I heard about the recent ruling ending the ban of gay marriage in Iowa while semi-listening to National Public Radio in the middle of the heartland.
I was washing dishes, enjoying the happy sounds of my two children puttering about, my winter-worn hands sporting yellow
dishwashing gloves. Engaged in the everyday life of your average liberal-evangelical-house-divorcee, I was contentedly bumbling along in my regular-old thoroughly-heterosexual-female way.
This unexpected news filled me with inexplicable hope, anticipation, and a kind of joy. It felt like the beginning of a new adventure.
As living proof that heterosexuals don't have the whole marriage thing figured out I have hope that perhaps homosexuals will fare better. I don't believe marriage is for everyone; I can't recommend it for every soul on the planet. But I wholeheartedly recommend the gay people I know.
I wish for them what I wish for all my friends: love, peace, the joy that comes from knowing you are loved (unfailingly by God, preferably also by some humans). A few really great pairs of shoes, laughter every day, a roof over their head, and some darn good chocolate.
When gay marriage hit the coasts, the issue briefly came up during one of my Bible study classes. It was an uncomfortable, unedifying discussion (soliloquy). I heard snippets about the legal wrangling over gay marriage on the news and NPR. This impacted my life for a total of 2.79 seconds.
But when the issue landed in Iowa I was motivated to do a little research. This could affect some people I know and love.
I began with the Old Testament. I didn't even have to open the book; I know there were all kinds of crazy things happening in those marriages. I thought of King David and Bathsheba, Abraham and Hagar. Clearly the Old Testament
isn’t going to clear up issues surrounding gay marriage in the 21st Century. At least not for me.
I turned to my favorite book in the world (truly): the New Testament. I wondered, what did Jesus say on this topic?
Some Pharisees came to him [Jesus] to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"
"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
"Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry."
Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
Matthew 19:3-12 (New International Version), http://www.biblegateway.com
That
didn’t help much either. So I consulted the “Focus on the Family” website. I found an article by Dr. James C.
Dobson entitled “
Eleven Arguments Against Same-Sex Marriage” (The full article has since been removed from Focus's web site. The condensed version I linked to above is all that is currently available.)
(Probably because it was really, truly THAT BAD.)
Reading Dobson's rambling article jazzed me up like a week's worth of Starbucks.
And not in a good way.
Now I’m just frightened. Not of gay marriage. Of Dr. Dobson.
Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think of all this?
Today I pray for wisdom and guidance, for patience and understanding, for tolerance, for strength, for discernment....and even though you may think I'm a heathen for disagreeing with Dr.
Dobson, I pray all these things for you as well. May the Lord bless your day.
And now I've gotta go do some dishes. This time maybe I'll listen to my
iPod instead of NPR.
xoxoxo,
Cheeky