Don't miss the Bible to validate your argument against Marriage Equality

The Bible sets out very clearly for Christians an ethical guide to how we care and support each other. God does not condemn, He asks that we love, support and nurture and that we ensure there is justice for all. Robyn J Whitaker, Trinity College, A leading scholar on the Bible, explores this in a great article on what the Bible actually says about Same Sex Marriage, published today in The Conversation.The argument is well put and clearly sets out what the often cited verses were actually about and not skewed to someones preferred interpretation which is too simplistic and also can and does cause harm.

The Bible, written over centuries, has provided a moral code that we all live under. Each book read in the context of when it was written makes reasonable sense, but as societies grow and attitudes change, so does the Moral; code of this collection of writings.

What I do find extraordinary though is that only six verses are cited as Gods indication that "homosexuality was wrong", just six verses and even these are not talking about what think or are told they are.

Does God say that Same Sex Marriage is wrong? No is the short answer, nothing in the Old or New Testament. He says nothing on it. Not because it didn't exist, because there appears to have been many variations on who you could partner with in the time these texts were written, but it still says nothing that can be interpreted as expressing his displeasure on this issue. So stop it, stop misquoting, stop using this text as the reason to say no.

Why is that these verses are so miss-quoted and used to cause so much harm? Why expend so much energy on this and you still miss the point. Why not use that energy to work on the more pressing issues that the Bible constantly ask us and remind us to address. Such as money - who has it and who doesn't, or how we care for each other e.g. the Story of the Good Samaritan is a morality story we should be applying to how we treat asylum seekers, new settlers and those who don't look the same, follow a different religion and yet where is the Leaders of Faith on this, and why haven't they rallied their congregations to march against the Government over this!

You need to stop using the Bible as the backstop for your prejudice and unhelpful view on how others live their life. Your interpretation of this text is filtered by preachers who have other agendas, and this and the intolerance that they infest their congregations with causes physical and mental harm and incites violence, prejudice, and dsicrimination. These are the very things that this Book cites repeatedly to avoid.

But back to what Ms Whittaker has to say towards the end of her article.

"We need to put all this in perspective. These are six verses out of more than 31,000 verses or roughly 0.016% of the text. In contrast, the Bible contains more than 2,000 verses about money (and related issues of greed, wealth, loans, and property), and more than 100 specifically on one’s obligation to care for widows.

In other words, monitoring and proscribing human (homo)sexual activity is not a particular concern of the Bible when compared to the overarching demand for justice, economic equality, and the fair treatment of foreigners and strangers. For certain Christian groups to make this the decisive Christian issue is simply a misreading of biblical values.
Serious Christians cannot ignore the Bible. They can, however, make sure that they interpret it with all the tools available to them, that they examine their own biases, and stop over-simplifying the issues.

The Bible offers a wide variety of marriage arrangements, many of which we no longer condone. It never condemns same-sex marriage, partly because it simply does not address the issue directly.

It does, however, give us an ethic to guide how we treat one another: an ethic based upon God’s generous love and a profound concern for justice." R. Whitaker, Bromby Lecturer in Biblical Studies, Trinity College, Published in the Conversation 23rd August 2017.

Ryan Anderson in his article on why a Vote Yes is important points out that Same-sex marriage has already been legalised in 23 countries around the world, inhabited by more than 760 million people. In those countries there is growing evidence of the LGBTI communities having higher self esteem reduced mental health issues, overall health improvements, more social cohesion. In the end we all benefit.

Robyn J. Whitaker is

a biblical scholar and historian with a particular interest in the contemporary use (and misuse) of the bible in debates about sexuality, gender and ethics. She has rewritten extensively on this issue. She lives in Melbourne and is a faculty member at Trinity College, University of Melbourne.

Ryan Anderson PhD Candidate, School of Arts and Social Sciences, James Cook University