On rights and the definition of marriage
Pastor Simon Chen, Port Macquarie Baptist Church
If only we could go all Vulcan about it.
Fans of Star Trek would understand the high value Vulcans place on logic and rationale. Of late, there is been much emotion with regard to the current Plebiscite taking place and perhaps there is something here we could take from that alien race. For those who came in late, here is the question that every Australian citizen is invited to answer: should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry? If we are honest we will probably admit that the more emotional we get, the less logical we can also be.
It is illogical for example to start an argument with, “Well the Bible says…” to an audience which may not believe in God or even the Bible. Perhaps there is another approach?
The key issue seems to be, “Why shouldn’t members of the LGBTIQ community have the right to get married?” It is a good question but there are some underlying assumptions to this question which are worth addressing first. Let’s start with rights. Do all men and women have the right to get married? Yes and no. To get married, we have to be consenting adults who are not immediate blood relations. Already we see here there are some restrictions to who can get married. So to immediately conclude that marriage should be a human right that everyone deserves is overlooking some important issues. So who should have the right to marriage?
So maybe we first need to ask, “What is marriage?” How do we define “Marriage”? Academic and historian John Dickson would argue that throughout history, all cultures have understood marriage as an institution which only applies to heterosexual couples because , “…only the lifelong bond of a man to a woman—and just one man to one woman—has the power to create and nurture a new family and so move the wider human family toward its unfolding history.” Same Sex marriage therefore is a social experiment that is unprecedented in the history of humanity. This is uncharted territory and therefore to urge caution seems, well, logical.
Source:
https://marriagesurvey.abs.gov.au/introduction
http://www.johndickson.org/blog/2015/6/6/the-logic-of-classical-marriage
All brickbats, bouquets and banter welcome at pastor@pmbc.org.au