passag on the topic meant their origal ntext and what they mean for today.