How should Christians respond to the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage?

How should Christians respond to the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage?

The Supreme Court has decided that “the Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-State.” This means the court has now redefined marriage in all 50 states and made same-sex marriage legal, thus disregarding the definition of marriage that has stood for thousands of years. How should Christians respond to this decision?

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention issued a note to pastors on the internet shortly after the decision was made public in which he advised pastors to stress three things. Since his counsel shows great wisdom and prudence I want to paraphrase his remarks here.

First, this is not a time for panic and fear. Not everything is gone or lost. This doesn’t mean that all our freedoms and our way of life have all suddenly disappeared. Even more important, let us remember that Jesus Christ is still alive and sovereign over history. So let’s not respond with gloom and despair, but with hope because this decision changes nothing in the Godhead, and there, after all, is where our hope resides.

Second, we cannot change our beliefs in order to conform to society. We are ruled by Jesus and his word and his word is very clear regarding what marriage, sexuality, and families are for. So we have to resist the temptation to follow society’s lead because on this issue our society is out of step with the Bible. Instead of conforming to the culture, let us continue to stand firm regarding what the Bible says about marriage, sexuality, and family.

And third, instead of responding in anger and demonizing gays, lesbians, bi-sexual, and transgender people, let’s love them. Most of them aren’t the angry activists that get so much attention in the media. Instead, most of them genuinely believe that now they are going to get the same opportunity to have a marriage and family their parents and grandparents had. We know that isn’t going to happen because you can’t create something that is contrary to God’s design that will work. But let’s remember that they aren’t the real enemies. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6 that our enemies are the rulers and authorities and powers of darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. And don’t forget, the Paul who wrote that text previously hated Christians so much he was devoting his life to arresting them and seeking to put them to death. The gospel still has the power to change lives today just as it did in Paul.

So now is a time for followers of Christ to demonstrate confidence in him by standing firm for what is true, yet in a way that is devoid of anger, bitterness, and animosity and instead full of his love.