A Christian Ought to Vote Against Gay Marriage

My opponents arguments consist of that we "ought not to vote against 'gay' marriage" because Christ is not concerned with the state, and if he was then we would not even be able to defend the state because Christians are called to non-violence. He also desires to assert that the Laws to the Jews served no purpose but to show them they were unrighteous and therefore we should not seek to establish moral laws again. Sermon on the Mount First, I will assert that the proper interpretation of Mattew 5:39 is not to do nothing but turn your cheek when an evil man hits you. Jesus was revealing that even the Jews were not righteous (hence him quoting Jewish standards of rightousness) and that God's righteousness was beyond even that of the religious lawmakers of that day. Paul and Jesus asserts that the primary commands of God are to love each other - and there are times when loving the "evil man" does not involve turning the other cheek. I will again state that it is not loving to "turn the other cheek" if your child hits you, for to do so would be to condone disrespect which is explicitly prohibited by God. I urge voters to ignore my opponents vague statement that "We are expected to bring our children up to respect and honour us AND the Word of God" because how is this to be accomplished if we allow our children to constantly abuse us? Words, with many children, are not enough and appropriate discipline must be taken - my own brother is a fine example of this. To turn the other cheek would be the absolute opposite of any kind of discipline and thus any kind of love. Let us look at a piece of Scripture to show this true: "He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly" Proverbs 5:24. A second example why this verse is not a law against resistance is in the case of a murderer coming into your home to harm your family. As a man you are to provide for your family - this includes all the basic needs of security, food, shelter, water, emotional, and spiritual. A man who does not resist the murderer is going against Scripture: "But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever" - 1 Timothy 5:8. The interpretation that Matthew 5:39, and the entirety of the Sermon on the Mount, was made so that even the Jews would know that they violated their own Law and that the new minimum for righteousness in the Kingdom of God was love for God and all men fits seamlessly into the entirety of the commands in the Bible(1). Through the two examples above I have shown that my opponents interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount is erroneous, nonsensical, and incompatible with the rest of Scripture. Christian State My opponent questions, "HOW you would defend your Christian country while still holding to the policy of non-resistance that Christ so clearly advocates?". I had previously thought that my opponent had read the interpretation of Matthew 5:39 that I had laid out that answered this dilemma, but he had not. So, lets turn to a piece of Scripture that addresses this point exactly - Romans 13:1-7. "...For [the government] is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil..." From above, it is clear that we are to defend our homes against intruders, we are also to submit to authority and the authority has the right to execute citizens who do wrong. Therefore, I see no issue with a Christian nation defending its borders against outsides nor executing those who do evil. Scripture asserts both rights. Last Argument Rebuttals "Making Laws you cannot, in all conscience, enforce..." Should we rather have no laws then? If we ought not vote against gay marriage - should we then vote against laws that punish murderers since murder is forbidden in the Bible? We also cannot catch all murderers - should we stop all together? "Instead of wasting our efforts on self-righteous..we need to start praying against these deceiving spirits and spreading His truth. This war is Spiritual. These problems are Spiritual. The solutions are SPIRITUAL." This comment is extremely offensive and also incorrect. All our problems are not Spiritual. Tell the man who doesn't have food to eat that all he needs is God - it does nothing for his starving body. If you are going to quote Ephesians to refute this, then I'd suggest you flip to James and read it before making such a completely one-sided comment. Culture Finally, I must take this back to the issue at hand and also say that my opponent has not refuted my previous points on culture. He has so far only attempted to show that it is impossible for a Christian nation to defend itself or enfore laws - a completely erroneous view. I restate my previous points here and hope that my opponent has some defense against them (though, waiting for the last round to refute these is a bit disingenuous). "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). Within a culture or society there are many values that are held that are either unique to that culture or shared with the broader world culture. As Man is made in the image of God we expect that culture, a creation of man, would show examples of creativity, beauty, and goodness. Unfortunately, because Man is also fallen and we are saddled with a sinful, destructive, and selfish nature than it would follow that Man's creation would also exhibit similar manifestations. What arises from this is cultural values that are good and some that are bad. Jesus tells us that we are to be the "salt of the earth" and thus act as a preservative for our culture. "Christian living (like salt in the meat) is quite important to keep culture from degrading..."(3). Therefore, analogous to our job to see Man's sinful nature redeemed by God it is our obligation to see the sinful parts of human culture redeemed by God. God desires to be worshiped by people of every tribe, tongue, and nation (Ps 66:1-4, Ps 138:4-5, Zeph 3:9-10, Mal 1:11, Ps 96:7-9, Rev 15:3-4). If we are all to adopt only Western (or any other set) values then there would be no reason why a representative worshiper from every nation should be stressed. 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. 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. (1)Willard, Dallas. "The Divine Conspiracy" (2)Lausanne Committee for World Evangalism. "The Willowbank Report" (3)Keller, Tim. "Cities and Salt: Counter-Cultures for the Common Good"