Maintain Consciousness

A few weeks ago The State of New York passed a motion to allow marriage licenses to be awarded to same sex couples who so desire them. Naturally a large a debate ensued among the public. I saw this first hand on my Facebook wall and Twitter feed the moment it passed. Many of my Facebook friends come from my “christian circles” from school and church. And as you’d expect, many of them showed public out-cry for this new legislation that passed. But I also had many friends who expressed great joy and happiness with this decision. The majority of the people I follow on Twitter also expressed great jubilation for the ruling. 

So in this short piece Im going to attempt to outline my thoughts and positions on the issue of Homosexuality. 

First: As a Bible Believing Christian, I do believe the act of homosexuality is a sin. I can’t try to force a work around this belief. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul lists it among 8 other sins. But to be clear the focus of this chapter was about Christians bringing lawsuits against other Christians. But nonetheless this is one of the at least 5 times homosexuality is bought up in discussions of sin. 

As humans we all have a sin nature. In Sunday school and our Bible classes, we are taught to live like Christ to the best of our ability through God’s guidance. In attempting to be Christ-like we generally try to avoid the stereo-typical sins like stealing and lying, i.e. the Ten Commandments. We are also taught to avoid drunkenness, lust, etc. And I believe most Christians will agree that there is no denying the fact that we all sin, and at an unfortunately consistent basis. 

So the question then, is why does it seem like Christians focus on homosexuality so much more than other sins? I don’t claim to be an expert on Christian thought and theology, but I think I have an idea why.

We all realize we sin, but we generally feel we are trying our best to stop our sinful ways. I think the issue Christians have with homosexuality is that it doesn’t seem like homosexuals are attempting to avoid their sin, rather they are embracing it and celebrating it. This puzzles us, so instead of trying to look into the issue and come to a conclusion we feel its easier and more productive to just completely oppose same-sex marriage in law.

I’ll be honest, it puzzles me just as much as the next Christian. I just wish we were able to start a dialogue among Christians and Homosexuals, instead of instantly making them our enemy. Because in the end we are all human’s that have the same sin-nature, and most importantly, the same Creator. 

Now while I view things through my Bible Believing lens, I also strongly support the Constitution of the United States. 

In an ideal God-fearing Theocracy we would all believe the Word of God to be true and would all love each other unconditionally and would live in a world of peace. But there’s a reason something is called ideal. Because its not easily attainable, with our sin-nature, in this world.

So because of this, I believe that the Constitution, created by the Founders, is one of the best forms of Government’s man has been able to come up with. The Constitution gives us the ability to make our own decisions so long as it doesn’t adversely affect anyone else’s equal civil liberties. 

The Founder’s realized that while we are sinners, God didn’t create idiots. We are made in his image after all. We have the ability to reason and make good or bad decisions i.e. free-will. 

The Constitution not only provides protection to people from fellow citizens, but it also provides protection to people from the Government. The Government’s role is to uphold the Liberties provided by the Constitution. There are obviously a few other distinct roles for the Government, but I believe this to be the most important role. 

So lets play the hypothetical game. I’m a member of Congress who has sworn to uphold the Constitution and protect my constituent’s civil liberties, and a bill to legalize Same-Sex Marriage license’s is on the house floor. What do I do?

I hold beliefs that tell me that homosexuality is morally wrong and go against God’s plan for marriage. But Constitutionally speaking, in my opinion there is no legal reason to prevent same-sex marriage. This is where we see human government’s fallibility and that it isn’t perfect, but neither is this world.

So gun to my head, I would most likely pass this bill. It is not Government’s role to determine morality. If God gives us free will and doesn’t force us to all follow his direction, then why would we as Christians feel that our government should have the ability to make us follow a moral belief.  If I were to try to force my moral beliefs on this issue, then I’d also have to form a crusade to criminalize all sexual sins, including pornography. And while you may argue that Pornography should be illegal in the first place, and it would take away a major temptation, it would be violating the First Amendment’s guarentee of free speech. 

As Christians we need to stay strong in our beliefs and morals, I’m not disputing that. But rather than trying to force beliefs on others, we should attempt to show why we hold these beliefs and morals rather than saying we hold these beliefs just because. Actions speak louder than words.

God doesn’t make us behave in a certain way or force us to hold certain beliefs. Instead, in the words of Relient K, “We’ve got a guide, a really thick handbook.” He Gave us the Bible which presents a way to live that he has ordained as the best way to survive this world and serve him. 

I understand that there are sure to be holes in my reasoning. But I am human after all 

My suggestion to Christians would be to follow the Word of God in our lives as it is presented to us. There’s a reason God provided these guidelines, but he never intended us to force his word on others. 

We need to live like Christ to the best of our ability and exhibit the most appealing lifestyle, a lifestyle designed by God.