"My Kingdom Is Not of this World": New York's Law Recognizing Gay Marriage

By now I'm sure you have heard that the state of New York has decided to make gay marriages legal. New York's State Senate passed a bill over the weekend, and New York's Governor has said he’ll sign it. New York is set to become the sixth state to legalize gay marriage.

Some Christians are distraught over this proposed law. It is evidence, say these Christians, that the United States is continuing its cultural and moral decline. Without doubt, the United States is changing. But unlike some of my Christian friends the new law causes me no distress. I am unconcerned with New York's proposed new law not because I believe gay marriage is of God. On the contrary, I believe the Bible teaches the Creator never sanctions homosexuality. The reason I am not distressed with a continuing movement of states toward recognizing gay marriage is because the kingdom of Christ has nothing to do with a political entity, including nations and states.

Dee over at Wartburg Watch has pointed my attention to an amazing quote by the erudite Christian thinker C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity. C.S. Lewis wrote:

"There ought to be two distinct kinds of marriage: one governed by the State with rules enforced on all citizens, the other governed by the Church with rules enforced by her on her own members. The distinction ought to be quite sharp, so that a man knows which couples are married in a Christian sense and which are not.”

C.S. Lewis

I realize that some who wish to marry a person of the same sex will consider themselves Christians and believe themselves to be under the approbation and favor of God. The Bible, however, is quite clear, not just in specific passages but throughout the sacred text, that same sex unions are disapproved by God (i.e. God calls homosexuality "sin"), and unless God by His grace grants the homosexual repentance, the homosexual--like the adulterer, the thief, the pedophile, the liar, etc...-- will find himself facing the wrath of God upon death.

The issue in C.S. Lewis' day was divorce. Some Christians were very upset that the government was making it "easier" for men and women to divorce one another. C.S. Lewis wrote:

"Before leaving the question of divorce, I should like to distinguish two things which are very often confused. The Christian conception of marriage is one: the other is the quite different question — how far Christians, if they are voters or Members of Parliament, ought to try to force their views of marriage on the rest of the community by embodying them in the divorce laws. 

A great many people seem to think that if you are a Christian yourself you should try to make divorce difficult for every one. I do not think that. At least I know I should be very angry if the Mahommedans tried to prevent the rest of us from drinking wine. My own view is that the Churches should frankly recognise that the majority of the British people are not Christians and, therefore, cannot be expected to live Christian lives."

The problem with political liberals and political conservatives who happen to be Christian is that they confuse the church with the state and vice-versa. Christ said, "My kingdom is NOT of this world" and the sooner His followers realize this, the less angry we Christians will be when the political world moves in directions opposite of the principles of Scripture. It doesn't mean we don't participate in the political process, it just means as C.S. Lewis brilliantly pointed out, that we cannot expect the majority of people in America to live Christian lives, for the majority of people in America may not even know the Christ of whom we speak.