It’s actually pretty simple and I’m surprised that more Christians haven’t thought of this. With celebrities, like Brangelina and David Pocock and his partner Emma Palandri (I’ll call them Dama or Emmavid), vowing not to get married until same-gender marriage is legal, the likely Christian counter-point response should be obvious… DIVORCE. That’s right, divorce. You should feel stupid for not coming up with that idea yourself. But not all of us Christians are inept to the right way to get our point across that same-gender marriage will ruin all marriage. Nick and Sarah Jensen figured out this little gem of a protest for us.
Evidently, Nick and Sarah have warned the Australian government that should they legalize same-gender marriage later this year, then they “…as a matter of conscience, refuse to recognise the government’s regulation of marriage…” The couple says that they’re happily married and plan to stay together, even having more children, but should the definition of marriage change, they will not partake in it, thus landing themselves in “Ye Ol’Divorce Court.” Hopefully the Australian government heeds this warning because as a Christian, honestly I’d like not to have to live through the pain of reading this in the news or on my social media feeds and then having to write about how atrociously ridiculous it is.
I understand that many Christians feel the need to openly uphold their conviction about how the bible defines marriage. I get it, it’s important to you and a sensitive subject that has caused a lot of frustration and hurt on both sides of the issue. But what’s more important to me is how God views how sacred I treat marriage, not whether I get the government to acknowledge my belief. Honestly, I don’t share my view publicly because it doesn’t matter what I publicly think the definition of marriage is. What does matter is my personal private view. The way that I hold and esteem marriage as a covenant between my wife and I before God is a private affair and I hope that the evidence in how I treat her and speak of her reveals my view publicly. Being a Christian always comes back to how I follow Jesus, never how good I am at making sure the government legislates morality. The thing that pains me the most is the extent to which Christians will go in an attempt to prove a point.
The fact that this couple is willing to take something that in their view is “…a fundamental order of creation, part of God’s intimate story for human history…” and sully it with something that God outrightly says he hates blows my mind. Listen to what’s going on here: a Christian couple who say marriage is a sacred covenant, created by God, is using divorce, a man-made procedure created to destroy that covenant and something that God hates and Jesus said only exists because we’re hardhearted, to prove just how sacred marriage is. Does that make any sense? Because for me, it sounds as close to unbiblical as anything I can think of. On top of that, they’re going to stay together and have sex, outside the legal bounds of marriage, because marriage is between them and God. Got it. No muddy water there. This is almost like saying, “If the government makes abortion legal, I’m going to quit having kids.” What?
I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, the bible is the standard by which WE, confessed followers of Jesus, are called to live. It is not a list of sins and right behaviors that we’re supposed to use to tell the world how wrong they are and how much they need to change. The bible is meant for His kingdom citizens, and yes, some day that Kingdom will be here and yes we’re called to start living in the image of that while we’re on earth (the whole “in the world, not of it” bit), but yelling at people and getting divorced aren’t really good ways to do that. Jesus never intended on changing the culture, He intends to change us and that only comes through communion with Him, and getting divorced isn’t part of that. Once you’ve confessed Him, you’re supposed to tell people about Him and then allow the Holy Spirit, not you, to lead them into truth, while you walk through it with them. That’s done through love and relational communion with others. It’s surely not done by divorcing your spouse. Christians, we can do better.
The worst part is that while all the gay people are going to be getting the tax benefits of being married, who’s going to lobby for tax protection for people that get divorced as an act of protecting their religious freedom, but intend to still continue to co-habitat, as if married, while having children out of wedlock? Maybe the Australian ACLU? Does that organization exist? Anyone interested in starting it if it doesn’t?
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