Toward a Christian Approach to Gay Marriage, Part I

After the Supreme Court ruling, which made same-sex marriage across the nation, I began a series of lessons to help our Sunday School class put the decision in context. I will be transcribing those lessons into a series of blog posts. The point is not to tell anyone what to think - I have my own opinions for sure, but this series is not about that - but rather to provide the necessary context for people to form more informed opinions.

Here's an outline of how we will proceed:

• First, before we talk about same-sex marriage, we have to talk about marriage in general. What does the Bible say about marriage? What about marriage excludes the inclusion of same-sex partners? Here, I'll say that there are multiple definitions of marriage (there's the Old Testament, the New Testament, nearly 2,000 years of Christian history, and finally the legal definition in America), so it depends on which one you use.
• Then, we will go through all the passages in the Bible that mention, or are sometimes thought to mention, homosexuality. There are six or seven passages that apply here. We'll ask what they meant, historically and for us. I'm no expert, but I did take two years of Greek for translation and will look back at the Greek to help us. (Sorry, I never took any Hebrew. The three OT passages don't have any disputed translation anyway.) I'll go ahead and tip my hand a little: The Bible is not as clear on the issue as you've been led to believe.
• Lastly, we will make some modest suggestions about how Christians might proceed. Here, the main point will be that we need to speak with more humility about "what the Bible says." We'll need to get comfortable with a less firm foundation.

Stay tuned for more...