A Christian Ought to Vote Against Gay Marriage

I appreciate my opponent's response and look forward to his future rebuttal. Old Testament and the Law I'm not clear on why Jewish law is meaningful here. Are you implying that the Law God established for the Jewish nation left them on equal ground morally with their neighbors? If you are, you are sadly mistaken. I would argue this, God's unique Law was what set them apart from other nations. God's unique relationship with Israel caused other countries to recognize Israel as having the one true God; namely the gentiles coming to Israel during Solomon's reign as well as Naaman, the foreign dignitary that was healed by Elisha (2 Kings 5). If God did not establish a moral law with Israel than there would be little reason to follow the God of Hebrews over, say, Molech. So therefore that Laws of a country are not without importance - especially if the nation as a whole professes belief in a specific deity. America is perceived by the outside world as being a "Christian Nation". Should not out laws reflect this? New Testament and Political Instruction It is absolutely correct that Jesus was more concerned with individuals than He ever was concerned with nation building. What crucial piece of the puzzle you are neglecting to realize is that the God of the Hebrews and the God of the New Testament are one and the same. In the Old Testament, God is very much concerned with how a nation of His people behaved. Is it impossible that God could use a nation to bring glory to Himself again? How much more so when there exists a nation of people run by redeemed humanity. The verses you use (mainly Matthew 5) to go against Christian nation building are erroneously interpreted. Jesus was not concerned with soldiering or else He would have chastised the Roman Centurion in Luke 7, but instead He praises that Gentile over all of His people - His Disciples included! The verse on turning the other cheek was not Jesus prescribing a new law for His people but rather revealing that the Jewish interpretation of the Law wasn't even right. He was showing that the Hebrews failed even their own laws! Briefly, the Sermon on the Mount, verses against Anger, Adultery, Repay evil with Good, and so on, are not about establishing a new law (as stated above). If they had been, then you would have seen them all repeated by His disciples in Acts, or even by Paul. But what you find is that, in fact, these "laws" are not repeated and it shows that the Hebrew audience did not understand them as laws. It is better to take those "laws" and see them as descriptions of the kind of actions that Kingdom people do. People of God's Kingdom are to act with love for both God and man (Jesus' actual command) in all their actions (1). There are situations where "turning the other cheek" is actually the most unloving thing to do. When you ask? How about when your child strikes you on the cheek? Should you turn your other and show your child it is fine to disrespect his father and mother (and thus violate a known law!) or do you discipline your child? If a man breaks into your home, should you stand aside and let him kill/torture/rape your family and thus allow him to wallow in his evil? Or should you stand up and deliver him to punishment so that he has to wallow in his pain and have a chance to turn to God? Not to mention loving your family by offering yourself as a sacrifice for them (Ephesians 5). Cultural Evils Ought to be Abolished "At the heart of every culture is an element of self-centeredness, of man's worship of himself. Therefore a culture cannot be brought under the Lordship of Christ without a radical change of allegiance" (2). Cultures are wedded with our worldviews. In America we believe that all men are born free and equal and are endowed with certain rights. American culture has erroneously asserted in the past that evils are a part of their rights. A few that all people can agree on are: Slavery, Racial Discrimination, and Gender Discrimination. These have been fought against by bible thumping, born again, Jesus-saved-my-soul Christians, were they wrong to do so? Now, I am assuming at this point that my opponent believes not only that it was right for Christians to oppose those evils but also that they OUGHT to have. In all these cases, the culture violates a command of Jesus - love your neighbor as you love yourself. If my opponent agrees then we agree that we have a moral obligation to see that systematic and pervasive cultural evils are opposed. This does not, however, fulfill the requirements of the resolution. To do so we must establish that Christian ethics also opposes homosexual marriage. Homosexual Marriage as a Cultural Evil Homosexual actions violate God's prescribed method of romantic, sexual, and gender interactions. The first human sexual relationship was described as being between a man and a woman. It is affirmed in Leviticus (18) that homosexual actions were to be condemned by the Jewish state. Additionally, in the New Testament, Paul declares that those who participate in homosexual acts are among those that suppress truth in unrighteousness. Homosexual actions show that a man (or woman) is not only participating in what is evil, but also actively suppressing the truth of God. As homosexual behavior becomes increasingly accepted, then the reality of God becomes less and less clear. This logically follows all the way into homosexual marriage - for at that point the state (and its people) has decided that there is nothing inherently wrong with homosexuality. Let us recap: Homosexual actions are wrong Homosexual actions are associated with a suppression of God's truth Homosexual marriage would increase the acceptance of homosexuality An increase in homosexuality would increase suppression of God's truth Imperative As a Christian we are concerned with revealing God's truth and seeing His authority in this world increase. It is implied that homosexuality will oppose both of these imperatives. Therefore, as Christians we ought to vote against homosexual marriage. -Y (1)Willard, Dallas. "The Divine Conspiracy" (2)Lausanne Committee for World Evangalism. "The Willowbank Report"