First post- Christian for Marriage Equality

Tomorrow, Louisa Wall's Marriage Equality Bill will pass its third and final reading into law. Today I choose to write my first blog post on why as a straight relatively theologically conservative Christian I support its passage. Without a doubt, the issue of Gay Marriage has been the defining political issue for the church in a generation. It is therefore not an issue I take a stand on lightly, as many of my family and friends are very strongly opposed to the bill as well as many that are passionately in favour. In this post, I wish to address not only why I support marriage equality but some of the slightly more sensible arguments I've heard against Gay Marriage (I am not including it's Ick or why I can't marry my Dog arguments here).

The reason I support the bill is not that I'm certain or in anyway an expert on the theology of homosexuality but as a Christian I fundamentally believe in both the separation of church and state and the notion that we should be equal under the law. Christians have been some of the most persecuted people on the planet purely for their faith in God, we have seen first hand the danger of the intermingling of state and church.The separation of church and state is not just to protect the State from religious extremists but to protect the Church from the State. Jesus did not establish a legalistic system in the New Testament, "he cannot serve two masters to heart:", this includes both the State and the Church. He said to give your Ceasar's to Ceasar and what is God's to God. Creating a state theocracy is not only contrary to the teachings of the Bible but also sets a dangerous precedent, if you're still unconvinced and want to live in a theocratic paradise, move to Iran.

I believe this is a window of opportunity the Church is letting escape their grasp. The LGBT community has been consistently discriminated against for years. Where the Church had a legacy of standing up for the oppressed and providing freedom for the captives it has been silent, often complacent and even worse supporting outright discrimination under the law. Many biblical cases have been made in the past against interracial marriage, in support of slavery, against giving women the right to vote yet today I think you'd struggle to find a Christian who would agree with any of these stances. I do not expect all Christians to agree with me on this issue, however I wish to know simply where are the petitions and spokesman speaking against divorce, consumerism, gambling or poverty? All of these issues Jesus addresses directly and repeatedly unlike Gay marriage.


Finally, the argument I have heard over and over again is that it is a redefinition of marriage. Yet, if you ask a Christian their definition of marriage it is almost universally seen as a covenant between themselves, their partner and God. This is a notion I totally agree with, my (hopefully!) future marriage being between myself, my wife and my God and will not be defined by the state. I don't want John Key involved in my marriage no matter how often he'd promise a 'brighter future'. Furthermore, if the government decided tomorrow to abolish marriage in legal terms, this would not change my commitment to the values of that institution just like I don't expect or want the government to recognize other church covenants, such as baptism or my role as a youth leader.

So tomorrow after the bill passes rather than post some vitriol about the decline of New Zealand's values on Facebook, I ask of my fellow brethren please simply pause and ask yourselves how should we treat our LGBT brothers and sisters? How can we show these people the love of Jesus Christ? How do we show our fellow humans that there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, or gay or straight as we are all one in Christ Jesus.