Have you heard it said: “don’t be on the wrong side of history, again”? It’s an emotional plea to your inner pride. How about this reply: “I’d rather be on the wrong side of history, than on the wrong side on the last day of history”.

About 60 years ago another civil rights issue dominated the political sphere: interracial marriage. Christians were shown to be bigoted and racist who opposed it. They spewed Bible verses from the Old Testament that clearly showed that God did not want his chosen people mixing with other cultures.

So, are we who oppose gay marriage today following in their folly? No. Why? Cause they were wrong.

I wonder if the proponents for this fight against interracial marriage understood the cultural setting for the verses they were using? Were they aware that even IF this was speaking about interracial marriage it would no longer apply under Jesus’s new covenant? In the Old Testament, God’s people (the nation of Israel) was to be set apart. Now we are working to blur the distinction. We are to love our enemies now… a way different command than the Old Testament times.

Basically those Christians who were interpreting those scriptures towards interracial marriage were incorporating man’s ideas about evolution into the matter. According to evolution different races of men would have arisen at different times in different parts of the world, and so it is easy to make an argument that one might be better than the other (Hitler did it on this reasoning). According to the Bible these different “races” developed after the Tower of Babel as different language groups spread out across the world and adapted to their environment. These Christians were ignoring Babel because they personally preferred the evolutionary explanation which allowed racism.

Today’s civil rights issue is not the same as 60 years ago. Many comparisons can be drawn due to it being of the same nature (marriage) but this time Christians are justified in using scripture for their position. 60 years ago they were abusing scripture by picking and choosing while ignoring other parts. I’ve always said I have no problem with a particular interpretation of scripture as long as it does not contradict another part. 60 years ago their interpretation contradicted other parts of scripture. Today’s fight does not.