In defense of Gay rights- Civil Law and God’s Law

Note:  this is a strategy for subverting the argument that Biblical law bans homosexuality, not necessarily a full portrayal of my own personal beliefs.  This argument allows for homosexual acts being sin but still not being a significant argument that society as a whole should adhere to moral law.

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In 1st Samuel 8, the people of Israel demand a King, so that they can “be like the lands around them”.  This request grieves Samuel, who asks God what is to be done.  God responds that Samuel should tell the people what having a King means.  So Samuel goes, and tells the Israelites that a King means that their sons will be taken to serve in the army, that their daughters will be taken for the King’s household, that their money and their fields will belong to the king, and so on and so forth.

The Children of God, like all rebellious and donkey-headed children, respond that they still want a king.

God responded, “give them what they’re asking for.”

And what did they get?  A king who did not govern according to God’s heart.

So begins the saga of the separation of civil and Godly law.  The Bible is clear on the fact that the governments of this world are not appointed by God nor are they God’s intention.  God did NOT want Israel to have a king- but humanity is given free choice, and if we ask for government we’ll get what’s coming to us.

As Israel’s history progressed so did periods of Kings who were anointed by God and kings who were not, periods of abundance and periods of drought, times of happiness and times of exile.  These lead into the Roman occupation, which is where the New Testament comes into play.  “The Kingdom of God is near”.  Now, most of the time you see those words what is really being referred to is nothing more than people who adhere to God’s rule.  It’s not an “earthly” Kingdom even though it is one that is seen on this earth.  It doesn’t have borders, it doesn’t have an earthly ruler- what it has is the hearts of the faithful who truly desire to have God as their ruler.  The rules of this kingdom are not like earthly laws, either.  They read more like “Render unto Caesar what is Caesars”, “Judge not lest ye be judged”, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and “do unto others…”

I write this post to set the framework for a very simply concept:

The separation of Church and State is a concept found in the Bible, and is part of the cornerstone of understanding what God requires of us.  We, as the Kingdom, are meant to be a separate people.  This concept comes up again in 1 Corinthians 6, where Paul chastises the Corinthians for allowing internal legal disputes to be settled by civil government.  Paul puts forth that it would be better to have a Christian of “no account” settle a dispute than a stranger.  Earlier in Corinthians he had also stated, “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?” (1 Cor. 5:12)  Again, clearly showing a line of separation.  We, as Christians, are called to a separate standard than the world.  And we are not to judge the world by our own standard.

Even Jesus himself avoided judgment, despite his divinity, saying “As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.”  (John 12: 47)

The world is left to the world, and God’s law is reserved for the faithful.

I have even gone as far as to use this clear separation to  say that a gay person’s right to marry is one that  Biblical concepts SUPPORT, because civil marriage is the province of Caesar, and who are we as Christians to judge the ways of the world?  We must keep our rules as sacred to we, the Kingdom, and allow the world the right to govern as it will.

November 12, 2008. Tags: bible, bible verse, biblical concepts, church, civil law, civil rights, Jesus. Christianity, Politics, Religion, life.