"a christian wedding





August 2022



So… obviously we are terrible at keeping up with blogging! Maybe one day we’ll get better, but for today I have a story. The last Bridal Expo I went to I went alone. Our precious Peanut (her picture is on our About Us page) was sick so Randi stayed home with her. I wanted to also, but we paid for the Expo and we needed to be there, so I went. I stood in our booth and called out to passing people, “Do you have your officiant yet?” as usual. And, as usual, I got yeses and noes, but I also got this: “My wedding is Christian” as the woman breezed by me.





WHAT? What does that even mean? I mean, I know what a Christian wedding is, but are you saying “I’m getting married in a church and my pastor will perform the ceremony” or are you saying “I’m not gay. I’m a Christian”? I have no idea what she meant, but I suspect (and it might be my paranoia) it was the latter. You know how sometimes you can just tell by the look of disgust on someone’s face combined with a superior tone of voice? Yeah, that was her. Forgive my inner pastor for coming out, but she’s got something to say. This is a topic that needs to be addressed- THERE ARE GAY CHRISTIANS! And there are Christians who know it’s not anti-Christian to be gay. I believe that God created the world and humanity (through evolution, I’m not a literalist) and I believe that everything in the Bible points to a God who loves diversity and who loves humanity. Are there specific places where it says homosexuality is sinful? Yes, but that needs to be looked at through three lenses. First, and the easiest, is that there are also places where it says eating shellfish, shaving your beard, and cutting your hair are sinful too (along with a long list of other things as well). People grew and evolved over the years between the Old and New Testaments. We started off as a people who took an eye for an eye literally, so God met us where we were and gave us the ten commandments. As we grew to become better humans God knew we still weren’t where God wanted us to be, so God sent Jesus to teach us a new way- a way of love, justice, and compassion. But, unfortunately, we still don’t get it. There is still hate and injustice and it’s running rampant. The second lens to look through is that of language. The Bible was written in Hebrew and Greek and those languages are nuanced in ways that we don’t always understand. So, translators pick the best words they know to get as close to the original as possible, but the word homosexual wasn’t even around before 1868. I won’t get into the details, but you can google it if you want to know more. The third lens is that of a Biblical scholar. You can’t read the Bible and take it at face value. You have to study what was happening at the time it was written and who it was written for and why the author thought that text needed to be written. If you did, you’d discover that the Sodom & Gomorrah text wasn’t about homosexuality as we know it (relationships between two consenting adults), it was about inhospitality and violent oppression. “It critiques the drive to oppress and dehumanize the Other in our midst.” (https://blog.smu.edu/ot8317/2016/05/09/genesis-19/). Similarly, the Leviticus reference regarding homosexuality wasn’t about homosexuality as we know it, it was about incest. The entire list of rules where this text exists is all about it not being ok to have sexual relations with close relatives. (https://blog.smu.edu/ot8317/2016/05/11/leviticus-1822/). The Romans text wasn’t about homosexuality as we know it either, it was about lust, gluttony, and excess. Additionally, “in the ancient world, same-sex behavior between men was regarded as shameful and unnatural because it reduced the status of the passive male to the lower cultural status of a female. But for Christians who believe that men and women should have equal value in Christ, that logic doesn't apply” (https://reformationproject.org/case/romans/). Hopefully you didn’t get bored and stop reading because this stuff is really important. You don’t have to believe in God, but if you think because some jerks insist they know the Bible and are certain it’s a sin to be gay and that you’re less than because you’re gay then you need to understand that they are interpreting scripture through only one lens and that lens is arrogant hatred. Additionally, if they were wrong about these interpretations maybe they’re wrong about a lot more. And for anyone reading this who holds to these misinterpretations, thank you for reading this far. I hope your heart has been opened to see that God does not ever condemn consensual love- God celebrates love and yearns for the day when all people love each other as Jesus loved.