Scott posted this on his Facebook page a couple of days ago. It's a pretty thought provoking take on the passing of California's ban on same sex marriages and well worth 6 minutes or so of your time. California isn't the first state to pass this, Ohio did a few years ago (which I voted for) and many other states have as well. For some reason California's passage is getting more attention than I remember other states votes getting. Maybe it's because if any state would vote against it it would be California.
As I said, I voted for the Ohio amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. I stand by that assertion, though not necessarily that vote anymore. I'm not entirely sure, frankly.
I am sure of what God says marriage to be in scripture. Man and Woman. Nowhere does God indicate that folks of the same sex should get married. All examples of marriage in scripture are of men and women. God treats that relationship as special and has given married folks something special, sex, that they and only they are to enjoy. God has said that sex is not for unmarried people and it is not for people of the same sex. There's really no way around that in scripture. So the clear implication, if not explicit instruction, is that marriage is a man-woman thing.
It is certainly within the rights of a people, be it a state or nation, to pass laws defining terms and legal entities. We can define marriage to be whatever we want it to be, but whatever we say has no bearing on what God says. Does the state have an interest in defining marriage? I suppose it does, but the extent that its interests align with Gods is mostly coincidence. By promoting placing that authority in the state, what statement is the Christian making? When the state's interest no longer aligns with God's, and in fact interferes and stands in the way of Godly marriages (as opposed to simple allowing marriages that God would not), what then will the Christian do? After all, we've already validated the state's authority in this matter.
Is it wrong to vote for or promote these measures? No, but neither is it wrong to oppose them. God's definitive opinion is not changed or harmed either way.
Were if to come up for vote again, I'm not so sure I'd vote for it now. What are your thoughts?
Rethinking Legal Definitions of Marriage