Same-Sex Marriage Will Kill the Church
Or is God just doing a new thing?
Prophecy
Writing in Christianity Today yesterday, David Robertson prophesied that the Church of Scotland “will die” because they approved same-sex marriage. Make a note of this, so we can check up on Robertson later to see if he proves to be a false or true prophet.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. — 1 John 4:1
Love
Robertson declares, “It is incomprehensible to most modern journalists how anyone could be opposed to same-sex marriage. To them it is like being opposed to love! The trouble is when you ask them to define ‘love’, they struggle.”
Let me define ‘love’ real quick for Robertson:
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. — 1 Corinthians 13: 4–7 NKJV
That wasn’t a struggle for me at all. In fact, I have that passage memorized, and it came to mind immediately.
Incomprehensible
Honestly, it is incomprehensible to me why same-sex marriage has become such a huge deal for right-wing conservative Christians. I grew up in the evangelical church, and I’ve never seen anyone preach so passionately against bearing false witness or even murder, and those are in the Big Ten. Two men or two women getting married doesn’t affect David Robertson, and yet he’s vehemently against it.
Robertson asks the question he thinks some readers will have, then doesn’t answer it:
What does same-sex marriage have to do with the Gospel? It’s straightforward. We do not make up the Gospel. We receive it by revelation from Christ — through his word. Part of that is his teaching about marriage.
Jesus never mentioned same-sex marriage, so referring to Jesus’ “teaching about marriage” as if that closes the debate is quite illogical, even laughable.
Politics and Power
Robertson goes on to claim that the church leaders who support same-sex marriage are out of step with their congregations, quoting John Hayward saying, “For them, the church is about politics and power, not size and conversion.” I don’t know about Scotland, but in North America, it’s the conservative anti-LGBTQ+ church leaders who are in it for “politics and power” so this argument is absurd to me.
Robertson’s thesis is that “Churches which are more liberal tend to decline more quickly.” His solution is to be more conservative and homophobic. However, even if his premise is true, it’s not our job to solve this. Perhaps the modern church’s time is done. Perhaps there is something new coming.
“Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert. The beast of the field will honor Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I give waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My people, My chosen. This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.” — Isaiah 43: 18–21
If God is real and the Bible is true, there is nothing that can end the church unless God wills it so. And, if God wills it so, there is nothing we can do to prevent it.
I believe that we are on the cusp of a new revival, and I really believe that it will be led by LGBTQ+ Christians. We will make rivers in the desert that once was the church. We will destroy the temple and tear down the idols, and raise love up again.
Esther learned to read when she was four years old, and began writing shortly thereafter. She is a queer Christian poet, crafting with words to create art and music.
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