Opinion

Student pushes empathy for homosexuality

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God made a fertile man and a fertile woman in the beginning; therefore, marriage should only be between a fertile man and woman. I do not actually believe this, but I hope it illustrates a point.

We as Christians often times are so caught up in theological intricacies that we forget to approach situations with Christ-emulating love. The biggest problem that I see among opponents of gay marriage is their unwillingness to universalize their theological principles and see the implications of believing what they believe.

For example, opponents to gay marriage often use the argument that God designed a man and woman from the beginning so this is how marriage must look. From the first sentence of this article, it is clear that if you believe this, it has greater implications than just on gay marriage.

However, people use this argument flippantly, unlovingly and not in a way that actually protects the “sanctity of marriage.” In all actuality, most people who use this argument actually do support their biases against those who are attracted to the same sex, and I doubt they have actually thought the issue through biblically.

Another issue that comes up in dealing with gay marriage is that it is so clear that the Bible is against it. Well, I would be careful in making that claim because the Bible, textually, is also against women praying with their heads uncovered and men having long hair (1 Cor. 11:3-16). The Bible textually may be against certain things, but not necessarily culturally.

If I surveyed all of campus I am sure that no one would say that women are disgraced by having their heads uncovered during prayer, even though the Bible says so. However, send a survey out about homosexuality and you would get a much different response.

If we actually look at the culture and context in which this homosexuality was taking place when it was written about in the Bible, I believe that we could all come to a closer view on gay marriage. So why do opponents of gay marriage pick out this one concept of homosexuality from the Bible and use it in a way that does not impart the love of Christ?

The last issue that I would like to touch on (side note: this could be a much longer article, I just want to present a glimpse of my views as a Christian who supports gay marriage) is that of empathy. If you were told that you could not get married because you were sterile or Canadian or only wanted to adopt children, you would think that your rights were being infringed upon. In the same way, gay people are not being allowed the rights that they should be given to take part in marriage.

Supporting gay marriage shows that Christians are proponents of monogamy (what I think that the Bible requires of every same-sex relationship) and not promiscuity within the GLBTQ community. I have considered gay marriage from a biblical, natural law, legal, and empathetic viewpoint and found that my only response is to be a proponent of it.

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