"Would Jesus Discriminate?"
This is one of the placards displayed during the same-sex wedding performed for eight gay couples by the Metropolitan Community Church last week in Baguio City on the day “New York became the sixth and largest state in the US to legalize gay marriage.” (Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/)
For sure both sides would seek Jesus’ approval. In her “The Bible’s surprisingly mixed messages on sexuality” over CNN’s Belief Blog, Jennifer Wright Knust claimed that, “Jesus… says nothing at all about same-sex pairing”. But arguments from silence are not strong arguments at all. Silence does not mean support. Regis Nicol in his “The Dangers of Same-Sex Marriage: What’s Wrong with That?” countered that assertion: “While it’s true that Jesus said nothing explicitly about homosexuality, it’s also true he never mentioned the evils of bestiality, incest, pedophilia, rape, slavery, wife-beating, or substance abuse, to name a few. In fact, the New Testament records very few things that Jesus specifically condemned. It would be reckless, therefore, to assume that anything not specifically prohibited is permitted.”
In this controversial issue we must not put words in the mouth of our Lord. He is surely explicit that marriage is between a man and a woman. When asked about His stance on divorce, Jesus answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6, ESV) Yes, our Lord Jesus did not discriminate against homosexuals. We are all sinners in equal footing at the foot of the cross. Yet, He delineated who gets to get married. Without doubt, the genders of the first couple that God joined together, who are “no longer two but one flesh”, are “male and female”.
Rejecting same-sex marriage means compassion for the homosexuals. Nicol wrote, “The disproportionate incidence of substance abuse, mental health problems, disease, mortality, and suicide among homosexuals reveals the truth behind the gay lifestyle: it is anything but gay. By following the example of Jesus, our compassion should involve encouraging those with homosexual urgings to live chastely, rather than affirming and enabling them in a destructive lifestyle.”
Brethren, Jesus would be compassionate.
For sure both sides would seek Jesus’ approval. In her “The Bible’s surprisingly mixed messages on sexuality” over CNN’s Belief Blog, Jennifer Wright Knust claimed that, “Jesus… says nothing at all about same-sex pairing”. But arguments from silence are not strong arguments at all. Silence does not mean support. Regis Nicol in his “The Dangers of Same-Sex Marriage: What’s Wrong with That?” countered that assertion: “While it’s true that Jesus said nothing explicitly about homosexuality, it’s also true he never mentioned the evils of bestiality, incest, pedophilia, rape, slavery, wife-beating, or substance abuse, to name a few. In fact, the New Testament records very few things that Jesus specifically condemned. It would be reckless, therefore, to assume that anything not specifically prohibited is permitted.”
In this controversial issue we must not put words in the mouth of our Lord. He is surely explicit that marriage is between a man and a woman. When asked about His stance on divorce, Jesus answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6, ESV) Yes, our Lord Jesus did not discriminate against homosexuals. We are all sinners in equal footing at the foot of the cross. Yet, He delineated who gets to get married. Without doubt, the genders of the first couple that God joined together, who are “no longer two but one flesh”, are “male and female”.
Rejecting same-sex marriage means compassion for the homosexuals. Nicol wrote, “The disproportionate incidence of substance abuse, mental health problems, disease, mortality, and suicide among homosexuals reveals the truth behind the gay lifestyle: it is anything but gay. By following the example of Jesus, our compassion should involve encouraging those with homosexual urgings to live chastely, rather than affirming and enabling them in a destructive lifestyle.”
Brethren, Jesus would be compassionate.
Note: Picture from CNN's Belief Blog
Comments
Post a Comment