“Proposition 8 doesn’t promote or support hate,” said Rebecca Whitman, a Stockton mother of five. “We’re putting out the word of God.”

Here we go again!  I am a Minster from Austin, Texas taking a sabbatical in the San Francisco area.  Looks like I brought one thing with me against my will.  Another Gay Marriage, culture war, constitutional amendment vote.  I  suffered one in in my home state in 2005.  My freedom lovin’ fellow Texans “protected traditional marriage” by 76%.  Austin, known as the Berkeley of Texas is located in Travis county; the only one in the entire state to vote down this lunacy. 

Proposition 8 reads:  ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY.  INITIATIVE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Changes California Constitution to eliminate right of same-sex couples to marry. Provides that only a marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

As is the case nationwide “much of the financial and volunteer support for Prop. 8 has come from churches across the state. Nearly two-thirds of likely voters who identify themselves as evangelical Christians back the same-sex marriage ban.”

I was raised as a fundamentalist Christian so I know the Bible pretty darn well.  I became a religious liberal by taking the teachings of Jesus seriously.  In fact, I am disciple of Jesus now more than ever.  Previously, my eternal intent was to get salvation out of Jesus.  These days I see him as a fellow spiritual brother and pioneer dedicated “to proclaim release to the captives…to let the oppressed go free.”

The frame for those in favor of Prop. 8 is “Restoring Marriage and Protecting California Children.”  Their    website provides a section, “resources for churches.” Here is an excerpt from a downloadable pdf church bulletin. 

“God himself is the author of marriage.  Its meaning is written in the very nature of man and woman as they come from the hand of the creator.”

Let’s take an honest look at what “God himself” has revealed about marriage and protecting children from the Holy Bible.  In Genesis chapter 2 God makes woman by taking a rib from Adam.  

“And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

This appears to be proof positive for “traditional marriage”  but we must candidly take note that woman was an afterthought created not as an independent being but she was “taken out of man.”  The “leaving and cleaving” part is good stuff and is stock and trade for marriage ceremonies.

How does God’s word continue in the practice of marriage and child rearing?

Abraham is celebrated as the father of 3 faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.  St. Paul exclaims that for people of faith Abraham is “the father of us all.”

Abraham married Sarah.  She was considered a holy woman because she was submissive and obedient to Abraham calling him “lord.” 

They were having trouble getting pregnant.  With Sarah’s encouragement Abraham has a son named Ishmael by her female slave Hagar.  Years later Sarah bore Abraham a son, Isaac.  Sarah had been jealous of Hagar for years.  She now demanded, “get rid of that slave woman and her son.”  This “greatly distressed” Abraham but he complied banishing them to “wander in the desert.”

In the next scene, God commands Abraham to offer Isaac as a “burnt offering.”  He built a wood altar and “took the knife to slay his son.”  Like a Hollywood thriller just in the nick of time “a ram was caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.”

After Sarah’s death Abraham remarried and had six sons.  He also had children by “concubines.”  “Before he died he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.”

King David was honored as “a man after God’s own heart.”

He had 8 wives, and a multitude of concubines who bore him 11 sons.

David moved a man to the front lines of a war because he wanted his wife Bathsheba for himself.  When Uriah was killed David did just that.  God punished David for this abuse of power, by killing the child born of the affair.  

One of David’s favorite sons, Absolom killed his brother who had raped his sister.  He then waged a bloody political revolt against his dad King David.  The rebellious Absalom had sex in public with ten of his father’s concubines.  Eventually Absolom was killed in a battle against his father.

David and Bathsheba’s son Solomon eventually inherited the Kingship from David.  He became the richest King of his time and “the wisest person ever on earth.”

He had “seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines.”

Solomon got on the wrong side of God, not because of the polygamy but because “his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God.”

In the Torah women and children were considered inferior to men and could be treated like property.

“If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free…If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as menservants do.”

When it came to war,  “As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves.” 

In marriage a man could divorce his wife basically if he got sick of looking at her.  If she “displeased” him he could send her from his house.

Jesus challenged this teaching saying that a husband at least had to have a moral reason for divorce. 

“I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

St. Paul expressly taught against polygamy but insisted that a woman is to be in subjection to her husband. 

“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.”

What “Marriage and Protection of California Children” are we seeking to restore?  What is billed as “traditional marriage” may be laudable but it cannot be found in the Bible.  I doubt even the most ardent Bible believers would advocate emulating the stalwarts of faith chronicled here in regards to marriage, women and children.

The gospel truth is that marriage, family, and child rearing are evolving human institutions.  Even in my half century of life they have changed palpably.  Why cannot we continue to evolve marriage to include Gay couples?

Jesus established the principle of evolving belief and ethical conduct in the centerpiece of his teaching, the Sermon On The Mount.  He employs the marvelous rhetorical phrase.

“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times…But I say to you.”

Here is one of these teachings. 

“You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven…For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?” 

On Proposition 8, if Jesus were here today, what would he say to you?