Letters: Gay marriage and the Bible

Re “The Christian case for gay marriage,” Opinion, Dec. 2

C.S. Pearce asserts that same-sex marriage is not addressed in Mark, Chapter 10, where Jesus said, “At the beginning of creation God made them male and

female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife.” In answering a question about divorce, Jesus points to the Genesis account as a clear testimony of God’s design for marriage.

By attempting to make the case that we should “make the same cultural allowances for gay couples 2,000 years later that Christian churches have long made for the divorced,” Pearce tips her hand. In Pearce’s view, Christians should allow the culture to supplant the revealed will of God.

We must love and accept all people, but this doesn’t mean we are to suppress God’s truth.

Drew Jessel

Simi Valley

As one of those evangelical Christians who has had a change of heart about gay marriage recently, I believe that what keeps most Christians from embracing gay civil rights is more a fear of the unfamiliar rather than an adherence to Scripture.

The overarching message of Jesus is forgiveness, love and compassion. What would happen if we Christians opened our hearts and our churches to gays and lesbians? What if we intentionally tried to include them in our faith communities as Jesus surely would have? Welcoming a gay person into your life (and it’s likely some are already there) with unconditional love can change everything.

Marian Sunabe

South Pasadena

Pearce argues in essence that no biblical passage explicitly condemns same-sex marriage. The same can be said of abortion and using the bomb in a preemptive strike. Can a sincere Christian safely infer that both are acceptable?

It’s not that gays want the same rights that heterosexuals have; gays want a right that no other person has. No one has a right to marry without the consent of the other or to wed a person too close in bloodline or a person of the same sex.

It cannot be argued reasonably that same-sex marriage is a fundamental right. Take morality out of the law and you’ve created legal inanity.

Philip A. Rafferty

Inglewood

I applaud Pearce for her enlightened interpretation of Scripture after two milleniums of darkness.

Brother Paul should have taken a little more wine for his stomach’s sake before writing those stern words in Romans 1:27. After all, 13 men living and sleeping together and talking about loving each other raises an interesting possibility.

Donald Batchelor

Brea

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