The PCUSA and the Gay Marriage Question

“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Jeremiah 29:7

Whenever I think about interactions between Christians and culture I always come back to this verse.  We are not called to retreat from the world, but to live in it.  Oftentimes, it seems that we are in exile.  We can worship freely, but we don’t feel at home. Our culture has rejected our worldview; if not rejected, then it has relegated it fully to the private sphere.

I find the focus of the PCUSA’s rationale for embracing same-sex marriage interesting.  Conspicuously absent is mention of Biblical teaching or Scriptural interpretation.  Instead, it stresses remaining in tune with contemporary culture and rescuing flagging membership numbers.  Sure, a few conveniently decontextualized and cropped Bible verses are halfheartedly trotted out, but make no mistake about the true purpose of the decision.  What makes this event even more baffling, however, is that it won’t help attendance.  Participation in the PCUSA has declined because of its progressive reforms, not in spite of them.

Regardless, this decision takes a clear stance on a question fundamental to the body of Christ: when Scripture and culture conflict, who should cede ground?  It’s easy, when situated in our particular temporal locality, to be tempted by culture.  It’s even easier when the contemporary “debate” over an issue is framed in terms like equality (the perils of which are explicated here), because how could anyone be against equality?  PCUSA, you need to be aware to whom you are ceding ground. As Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians, “so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.”   The same-sex marriage issue is not an insignificant one.

Despite popular ridicule, God did create Adam and Eve and not Adam and Steve for a reason.  There is a certain oneness that comes with that unity, a unity which the Bible later draws on in the beautiful metaphor of Christ marrying the Church.  Redefining marriage to comply with social norms empties this metaphor of its meaning.  Marriage ceases to be a covenant (or sacrament) and instead becomes a contract.  Marriage ceases to represent the love of Christ and the church and instead represents our hollow contemporary notion of “love.”  Our contemporary culture is not content to acknowledge ontological realities; for many, true freedom lies in transcending them.  We are masters of our domain.  But forsaking our true natures has its costs.  And it is not where true freedom lies.  In this state, we are slaves to sin. For as Paul writes in Romans 6, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.  Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.”