Should Christians Attend Gay Weddings.
“Can I attend a gay wedding?” comes up with increasing frequency. In short, the answer is no. Here are the primary reasons based on a summary of the articles listed below:
Marriage is rooted in the complementarity of the sexes. Any marriage that denies that challenges the Christian understanding of creation. It consists of a concession on bodily sex that undermines any attempt to hold fast to the importance of the biological distinction between men and women. Paul states in Romans 1:26 that these homosexual relationships are “contrary to nature.” They are literal contradictions.
Attending a gay wedding or celebration involves remaining silent when one should speak. It consists of approving a ceremony that makes a mockery of a central New Testament teaching and Christ himself. Attendance is an applied approval before all in attendance of the sin taking place and demonstrates a double-mindedness we do not allow toward other sins.
The union of bride and groom symbolizes Christ and the Church. As Paul teaches in Ephesians 5, God instituted marriage to teach the world about Christ’s love for his bride, the church. A gay wedding ceremony is an idolatrous dedication. It takes a sinful action and symbolically consecrates it in the name of lust.
True Compassion and LGBTQ Weddings by Ligonier Ministries (article) - A faithful Christian cannot attend and sanction a celebration that makes a mockery of an institution ordained by God for one man and one woman. We must do so gently but firmly in communicating our rejection of a wedding invitation. The choice before us is not compassion versus condemnation. The choice is compassion versus compromise. Amid a constantly changing culture, true love and compassion for our friends and loved ones means standing firm on the unchanging truth of God’s Word. Compromise in the name of compassion is precisely the way liberalism has often crept into the church throughout history.
Marriage Is About the Gospel: Clarifying the Boundaries of Christian Orthodoxy by Matt Kennedy (article) - God intends that the one-flesh union between husband and wife refer to, bear witness to, and make visible the union between Jesus and His church. Since marriage refers to Christ and His church and the sexual bond consummates the union, sexual relationships outside of biblical marriage obscure, misrepresent, and even curse Christ and His bride. Therefore, to reject what the Bible reveals about sex and marriage is to deny the gospel.
Can Christians Attend Gay Weddings by Carl Trueman (article) - We fool ourselves if we think the bride and groom as individuals are the most significant part of any wedding. They are not. What their union symbolizes concerning Christ and the Church is far more critical. In short, attending a gay wedding involves remaining silent when one should speak.
Can Christians Attend a Gay Marriage Ceremony? No. Literally, They Cannot by Colin Smothers (article) - Marriage ceremonies, Christian or not, are irreducibly about reality and nature. Even if they ignore the supernatural — as some have wondered if their attendance makes a difference if the wedding ceremony is explicitly Christian — they cannot overlook the natural. And nature could not be more explicit about the non-reality of so-called gay marriage.
The Church and Civil Marriage by First Things (article) - proponents of gay rights are redefining marriage at an even more fundamental level. What’s to be done? As a post-biblical vision of sex, gender, and marriage gains the upper hand in our society, should our religious institutions get out of marriage? Should priests, pastors, and rabbis renounce their roles as deputies of state authority in marriage?
Is Attending a Gay Wedding a Matter of Conscience? by Pulpit and Pen (article) - If God finds something detestable, abominable, and wicked, how can we expect our attendance or “moral support” at such a function to be taken as anything but affirming approval (even despite saying otherwise)? Furthermore, since when did Christians start providing “moral support” for sin in the first place?
Matching Actions and Words: We cannot attend pagan rituals in the name of love by Bethel McGrew (article) - Christians are obligated to treat every person with dignity, but this does not mean treating all their choices with dignity. To urge Christians to attend gay weddings so that gay family and friends will feel loved implies an inherent tension between loving our neighbor and refusing to dignify his sin.
Pastor Alistair Begg Says Christians Should Attend Gay Weddings So They Don’t Come Across as ‘Judgmental, Critical’ And Doubles Down On Attending LGBTQ Wedding, Says He’s Not Budging by Protista (article) - Pastor Alistair Begg has doubled down on his insistence that Christians can attend LGBTQ weddings and even buy the couple a gift, according to the leadership of American Family Radio, resulting in Begg’ show being terminated from the lineup.
American Family Radio Drops Alistair Begg Following Controversial Remarks About LGBTQ+ Weddings by ChurchLeaders (article) - AFN “strongly disagrees” with Begg’s advice to attend a wedding ceremony that involves a trans person. Begg shared that he encouraged a grandmother to attend her grandson’s transgender wedding. After confirming that the woman’s grandson understood that she doesn’t affirm his choice to marry a trans person, Begg said, “Well then, okay. As long as he knows that, I suggest you attend the ceremony. And I suggest that you buy them a gift.”
Can a Christian Attend a Gay Wedding? Alistair Begg and the Bad Pharisee by Anne Kennedy (article) - It has been said hundreds and thousands of times by Christians down the ages that the reason marriage is between a man and a woman is because of the tableau it creates the union between Christ and the church. Believers aren’t free to alter it, to expand it to same-sex couples or more than two people, nor to narrow it to some absurdity like “self-marriage” because it doesn’t belong to us. We may participate in the mystery, but we are not its origin or measure. It is God’s gift of self-revelation that ordinary people unwittingly display.
Here’s Why Alistair Begg Should Repent by Robert Gagnon (article) - This is not “a fine line.” Nor is it a “Romans 14 issue,” as some have claimed, where Christians can agree to disagree. In Romans 14, Paul tells the “weak” with false scruples not to judge the “strong” for exercising their freedom to eat meat and treat all days alike and the “strong” not to look down on the weak whose conscience binds them. The principle enunciated by Paul applies only to matters of spiritual indifference that do not involve committing actual sin or participating in a ritualized celebration of sin, which Paul would never countenance.
Major Christian Publication Argues Christians Should Attend Gay Weddings+ Gay Baby-Showers by Protesta (article) - Christian publication Crosswalk has waded into the recent backlash to Alistar Begg recommending some people attend same-sex weddings, releasing several articles on why Christians should attend gay weddings and should probably attend and participate in baby showers for same-sex couples. Crosswalk is a Christian website owned and operated by Salem Web Network, a division of Salem Media Group, which owns a large number of prominent Christian and conservative publications, including CCM Magazine, BibleStudyTools.com, Christianity.com Crosswalk, Godtube, Hot Air, Jesus.org, Lightsource.com, Townhall, Christian Headlines, PJ Media, and many other apps, podcasts, and radio stations.
Should Christians Use Preferred Pronouns (webpage) - Sin does not lose its evil because of our good intentions or the personal sensibilities of others. Changing cultural forces can bring sin into a fresh light. But a renewed focus is no excuse for sin and no dodge for repentance, not for a real Christian. We are called to, of course, be salt and light. But we won’t get there by being a ‘soft presence. to refer to a person by a pronoun inconsistent with biology would be to approve of that person identifying contrary to God’s design.
Gay Christians, Side B Gay Theology, Revoice, Living Out, Exiles in Babylon (webpage) - Unbiblical sexual theology on homosexuality is rampant in the Christian church today. The jargon used to describe this unbiblical teaching is: Side B, Revoice, Gay or Same-sex attracted Christian, Living Out, Revoice, The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender, Reformation Project. When you hear or read these terms, know the author, teacher, or organization is teaching a false view of biblical sexuality.
Can a Christian Attend a Homosexual/Trans Wedding?
Should you attend a gay wedding? Alisa Childers answers biblically.
Pastor Alistair Begg Says Christians Should Attend Gay Weddings So They Don’t Come Across as ‘Judgmental, Critical’
In today’s episode, Becket talks with biblical scholar Robert Gagnon about whether or not Christians should attend a gay wedding. The way he answers this vital question is surprising and eye-opening. I think this episode will greatly help those struggling with this question.
A discussion on whether or not a Christian should attend a gay wedding and the implications of attending or not attending.
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