What is your answer to Ken Silva?

by Grant
(near L.A.)

Brother Ken Silva over at Apprising Ministries performs an important and much needed service by pointing out false teaching and false teachers who lead the body of Christ astray.

Unfortunately Brother Ken himself sometimes gets it wrong (he's only human), making unkind claims about gays and gay marriage which are not supported by scripture rightly divided.

Brother Ken bases his exclusive heterosexual beliefs on his misinterpretation of Genesis 1:27 and 2:24. Those verses describe the first couple God created, a man and a woman.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." -Genesis 1:27, 2:24

Brother Ken infers (because the passage does not say it) that since God originally created an opposite sex married couple, God intended to forbid, outlaw, prohibit all same sex marriages.

In Brother Ken's universe, there is no room for diversity, no possibility that the God who makes every snowflake and every fingerprint different could bless a marriage relationship different than the Adam and Eve model. Therefore Brother Ken makes the following statements.

Ken Silva writes:
"I argue that God most certainly is encouraging us to believe that the only marriage truly acceptable to Him is the one man with one woman marriage model ala Adam and Eve..."

"And as far as monogamy being the standard God has set, it’s pretty hard to miss when one reads the Scripture: The two become one flesh."

"Therefore, as Jesus was addressing the issue of divorce, He also ends up reinforcing the point that the marriage covenant God has decreed happens to be between a male and a female; thereby excluding same sex marriage."

Brother Ken has clearly stated his absolute complementarian argument, that God will only truly bless a one man with one woman marriage.

Here is the question
we must answer:

"Does the wording of Matthew 19:5
compel all Christians to agree
with Brother Ken's interpretation?"

"And (Jesus) said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?" -Matthew 19:5

Our answer is an unequivocal No! Historical facts and human reality compel us to disagree with Brother Ken.

Fact #1 - Its not absolute that marriage can only be one man with one woman because God also affirmed polygamy, 2 Samuel 12:7-8, which is one man with more than one woman.

Fact #2 - Its not absolute that every married couple must fit into the Adam and Eve model because Jesus clearly told us that some men (known historically as eunuchs) cannot receive His teaching about Adam and Eve marriage, Matthew 19:11-12.

Jesus qualifies the exception to Adam and Eve marriage by citing three kinds of eunuchs to whom His marriage teaching does not apply.

Jesus differentiates between born eunuchs who did not make a choice to be eunuchs and metaphysical eunuchs who did make a choice to be eunuchs.

Born eunuchs were anatomically whole, having never been castrated, having never chosen to be eunuchs since they were born that way from their mother's womb.

According to Jewish teaching, born eunuchs were eunuchs by the hand of heaven because God intended them to be born that way. And according to Jesus born eunuchs were separate from and different than metaphysical eunuchs, "eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven."

At the very least Jesus' carefully worded statement implies that Jesus, God in the flesh, did not require born eunuchs to be celibate and never marry.

Based on Jesus' careful differentiation between born eunuchs (involuntary eunuchs) and eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven (voluntary eunuchs) the implication is that born eunuchs, while not capable of opposite sex marriage and not required to participate in opposite marriage, may still form a committed same sex marriage partnership.

Do any heterosexual
conservative Christians
disagree with Brother Ken?

Professor Tom Schmidt, a heterosexual conservative evangelical Christian weighs in about the meaning of Genesis 2:24.

"So while it is true that the Genesis creation story does not provide explicit commands about sexuality, it provides a basis for biblical commands and for subsequent reflection on the part of those who wish to construct a sexual ethic to meet changing situations.

Applying this principle to our subject, it is fair to say that the human author of Genesis was not consciously prohibiting same-sex relations when he wrote the creation account, but it is appropriate for us to explore the relevance of biblical commands about marriage and to evaluate modern homosexuality in light of Genesis."

- From his book, Straight and Narrow?, Thomas E. Schmidt, Leicester: IVP, 1995, 240 pp.

If we believe Jesus, that "all men cannot receive this saying" (Matthew 19:11) about opposite sex marriages like the Adam and Eve marriage, then we must disbelieve Brother Ken when he insists Jesus is against any marriage different than the Adam and Eve model.

Brother Ken struggles to convince us "God will only truly bless a one man with one woman marriage."

God provides answers
in the Bible

*** Did God truly bless any marriages which were different than the Adam and Eve model?

Yes, polygamous marriages were different than the Adam and Eve model yet God truly blessed polygamous marriages.

*** Did God truly bless any marriages which Christians today would find abhorrent?

Yes, God did truly bless alternative marriages including:

1. Concubinage, Abram, Sarai and Hagar, Genesis 16:3-4
   
   
2. Polygamy, Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah, Genesis 29:15ff, 30:3ff
   
   
3. Levirate marriage, Boaz and Ruth, Deuteronomy 25:5-10, Ruth 2:20, 4:13
   
   
4. Incestuous marriage, Abram and Sarai, Genesis 20:2, 12, Amram and Jochebed - Exodus 6:20, Leviticus 18:12, 20:19

It IS a cultural thing

Those marriages reflect cultural values of ancient times just as same sex marriages reflect cultural values of our time.

Same sex marriage - two men or two women settling down together in committed legal relationship, seems tame compared to incestuous marriage, polygamous marriage, marrying your brother in law or marrying a close relative.

Yet God blessed those marriages in ancient times. Is it so difficult to imagine that God will bless two Christians in committed, God-honoring same sex partnership?

God isn't interested in creating a Borg collective of assimilated Christians who cannot think for themselves, who cannot read and interpret scripture as they're led by the Holy Spirit.

We need to be as open to the leading of the Holy Spirit as was the apostle Peter in Acts 10. As a good Jew, Peter was determined not to have fellowship with or affirm Gentiles whom Jews viewed as outside God's covenant and strangers from God's blessing. He even quoted scripture to prove he must separate from common and unclean Gentiles, Acts 10:14, Leviticus 11:2-47.

Brother Ken is in many ways standing in Peter's shoes. He believes he can cite scripture which condemns gay marriage. He is determined not to have fellowship with or affirm those "common and unclean" homosexuals.

Will Brother Ken heed the gentle entreaties of the Holy Spirit and affirm the truth that God Himself blesses committed faithful non-cultic same sex relationships?

Peter eventually got it right, see Acts 11. Please pray that Ken Silva, our brother in Christ, will eventually get it right.