I was asked to write some commentary thoughts on the Proposition 8 judicial decision in California. Below is what I wrote. Let me know what you think? To see the other comments, go here.
This is an interesting question for a pastor in Crown Point, IN – a city known in years gone by as the place to go to get married at any hour of the night. There was a local judge downtown who would marry anyone anytime. Many came to do so, including Ronald Reagan and Muhammad Ali. Is marriage simply the signing of a government sanctioned certificate by a judge? Or is Christian marriage more than that?
Thinking about your question brings to mind the pressure that pastors feel in the midst of the chaos of a wedding. We have to get many things right; leading the wedding ceremony, remembering all the queues, hitting all the protocols, delivering a challenge to the couple, leading in the vows, etc. The pressure of it leads many pastors to prefer a funeral over a wedding (myself included). What makes a wedding “Christian” is a Christian man and a woman covenanting to follow God’s plan and fulfill God’s purpose for marriage.
At the same time, a pastor in the American culture acts as a steward for the state in the civil rite. We are required to make sure the couple signs their wedding certificate making them “officially” married in the eyes of the government. In my state, the certificates contain nasty warnings for religious leaders who fail to properly fill out, sign, and file the wedding certificate.
This leads to the interesting question: When is a couple actually married? In the eyes of the government marriage happens when a sanctioned official declares it and the signatures of the couple affirm it. In the eyes of God, I believe, it happens when the couple, in accordance with God’s created plan for marriage, vow to be husband and wife to one another. What if they forget to sign the certificate or it is lost in the mail? Are they married? In the eyes of God, yes. In the eyes of the government, no.
I suggest that in today’s culture, the reverse of this is steadily creeping toward us. We now have marriages where the couple is “married” in the eyes of the government but not married in the eyes of God. This is another example of a secular worldview redefining a created purpose of God. Currently, in the eyes of our government, a fetus is not a human. It is non-human or not-yet human. Yet in the eyes of God, the unborn child is fully human and worthy of all the dignity and preservation that this status requires. The eyes of God and the eyes of the government are seeing things differently. Is God threatened by the redefinition of marriage? Hardly. But what is threatened is the reflection of God Himself in marriage. It will be our challenge, as Christian and civil definitions of marriage grow further apart, to preserve Christian marriage (and the celebration of it in the wedding ceremony) as God defines it.
Perhaps what we will soon need is a new word that captures what God intends marriage to be. For a long time, “marriage” has been a good word to describe this most important relationship. But as marriage in our culture is less and less what God intends, perhaps a new word/phrase and definition might allow us to rightly describe this wonderful and theologically rich union; Trinitarian plurality in unity, Christ and the church, or agape love in family oneness.
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All About Him 
This is beautufully put!
Though most of the country is considered Christian, millions of Americans do not associate themselves with Christianity. Some carry it as a label, and I know many who say they are Christian but do not follow or believe. Then we have fellow citizens who are not Christians. I know Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, my good agnostic and atheist friends… If a non Christian or an agnostic/atheist gay couple wants to get married why should they not be able to? They are not following the law of your god. If they are stopped in the name of a god then it is prejudice. There is no theocracy in this country nor should there ever be.
I might not agree with everything secular, but I do reject most of the Judeo-Christian nonsense that has been imposed onto people for many generations.
It is immoral on a human level to deny gays and lesbians to marry just because some ancient mythological figure says so, the same jealous figure who kills anyone he despises, yet he is all merciful. Not everyone is a Christian and not everyone believes in a god. To deny a minority is still prejudice, but then the bible is full of it. It only makes sense that a marriage is recognized by our secular government. Separation of church and state is what every country deserves…
I went to your church for some time and left after I learned that there was very little logic in the biblical teachings.
First of all, its been over a year and nobody has responded to Mr. Goran’s post, so I would like to do that.
Sir, separation of church and state is not as you define it, it was the intent of it’s developers to keep state out of church. I would propose to you, where did the idea of marriage come from? Who is it’s author? Nowhere in the Bible I read does God kill anybody He despises. You say things are immoral and things are prejudice, but do you have a basis to back you up on that?
The Bible is the absolute Truth, inspired Word of God. It is infallible, so much so that our founding fathers modeled our constitution and judicial system off of it. Why is murder a crime? Rape? Stealing? It’s considered sin in the Bible, as is homosexuality.
Also, I have a question for you, Pastor. What is our response as Christians with a Christian worldview? Are we not to hold our government accountable as scripture tells us? Do we simply stay put until Christ comes back to fix these issues, or engage society, countering the lies of the enemy ESPECIALLY in the governmental arena where decisions affecting our lives our made?