With the Supreme Court's recent ruling making it legal for same-sex marriage in all 50 states, there has been quite the uproar from the Christian community. There was even talk of a pastor's threat to set himself on fire if it went through. While #lovewins was trending on twitter, so was #christian. Society has decided that the LGBT community and the Christian community are to hate each other, but I’m here to take a different stand.
Before you read this, I want to make something clear: I am a Christian, but I have never, nor will I ever, push my beliefs on someone else. God gives us the decision to believe what we want when it comes to religion, and I think everyone has the right to do so. I do not know everything about the Bible and what God expects from us, but after 19 years of dedicating my life to Christ, I support gay marriage, and here’s why:
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This does not affect me one bit.
I think this is the part that confuses me the most. Some Christians believe that allowing gay marriage will somehow put their families and churches in danger. Franklin Graham, an evangelical leader, stated in an interview that he believes that God will bring judgment on America and that sacrifices of Christians will begin. But what we fail to acknowledge is that we all sin every day. America has legalized many sins in the past, but God hasn’t punished us for that. The legalization of same-sex marriage isn’t going to convince our Christian children to become gay, nor is it going to destroy the concept of marriage. Marriage is destroyed by divorce and family breakdown, and we do that just fine without the help of those who are gay.
Every sin is equal in God’s eyes.
God sees no difference whether you kill a man or steal a piece of candy from a store, to him all sin is equal. No man is perfect and every man sins. Is gay marriage a sin? According to the Bible, yes, but so is drinking to get drunk, eating pigs, wearing jeans with rips in them, and cross-breeding animals. The list goes on and on. As a society we sin every single day, whether we chose to acknowledge it or not. Jesus died so that we could be forgiven for our sins, but he didn’t die so that all sins except gay marriage could be forgiven.
Christianity is about Love.
It’s that simple. To be a Christian is to love people the way God loves us, and that is to love everyone unconditionally. In 1 Corinthians 13, it tells us that you can serve the poor, surrender your body to Christ, and have all the faith in the world, but if you do not have love, then you have nothing. Love is the foundation of our faith. It’s what we stand for: to love another person as God loves us.
So if we live for love, then why are we trying to stop it? Marriage is the ultimate confession of love and it is the uniting of two souls as one and anyone who is in love should have the ability to do so. Unconditional love is not what we as a Christian community are showing the LGBT community, but it is what we need to.
It’s hard to watch as the people who sit next to me in church every Sunday spend their weekdays protesting against love. The bottom line is that none of us know what is true until the day we die. None of us know how God is reacting right now, whether He is glorifying us for loving our neighbors or condemning us for allowing a sin to become legal. It’s up to you, as a Christian, to decide what you believe. It’s hard, and you’re going to be frowned upon by people no matter what you choose, but that’s part of being a Christian. Christianity isn’t about trying to correct the wrongs of this world, so instead of standing outside with signs that most people ignore anyways, pray. Pray for guidance not only for your beliefs, but also for our country. I believe that’s what God would want us to do.
