December 05, 2008

"The Church" Is Not Anti-Gay, Just Some of the Churches

One of the major points I emphasize here, something that can not be stated too often in my opinion, is that "The Church" is not anti-gay. Even among those who claim Christ as their personal savior, there are too many different groups of interpretation of His Word to really claim that "The Church" speaks with one voice on much of anything.

Believing that, it really angers me when someone claims to expouse the "Christian Worlview." There are worldviews (yes, multiple) that Christians believe, to be sure, but there is not one size that fits all.

On no issue is that more evident that homosexuality. One of the leading proponents of affirmation and equality is the United Church of Christ, and Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper recently contributed an essay about that to The Huffington Post. Here is an excerpt:

On Monday, July 04, 2005, in Atlanta, Georgia, the governing body of the United Church of Christ, direct descendant of the Mayflower Pilgrims, voted overwhelmingly to "affirm equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender," thereby becoming the first mainline denomination, and the largest Christian denomination in the world, to support same-sex marriage.

Endorsing gay marriage has surely lost some members and some churches; just as surely, it has attracted more members and churches, most notably the 5000 member Victory Church in Stone Mountain George, a largely African-American church which could no longer be at home among discriminating heterosexists. We are drinking, as Bishop Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire says, the last dregs of a bad cup of wine: heterosexism is over. Religious people will look back in ten years -- the way we now look back at slavery and the before civil rights era -- and say, "What took us so long?"

Gay marriage will come nationwide; it will be ordinary to our children. It will be more than just gay marriage: it will also free scriptural interpretation from meanness and the cementing of revelation.

I strongly agree with Rev. Dr. Schaper's view here. We are a path to see where there won't be "traditional marriage" and "gay marriage," there will just be marriage, and people will see how God can bless them all.

Click here to read the rest of the article from The Huffington Post.

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