Supreme Court or Bible?

After the U.S. Supreme Court majority on Wednesday said opposition to same-sex marriage was based on hatred, one of the best reaction statements came from Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

He began by saying the evangelicals he represents support biblical marriage without hating homosexuals, yet the court’s “ruling opens the door for inevitable intolerance towards people of faith who repudiate bigotry, defend the image of God in all human beings, and also believe that marriage is a sacred union defined by Him.”

Rodriguez said “we must stand committed to reconciling the vertical image of God in every human being with the horizontal habits and actions of Christ.” The goal is to “stand for truth without sacrificing civility … to see the image of God in every human being—including those with whom we disagree.”

He contrasted the agenda of the donkey or the elephant with “the agenda of the Lamb, which is one of righteousness and justice; sanctification and service; covenant and community; holiness and humility; and conviction and compassion.” Combining truth and love is always hard and never harder than when passions run hot.

Rodriguez shows the way for all of us. I’m for the biblical understanding of marriage not for personal or political reasons but as a matter of faith. I believe God is smarter than we are and even smarter than the Supreme Court. I believe the Bible is God’s Word, and when the Bible states something clearly we are supremely arrogant not to follow it. Since the Bible also says that all humans are created in God’s image and all humans sin, I’d also be arrogant to declare anyone sub-human and say he’s a sinner and I’m pure.

This means that those who claim the name of Christ but have treated homosexuals as sub-human should repent. It also means that the Supreme Court majority should repent for its generalizations, summarized accurately by Justice Antonin Scalia (see my Wednesday post) as an assertion that those who oppose homosexuality inevitably act out of hatred. Justices who profess to honor the Constitution should understand the seriousness of those who honor a far older document and believe it to be inspired not just by man’s knowledge but a wisdom far deeper.