Monthly Archives: December 2018

20 Arguments Against Same-Sex Marriage, Rebutted (Part 4)

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We’re looking at popular arguments against same-sex marriage (and a few that are just anti-gay). Conservative radio host Frank Turek provides most of the arguments. (Part 1 here.)

9. Human rights are God-given rights!

Rights are not based on human opinion, but on an unchangeable authoritative standard beyond human opinion. That’s why human rights cannot exist unless God exists. Without God everything is simply a matter of personal preference. . . . Human laws can only recognize God-given rights.

Frank needs to study up on how human rights come about. To take one example, voting rights have changed over time in the U.S., and God didn’t play a role at any stage.

As for God giving rights, he’s hardly a good moral model (more here, here, and here). The Bible isn’t law in the United States; the Constitution is, and Christianity is legal in the United States courtesy of the (secular) Constitution. “Because the Bible says so” is an inherently impotent argument in this country.

But let’s go there anyway and see what the Bible says. The Bible doesn’t directly address same-sex marriage. It does, however, make clear its disapproval of mixed-race (or intertribal) marriage. Here’s a modern rejection of interracial marriage from Bob Jones University built on an honest reading of the Bible.

Although there is no verse in the Bible that dogmatically says that races should not intermarry, the whole plan of God as He has dealt with the races down through the ages indicates that interracial marriage is not best for man. (1998)

The statement is unnecessarily hesitant. God plainly forbids intermarriage with foreign tribes (Deuteronomy 7:3). The prohibition against intermarriage is also given in Ezra (9:2, 10:10) and Nehemiah (chapter 13). King Solomon was also chastised for his foreign wives (1 Kings 11).

The apologist might respond that the prohibitions against intermarriage were meant to avoid temptations to worship other gods. That’s true to some extent but irrelevant—they’re still anti-miscegeny laws. If they’re wrong today, why excuse them back then? The Bible’s version of “God-given” rights and demands isn’t a morality than we can tolerate.

To understand the Bible on homosexuality, consider its stance on slavery. Some Christians say that slavery in the Old Testament was just God adapting to the imperfect, wicked customs of the time. All right, but take the same approach toward homosexuality. If God’s attitude toward slavery was adapted to the times (though that attitude makes no sense today), then maybe God’s attitude toward homosexuality was similarly adapted to the times and makes no sense today. These Christians might respond that the Old Testament was wrong on slavery but right on homosexuality, but what—besides personal opinion or preference—would they base that on?

The Bible gives no support to Frank’s “marriage = babies” argument (argument #5 in our critique). One kind of marriage we do see, however, is the marriage of Jesus to the church (as in Ephesians 5:25–27). In this marriage, it’s love that is central, not babies.

Paul is no asset to the Christian position either. He said, “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman” (1 Corinthians 7:1). This applied to married couples as well (1 Cor. 7:12)—so much for the celebrated role of procreation. He discouraged marriage (7:8–9) and rejected divorce (7:10–11). Marriage wasn’t even a Christian sacrament in the Church until the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. I’m not surprised that Frank hides from this part of the Bible since it defeats his position.

10. Because morals come from the Creator!

Forget about the “separation of church and state” objection. It doesn’t apply here. . . . [The founders] recognized our moral rights come from the Creator and founded the country on “Nature’s Law” consistent with Christianity.

Since the Constitution is explicitly secular, history revisionists like to go back to references to a “Creator” and “Nature’s Law” in the Declaration of Independence. The DoI is an important historical document, but that’s it. These references impose nothing on American society today, and they’re not even Christian references but are deist.

The DoI makes clear that “Governments [derive] their just powers from the consent of the governed,” not God. And when a government becomes abusive, “it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.” The government answers to the people, not God. Frank can’t find much support in this argument. More here.

11. My standard can beat your standard!

Frank next appeals to objective morality. You gotta have an objectively correct moral stance to make any moral claim, Frank tells us, and such a stance admits a god to ground it.

Homosexual activists say we’re wrong. But we can’t be “wrong” unless there is a real standard of “Right” from which we deviate.

Frank adds qualifiers—a real standard or something being truly right—to refer to objective morality, but I doubt that such a thing exists. I impatiently await evidence that there are moral truths that would be true whether anyone believed them or not (explored more here, here, and here).

So we should ask same sex marriage advocates, “What’s your standard? Who said same sex marriage is a ‘right’?” You and your friends? That’s not a right. That’s an opinion.

It’s like Frank isn’t aware of how social change works. You have a moral belief because you’ve concluded that it’s correct. You can then explore the why, but in the end the buck stops with you. It is your opinion.

That may not be much, but it’s all we’ve got. Groundless handwaving that God agrees with you counts for nothing.

So liberals can believe in and fight for same-sex marriage, but they can’t justify it as truly being a right without reference to the Creator. If they do reference the Creator, then they have the rationally dubious task of arguing that God affirms same-sex marriage.

I don’t claim that my conclusions are objectively true, and your claims to be able to tap into objective moral truth are backed up by nothing more than wishful thinking. I agree that God doesn’t affirm same-sex marriage, but God does affirm polygamy. You still want to model marriage after what God says?

Continued in part 5.

Little Girl: “I’m so glad I don’t like asparagus.”
Friend: “Why, my dear?”
Little Girl: “Because if I did like it,
I should have to eat it, and I can’t bear it!”
— moral difficulty proposed by Lewis Carroll

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(This is an update of a post that originally appeared 1/15/15.)

Image credit: Wikimedia
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Missionary John Chau Died for Nothing: Why the Great Commission Didn’t Apply to Him (or to You)

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John Chau, missionary killed Great Commission

John Chau, the missionary who was killed a few weeks ago by the inhabitants of a small island in the Indian Ocean, was arguably brave and selfless in his desire to spread the gospel. The tragedy was that his sacrifice was for nothing, even within a Christian context. The Great Commission, the charge Jesus gave to spread the gospel, wasn’t given to him. In fact, it wasn’t given to anyone now living, and the Bible makes that clear.

Here are six reasons why Christians should ignore the Great Commission.

1. Jesus wasn’t talking to you.

Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19), but he was speaking to his disciples. Don’t flatter yourself—you’re not Luke or Peter or John.

Some might assume Jesus had more in mind. After all, he had to be thinking about who would carry on the evangelical task. Who would take up the challenge in the next generation and the next? The answer: nobody. Jesus wasn’t thinking about Christian evangelism centuries in the future. He saw the end within the lifetimes of his hearers.

Other chapters in the Bible make clear that Jesus was not addressing today’s Christian. An earlier commission also charges the disciples to spread the word, but this time Jesus gave them superpowers. They had “authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” (Matthew 10:1).

Jesus also said to his disciples, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). Binding means to forbid and loosing means to permit, both by an indisputable authority. We see something similar in another gospel, a power you’d think would be reserved for God himself: “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:23).

If the commission comes with superhuman powers to help carry it out but Christians today weren’t given those powers, then they probably weren’t given the commission either.

2. Christian leaders acknowledge the difference.

The Bible shows the disciples performing healing miracles. The book of Acts has Paul healing a lame man, Ananias curing blindness, and Peter raising the dead. “Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles” (Acts 2:43). In John, Jesus said, “He who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do.”

Another aspect of miracles is the amazing claims made for prayer. In Matthew, Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” In Mark, Jesus says, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

But it doesn’t work that way for Christians today, and everyone knows it. Christians can’t reliably heal, and prayer doesn’t “work” like a light switch or a car works. To get out of this bind, Christian apologists sometimes sidestep the problem by saying that times have changed, and these remarkable abilities were available only to the disciples.

That works, but then the Great Commission reasonably falls into the same category. Only the disciples had these amazing abilities, and only the disciples were given the burden of the Great Commission.

3. You can’t have confidence that your interpretation is correct

Christianity has 45,000 denominations, and it’s budding off new ones at a rate of two per day. There are a lot of fundamental doctrines that separate these denominations. You may be confident in the rightness of your views on those important matters, but you can have no certainty that you’re right. There is no objectively correct way to interpret the Bible. When your Christian views differ from your neighbor’s, how can you prove which one is right? How can you insist that yours are correct?

4. It’s not everyone’s job to evangelize

Paul says that we have different gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4–11). Yours isn’t necessarily to evangelize. And don’t take on the teaching role lightly: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1).  

5. When the Bible makes a crazy demand, Christians ignore the demand

Christians casually dismiss aspects of the Bible that don’t translate well into modern Western society—God’s support for slavery, polygamy, genocide, human sacrifice, and so on. The Bible makes God’s position clear, but loftier principles override the Bible, and Christians (correctly) take the sensible approach where there are conflicts. If pushing your beliefs on others also doesn’t feel right, maybe that’s because it isn’t.

And what’s the point of evangelization anyway? Fundamentalists will tell you that it’s the Holy Spirit that does the work, not your evangelization, “so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). Surely the omnipotent Holy Spirit has the capability to save souls and isn’t constrained by what people do or don’t do.

6. There’s no need for the Great Commission

Christians have been told that it’s their duty to save people. Just imagine if your neighbor went to hell simply because you were too lazy to convince him that he was a broken sinner who needed what your church was selling.

Paul makes clear that this fear is unfounded. Comparing the symmetry of Adam’s sin with Jesus’s sacrifice, Paul said, “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). The price has been paid, so you’re good.

We see a similar attitude in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25. The King gives eternal life to those who lived honorable lives on earth. Evangelism and mandatory beliefs aren’t necessary.

Christians, discard the great baggage of the Great Commission. There’s work enough to just live your life as a good Christian. If someone asks, you can give the “reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).

If you want to more closely follow the lead of Jesus, he spoke at length about helping the disadvantaged. That’s a charge that makes a lot more sense.

When Christians tell you that they’re confused
with how the Bible seems okay with slavery and polygamy,
don’t tell them not to worry and that 2+2=5 after all.
2+2=4, and the work of Christianity
is learning how to deal with 4.
— Laura Robinson, quoted here

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(This is an update of a post that originally appeared 2/2/15.)

Image from Wikipedia, public domain
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