RESPONSE TO DOMA

I believe God accepts people in committed gay relationships just as surely as God accepts soldiers blowing up enemy cities in defense of their own nations, but this does not mean either social arrangement is according to God’s will. Marriage did not die in America when same sex marriage arrived. Marriage died 50 years ago in America when the nation quite informally and apart from legislation adopted a belief in the universal right to have sex regardless of marital status. When having sex is a right and not a holy privilege, gay marriage will be a necessity, just as abortion has become a necessity for a nation characterized by unrestrained promiscuity.

Nations do benefit from following godly standards if done so voluntarily, but the kingdom of heaven does not come by means of legislation. The world is inherently incapable of living by Biblical standards, and for believers to seek the enforcement of Biblical norms by means of law is contrary to the nature of the heavenly kingdom. Justification by faith applies as much to social order in community as it does to personal salvation.

Biblical marriage is not concerned with equality. When two people are truly one (in the ideal of Genesis before sin entered), they don’t even think about equality or personal rights. Whatever hierarchy may exist in a formal sense will be submerged in the desire to bless one another, and this is the Genesis definition of what it means to be the image of the one (Trinitarian) God. Gender is the only thing mentioned in Genesis 1 about what it means to be the image of God and Genesis 2 spells out the architecture. Marriage is what marriage is and will continue to be the same regardless of the various caricatures that have been or will yet be tried.

As an ordained Pastor in the Mennonite tradition, I have made it known that I am not an agent of the state and will not sign anyone’s marriage license. The state has neither the power to establish a marriage or declare it void, much less define what it is. Let the church bless what God joins together, and let the state create whatever institution it decides. The church and state need not agree. I deem it inappropriate for a pastor to sign marriage licenses just as much as I believe (being a Mennonite) it inappropriate for a pastor to serve as a military recruiter. If the state recognized its own limitations of authority the situation would be different.

See my previous articles titled, “The Foundation, Meaning, and Purpose of Marriage according to Jesus” published August 8, 2012 and “On Politics and Marriage” published May 21, 2013.