Gay Marriage Front and Center Again

It's clear now that the passing of prop 8 in California has awakened those who support gay marriage. Initially there was some caustic backlash against Mormons and other groups. Now, the mainstream media is getting into the game. This week's edition of Newsweek has them supporting gay marriage outright, both in an editorial article and in the letter from their editor, John Meacham. This is a bold move, but not surprising. To them, I'm sure, this is akin to coming out against segregation.

What is fascinating about their confrontation, however, is that they attack not on the basis of "universal" truths of civility, but go after the scriptures themselves. Rather than arguing their side, they aim to undermine ours. Listen to Meacham:

No matter what one thinks about gay rights—for, against or somewhere in between —this conservative resort to biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism. Given the history of the making of the Scriptures and the millennia of critical attention scholars and others have given to the stories and injunctions that come to us in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament, to argue that something is so because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt—it is unserious, and unworthy of the great Judeo-Christian tradition.

That is a stunning assertion. He is saying, in essence, be a Christian, but don't hold too strongly to any of its truth. It's what we make of the Bible that's important, not what the Bible makes us. I hope you see how terrible this sort of idea is. The whole point of God speaking to us through the scriptures is that we have eternal, objective truth outside of ourselves that will guide us. We do not have the capacity to live life rightly. Without the scriptures, our life is a crap shoot.

This deficient belief is put into practice by Lisa Miller who wrote the lead column for the publication this week. Read it here. It is pretty awful. It is based entirely in bad scholarship and assumes that the Bible is a "living, breathing document." She has no real idea what biblical theology is, and, in truth, it doesn't matter to her. It doesn't matter what the early covenants were for, or how they have changed. It doesn't matter to her that there is a difference between temporary Levitical restriction and all-time truth. It doesn't matter to her that the Jesus she portrays is not actually Jesus. No, she is in it, like Meacham, to be master of her own life and to tell everyone to follow suit.

So this is an attack not on our belief that homosexuality is a sin (like many others), but our belief in the Bible; that it is the inerrant and infallible guide in faith and in practice. And that is serious. But it is one we are ready for and should stand to defend against.

There are a few resources to check out on this specific article and one video on the issue of homosexuality in the Bible:

1. Al Mohler responds well here.
2. Mollie Hemingway, here.
3. A 30 minute primer on homosexuality and the Bible (it is excellent):



HT: JT