Oh man, Marriage is where I'm at my most radical. I can't imagine personally being married to more than one woman but I don't find anything in the bible that says a man can't have more than one wife. I don't know how he could be honoring to more than one at a time, but I can't say there are religious reasons to throw it out. The cultures that practice polygamy aren't very positive in their treatment of women in general so I'd have to say that in practice it hasn't proven to be a good idea. But the only biblical indication I have come across is the imagery of Christ returning for his bride. That would make it seem that one man and one woman is the right idea.
Same sex marriage is an oxymoron:
I don't find conclusive biblical exclusion for sex within one gender, well, women with women is explicitly forbidden, but I haven't found anything about men. But I do agree that it seems unnatural. Of course that's talking about sex, not marriage. When it comes to marriage the term refers to something that most of the world's traditions and culture have defined as one man and one woman. So, same sex marriage is like unwanted help. If you do something for me that I don't want its by definition not helping me--its meddling or training or something else but not help. Marriage is culturally well defined. You can have good marriages, bad marriages, future marriages, and past marriages, but you can't have partial marriages, gay marriages, etc. That's just simply something else.
Marriage About Children? Maybe:
I don't see marriage being about children but it could be. I think there is more we don't understand about marriage than we do. I know its true of me--maybe someone has the answers out there. I mean specifically, what does marriage represent? There is no record of Adam and Eve having a marriage ceremony. Can we really infer that God is speaking about marriage when he says, "a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home and the to shall be as one." That's cohabitation certainly but is it a far cry from a formal ceremony etc.
Is it About the Sex?
Is marriage just about legal sex partners? Because that's what it seems like to me. That's all I ever hear talked about. No one ever says, wait to give her money until you're married. It's not illegal to hire someone to carry your baby to term but it is to have sex with you for fun.
I Really Do Want to Know:
I know it probably seems like I'm playing you-know-who's advocate lately, I'm not. I've had a couple topics on here lately that I'm very decided about and generally I'm sharing my beliefs, which everyone is free to ignore if they like. This time is different. I haven't made up my mind at all and I'm genuinely asking, "can anyone bring me biblical reasoning for one man to marry one woman as is the current Judeo/Christian tradition."
It's Murky:
Lets face it, marriage is one of the few places that church and state still overlap each other. Is there a reason for that? Why is the state involved at all? Aren't there negative spiritual consequences to entering a contract with the state when you've put the matter under God? Does it count to have the church wedding and then not sign the papers? Because, its legal the other way around.
I can see that God would want to defend his authority over who can have sex with whom but why does signing paperwork with the secular government become important? Maybe to protect one side from abusing the other financially or to protect children that might happen as a result of the union. But then where is the trust in God? Why do we sign paperwork with the state which allows divorce when God, according to most Christians, doesn't.
It looks to me like there is a very big smudge of interpretation over this whole topic. Culture is getting mixed up with biblical principle. Maybe that's why the courts and the legislature are now having to create delineation. What if prop 8 etc. are not about the world ending soon and the moral fiber of the country slipping into the toilette. Maybe God is leading us through all this right now so that we'll have a more intimate and beautiful image of what it looks like for Christ to return for his bride. Maybe, the bride is being just as slutty and immoral as the big gay world outside her doors.
I welcome your answers.
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This is a Christian blog for those who aren’t afraid of unorthodox ideas. The concepts posted here will be eye openers, perhaps even stretch you a bit. I assure you that I love God and follow him faithfully. Together we can form a unique dialogue that is open-minded and inspirational.
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1 comment:
"Maybe, the bride is being just as slutty and immoral as the big gay world outside her doors."
Amen. As a Church we need to recognize our own part, our own sexual sin -- we are MESSING UP publicly and being labeled hypocrites, and rightly so. I think it's time for us to change, and a lot of Christians have a hard time with this -- anyone proposing change all of a sudden is a traitor and doesn't believe in the inerrant word of God, their salvation is in question, blah, blah, blah. Whatever. If these guys are happy with where the Church is, I don't know what to say. Once we get the beam out of our eye, we might have a chance at changing the world and it's sin.
All that being said, we still have to have God's vision of what sexual sin is, and the Bible is pretty clear about homosexuality. Even if you want to write off Leviticus as applying to the Hebrews only, Romans 1:26 addresses relationships between women, and 1:27 addresses relations between men pretty clearly. And Romans was written to Gentiles. So within the Church, homosexuality is clearly a no-no.
But you are right, marriage is not the state's business, its God's business. Leave the civil unions to the state in my opinion. Let them figure out who gets what tax breaks and all the rest of that BS and who gets what when divorce happens. God is concerned with the hearts of the man and woman and whether they are focused on Him. That's a marriage, and the state can't change that.
I think perhaps many Christians see that they should fight same sex unions basically to prevent children from being adopted into those unions, and the social breakdown, blah, blah, blah. If we were a shining lamp of goodness and light in the world, then people in sin wouldn't be able to hide.
Inside the Church we need to deal with our sin so that we don't look like hypocrites, so that in obedience we are faithful to what is little, and are called to great things. Outside the Church we need to love people with all we got, because no matter how they deny it, their sin is hurting them, and they need Jesus, they need salvation, and we need to love them so they can see Jesus in that love.
When it comes to marriage though, I want my marriage to be as much a picture of Christ and his relationship with us as possible, I want my marriage to be as pure as it can be. Perhaps David could love all of his wives with all of his heart, just like Jesus can love each one of us so much, even to the point of sacrificing himself, but I can only give even close to that much to one woman.
I know people hate the submission verses, but with the Christ->Church, Man->Woman picture of marriage portrayed by Paul, what happens to submission if the Church embraces same sex marriages? Do we place ourselves on the same level as Christ? Do we lose our submission to him? I know that isn't something I want to lose.
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