faith for faith

As emotions have flared and tensions have tightened between Christians and Christians and between Christians and non-Christians over the political issues that have branded our time, I hope and believe that there is growing an understanding that, at least between Christian and Christian, much grace must be given on differences of opinion on these matters. And for some of us (myself included), we have had to show grace and patience to ourselves, finding that one day our hearts and minds would lead us one way, and on another day the other.

And as these differences of opinion between Christians have arisen on these political matters, some of us might be (or have been) tempted to simply chalk these disagreements up to the typical culprits of divisions in Church in other matters, such as biblical ignorance or theological subterfuge. In these non-political cases, we would make our claims based on our biblical arguments and theological understandings and be quick to dismiss as wrong anyone who has a differing opinion. We would then view these political issues in the same manner that we view those other issues that are contained within the Church and its theology, and we would readily divide ourselves further with the same power of conviction.

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Considering the last two posts to my blog, some may find it odd that I did in fact vote for Amendment One. It was not something that I was particularly passionate about, but, granting the system we live in and that I already had a ballot in hand because I was voting for Ron Paul, I found myself in general agreement with the amendment and bubbled in “FOR.” There are plenty of things that I do not like about the present system regarding marriage (and a thousand other matters), however, it is the system in which we live, and, as a citizen within that system, I will support legislation based upon natural morality when I can.

On the other side, opponents of the amendment have and still are railing against the will of the majority to “suppress the rights” of the minority. Their chief tenet is that all unions, be it between a man and woman, a man and man, a man and three women, a mother and son, a sister and brother, a goat owner and goat, etc. should receive equal benefits under the law.

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Forget the projection polls for a moment and imagine with me that, after all of the dust settles and all of the votes are tallied, it is found that Amendment One to the North Carolina State Constitution has failed to garner enough support to be ratified.

What are the ramifications of the outcome? The immediate secular ramifications seem small, but the outcome has the potential to have much larger ones in the future. For while the failure of the amendment to be ratified does not change the fact that homosexual unions are still illegal in the state of North Carolina, it does leave open the possibility that the state’s courts could rule the present law unconstitutional and effectively repeal it.

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I have long debated with myself as to whether or not I was going to throw in my thoughts with the rest of the masses regarding the vote for Amendment One of the North Carolina State Constitution, and that debate has hinged chiefly in my own indecision rather than upon any fear of backlash from whomever. For the issue as it regards Christians and the Church is far from black and white, and the very fact that this is a state issue through and through further muddies the issue.

For though it is more than evident that the institution of marriage is far older than any secular government and was instituted by no one other than God himself, the fact remains that as a society today, marriage is chiefly a secular institution. While others have said that marriage is an institution created by God and recognized by the state, it is not that simple. For if that were true, no one could bypass the church and be married in a courthouse by a magistrate, and there would be no secular ramifications for being married, except for perhaps the changing of one’s legal name. Yet, these things do exist and so demonstrate that the once religious institution of marriage has evolved into something that can elude religion entirely.

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