Memo to Evangelicals: All Marriages Are Not, Nor Ever Will Be, Biblically Equal

September 15, 2014

"Evangelicals for Marriage Equality" has published a piece in TIME magazine asserting an orthodox theological case for same-sex "marriage."

This ground has been covered so often that to write about it again seems redundant to the point of being tedious. Yet it cannot be ignored because its proponents keep raising it. Below are some responses to this new initiative whose essential argument – that "it's possible to be a faithful Christian with a high regard for the authority of the Bible and a faithful supporter of civil marriage equality" – is simply not consistent with biblical teaching, natural law, or the quantifiable good of society.

This is not a dispute like Christian disagreements over modes of baptism or the doctrines of the end times (you say amillenial, I say premillennial, but we're not going to call our fellowship off). It is about whether or not the clear meaning of any number of passages in the Old and New Testaments is true, and whether what the Bible teaches about human sexuality is right or wrong.

To professing Evangelical advocates of same-sex "marriage:" Stop dissembling. Reject revealed truth concerning human sexual behavior if you will. Christ does not compel faithful discipleship at the point of a gun. Just don't pretend the Bible doesn't say what it says or that your personal experiences and/or longings must supersede the commands of the Creator and Redeemer of the universe.

Dr. Robert Gagnon, "Jesus, Scripture, and the Myth of New-Knowledge Arguments About Homosexuality"

Jesse Johnson, "The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage"

Andrew Walker, "An Evangelical Defense of Traditional Marriage"

Rev. Peter Sprigg, "Top Ten Harms of Same-Sex Marriage"

Rob Schwarzwalder, "Leviticus, Jesus, and Homosexuality: Some Thoughts on Honest Interpretation"

Rev. Dr. David E. Prince, "Christianity and the New Liberalism: Homosexuality and the Evangelical Church"