How should the church respond to controversial social issues such as same sex marriage?

As a general observation, I would have to say that I don’t believe that the Christian church en mass, handles its reaction to controversial social issues at all well. Generally we see the Church and individuals associated with it (viz Christians at large), legitimately being accused of presenting nothing but negativity – for example being seen as "anti-homosexual" or "homophobic" (a term that is an abuse of the English language when applied in the context of simply disagreeing with the concept of homosexual marriage!).

I believe that Christians need to shake off the negative image and get onto the "front foot" in responding to the issues of the day. Where the church has failed (e.g. in its overall response to child abuse) we should simply admit that we failed – trying to defend indefensible conduct simply brings Christians into disrepute. It’s true, the church sometimes is in error and that needs to be admitted. Those who say “it was only THAT denomination that messed up – I didn’t”, miss the point – the world at large sees the church as a single entity (funny thing that, that’s the way God designed it, the world sees it like that, but the church prefers to dwell on its internal divisions!) – whether we personally or denominationally are squeaky clean or guilty as charged, we need to see that the church (even part of it) has been in error. Admit it, do whatever we can to correct the error (even if it is simply to offer an apology) and move on. Honesty and transparency is what the world wants, but far too often doesn’t find, in the church.

SO, what about the debate about homosexual marriage (or “same sex” marriage as it is wont to be called in the public arena). I take a positive stand – I am not "homophobic", but I certainly support marriage as being only between one man and one woman. So how can I support the status quo on marriage and not be “homophobic”? Simple really, I believe that God gave sex to be enjoyed in the context of marriage between one man and one woman and any sex outside of that context is not acceptable, whether it is homosexual or heterosexual – homosexual sex, heterosexual infidelity/adultery, prostitution etc are all outside of God's purpose for the use of this gift. It's not that I simply want to oppose something, rather I am declaring my SUPPORT for, and agreement with God's standard. I take a POSITIVE position of support for God's declared standard, rather than simply and negatively attacking one particular method of abusing of God's gift of sex. If believing in something in particular, at the exclusion of other views, is negative, then anyone who believes anything is a “negative” person because they “oppose” other ideas and that is obvious nonsense. I am not homophobic, not negative towards one sector of the community, I simply believe and positively and vocally support the standard that God has set, thus whether homosexual or heterosexual, if it's outside of God's standards it's unacceptable to me – my comments are not aimed at the homosexual community, they are absolutely universal in application. I am positive about my support of God's standard, so no-one can legitimately hang a negative "homophobic" label on me. I believe that the church at large would have more traction on this issue if we took such a positive position. Mud sticks, if we simply oppose homosexual practice we will be branded as negative bigots – that's how the world will see us (He who throws mud, loses ground!!!!). Christians who are declaring their opposition to homosexual marriage, need to turn the tables on this and present something that is far more positive and reasoned in the mind of the community at large. I positively and absolutely support God’s standard in relation to sex and therefore cannot support an opposing view.

I believe that we should take a similar stand on issues such as abortion. I say that I am not “opposed” to abortion as such, I am simply VERY positive about supporting life. Whether abortion, murder or whatever, it's not acceptable to me, as I support life and thus cannot condone anyone in any circumstance terminating someone else's life. The 2015 execution of the 2 members of the “Bali 9” serves as an illustration. Imagine if the church had publicly held such a view on life PRIOR to the issue of the Bali 9 – we would have been able to stand in opposition to capital punishment and the community in general would have agreed with us, however we would have, from that position of public support, been able to demonstrate the similarity between the termination of the life of the two guilty Bali 9 members and the termination of the life of innocent unborn children – if people supported the Bali 2 in this context, they would have found it difficult to then condone the taking of the life of the unborn. I believe that we forfeited an opportunity to engender support for life in the approach that the church at large took on this issue – again a negative position ("let's oppose the executions") rather than a positive position ("let's support life")!

I submit that Christians CAN take a positive stand and MUST do so if we are not to be seen as negative and an increasingly irrelevant voice in the community. We simply positively declare God's standards – after all, that's what the church is about....we are ambassadors for The Kingdom, we represent our King and express, not our own opinions (for they're worth no more than anyone else's) but we express the opinion of the Kingdom / government that appointed us as it's spokesmen (or "spokespeople" for the politically correct)!

Having said all of that, I need to leave no doubt that I positively and absolutely agree that marriage MUST be ONLY between one man and one woman... otherwise it's not marriage.

Perhaps we need to be making it clear that any government that legislates same sex “marriage", is actually not legalizing marriage between two people of the same sex, they are in fact recognising a different form of relationship and calling it "marriage"...... they are redefining the word the word "marriage" by including in its meaning something that has, historically, not been a part of its definition.

No legislation can make true marriage anything other than what it has historically been – a relationship between one man and one woman, all that the legislation can do is re-define a word – give it a new meaning – by applying it to a relationship that a government has decided to recognise – i.e. a relationship between two people of the same sex. Whatever you may call this new relationship, it can never be marriage as historically defined.

If a government legislatively defines same sex relationships as "marriage" (i.e. they apply a new definition to the word), perhaps the church needs to find a new word that carries on the historical definition associated with the word "marriage". If the government takes one word and redefines it, then let the church respond by creating a word that we can use to describe the Biblical and historical definition of a relationship between one man and one woman. The meaning rather than the word itself is what's important here. The church can simply sidestep the legislation by creating a new word to carry the historical and Biblical meaning. We then apply this word to that which we have historically called “marriage” and continue to give recognition only to this form of relationship.

I do realize that this can become a complex issue within a legal context, but it is not something from which we should recoil with fear and doubt. However, we keep on the front foot, continue to only recognise relationships that comply with the historical definition of “marriage” as existing only between one man and one woman and continue to positively declare God's standard as the standard by which we will live, regardless of any legislation that simply wants to re-write a dictionary!

The world is used to the church making "ex cathedra" declarations that are often devoid of logic or reason. We live in an age where such declarations create a chasm between the church and the broader community – we need to stop and re-assess the way that we approach some of these social issues. I believe that true Christian faith is a most reasoned faith or belief system. And so it should be, after all God has created a very precise and reasoned universe and it should follow that pursuing such a God will never be unreasonable. Even God Himself calls us to reason on occasions (Isa 1:18), so it is not inappropriate to expect the church to respond with less emotive, reactive comment and more reason in our approach to the social issues that we face. Of course God can intervene and draw people to Himself through "unreasonable" events that we call "signs and wonders" or “miracles”, but outside of this context, in our general contact with the community, I submit that the church should consider its approach and become as wise as serpents whilst remaining as harmless as doves!