Processing the RFMA
Last Tuesday President Biden signed into law the Respect for Marriage Act. Many are hailing this as a victory propping up rights which they feel could have possibly come under attack if some case were to be brought before the Supreme Court against Obergfell. Others say that it struck a necessary compromise by providing religious liberty protections. And still others that it was unnecessary or harmful.
I do not pretend that I understand the full political ins and outs and future implications of this Act. It does seem to enshrine into law what was already being practiced to a degree with a little more force to make sure everyone’s playing on the same field. So it doesn’t seem as if there’s going to be an overnight cultural shift just due to the passing of this specific law.
What I am a little more aware of is that this country has been caught up in the waves of the sexual revolution and we are still witnessing the eruption of that awakening. The portion of the population identifying as LGBTQ+ is growing year over year and the worldviews that permit such have been needling their way into our institutions, conversations, and cultural psyche. So much so that for many, even in the Christian faith, homosexual unions are common sense and opposition to them is nonsensical.
But that is not where an honest reading of the Bible leads. Homosexuality is a sin among many others. It is not unique and those who struggle with it deserve our love, but it is heinous and damaging just like any other sin. And more and more people are either attracted to it, accepting it, or applauding it.
This law does not seem to really change any of that. It is the final nail in the coffin of DOMA but it does not remove any major barriers. But that is not what worries me.
I am not worried that this law will damn people, I am worried about how many hell-bound stories this law will be a part of. I do not grieve that my “rights” are being trampled on or infringed upon. I grieve that many will feel freedom to perpetuate sin. This law does not make people sin, it celebrates sin, approves of it, and seeks to pave an easier path to it.
To be clear, I am not immediately worried about some abstract culture war. I am worried about my neighbors calling good evil and evil good. I am worried for the hearts of those swayed by convincing arguments that it is okay to let people be who they are even if that means continuing in sin. It has been a reminder of our fallen world and the tenaciousness of evil in human hearts.
People, though, say that Christians or those who oppose RFMA are trying to force their morality on those who do not believe the same as they do. And I will completely own up to that. But those who say such things accusatively should note that behind every law is a worldview and morality. The government gets to decide what it deems “the good life” and this is no amoral thing. The burden of government is to uphold the good and punish the bad and you cannot do that without having some moral compass.
I have no naïve idea that the United States is a Christian nation. Neither do I know if I would even want it to be a Christian nation with the obfuscation of what that even means. But what I do know is that one day, every nation will be. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Not a prophet. Not a Middle-Eastern wise man. Not your friend or buddy. Lord. And when that day comes, we will give an account of our lives. We will give an account of how we loved our neighbor. How we removed stumbling blocks from paths. How we spoke truth to others. How we sought to snatch souls from separation from God. Most of all how we loved God himself.
My hope is not that we may overturn such acts, or that all sin would be regulated out of our lives. Afterall, laws are not saviors. Even the Law was not meant to save us but to open our eyes to our own sin. So in the end, this act does not have the final word. And that is hopeful. This act and the cultural waves of this day are but a passing thing. In the meantime, my hope is in Christ and his working in the hearts of everyday people to bring his kingdom come.