Same Love? What Is "Love"?

We are called by God to display His glory in our attitudes and our actions.   That applies to how we live out our faith in the context of our relationships, including our marriages.  Here is what Ephesians 5 has to say:
31"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."32This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.33Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Paul uses the Scripture passage from Genesis 2 to restate the Biblical definition of marriage.  Jesus also spoke from that passage.  The letter to the Ephesians challenged men and women to regard their marriages as a representation of the relationship between Christ and the church.   If we possess that high view of this God-ordained relationship and put it into practice, how would that transform our homes?    Could it even transform our culture?   God desires for each of us to model His principles and to order our lives based on His absolute truth, so that His character may displayed and people will be drawn to Jesus.

In Titus 2, we see the admonition regarding how we should live in a world that does not embrace our faith or our values:
11For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,12teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,13looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,14who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

If you had a chance to consume broadcast television last night, you may have had quite a shock.  On one network, you had a wedding that was born out of the reality show, "The Bachelor", featuring a couple that had decided to wait until marriage.  You had a wedding that incorporated some traditional elements, including the heartfelt exchanging of vows and the pronouncement by a pastor, who was the groom's father.   Even though I can't completely endorse the whole process leading up to the televised event, I do think that Sean Lowe and Catherine Giudici, as well as ABC, deserve some credit for highlighting their decision to wait.

But, if you happened to tune in to CBS for the Grammy Awards show, you may have seen a different sort of ceremony.  According to Fox News, 

This year, the Grammy Awards weren't just about the music, they were also about making a political statement in the same-sex marriage debate currently dividing much of America.

In a turn of events heavily hyped in the hours leading up to the CBS telecast, 34 couples - both gay and straight and of different ages and ethnicities - exchanged rings and said "I do," as officiated on stage by Queen Latifah. The actress/rapper/talk show host was recently deputized by Los Angeles County to legally conduct wedding ceremonies and will sign the marriage certificates for each couple.

The event took place on a stage set to resemble a giant chapel with stained-glass windows during a performance by hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, in which they sang their hit tune "Same Love," a song that was universally embraced by the LGBT community last year.

I have read the lyrics to "Same Love", and I'm offended not only by the suggestion that gay love is equated to the love between husband and wife, or generally couples of the opposite sex, the mockery of religion that is contained within it, even including the quotation of "love is patient, love is kind" from 1st Corinthians 13 at the end.   Fox News goes on to quote some of the lyrics that were belted out by the group on stage, ""The right-wing conservatives think it's a decision/And you can be cured with some treatment and religion/Man-made rewiring of a predisposition," Macklemore rapped. "Playing God, aw nah here we go/America the brave still fears what we don't know/And God loves all his children, is somehow forgotten/But we paraphrase a book written thirty-five hundred years ago."

Madonna later joined the matrimonial moment in an all-white suit, singing a portion of her heyday hit "Open Your Heart."

Switch back now to Sean and Catherine.   There's an excellent piece on the CharismaNews.com website about their relationship.  Lowe is described as a proud Christian, and has even called himself a “born-again virgin.” Though he's had sex in the past, he recommitted to his faith and has taken a vow of celibacy until marriage.

“I believe what the Bible says, basically to sum it up,” he said in a conference call.

His bio on the ABC website said that Sean “wants to propose once, be married once and live a faithful family life, like his parents, who have had a loving 35-year union...He wants to be the patriarch of a family that is centered on faith, love and laughter.”

The Texas native, who is part of a non-denominational Christian church, said in the conference call that his faith community provided a lot of support to him during his time on The Bachelor.

Lowe's fiancee, Catherine Giudici, reportedly started attending a non-denominational Christian church in suburban Seattle, said she grew up learning about “different religions” and has always believed in God.

She said she was “excited to learn about Christianity and be a believer.” She added, “It's something that is important to our future and our family.”

Lowe became a Christian in sixth grade, was a member of The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and was actively involved in his church's youth group. He was also sharing his faith with fellow contestants on The Bachelorette.

“I brought my Bible and my devotional to the show,” he told Priscilla Shirer of Going Beyond Ministries. “I’d sit outside, read Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, and then spend time in the Word. Eventually, I found myself reading the book out loud, and soon enough, five or six guys would sit around and listen to it.

“Every day, I’d have guys ask me to borrow the book,” he continued. “I had awesome opportunities to share my faith, and eventually I gave the book to one of the guys because he couldn’t keep his nose out of it.”

Now, you may disagree with the premise of that reality show and some of the nuances of the televised special last night, but doesn't it provide a contrast with the distorted parade of so-called marriages that were part of the Grammy number?   And, we could certainly use more of that on television and in the media we consume.

There are plenty of takeaways for us as we consider last night's TV juxtaposition.  For one thing, as believers, we have to seek to model a Biblical view of relationships.   In our culture, things have become so confused with all this talk about gender identity and the redefinition of marriage.   And, I believe God's plan, His prescription, remains true:  boy meets girl, they strive for purity in their relationship and save themselves until marriage, they become engaged, enter into the traditional marriage relationship, and stay together, "until death do us part".  And, during our lives together, we seek together to please God and one another, with a firm sense of commitment, not willing to jump out if the going gets tough.  That's a far cry from a culture that minimizes the concept of lifelong marriage between and man and a woman and where people reject God's model and His best.


We also have to recognize that music has an opportunity to convey a message.  "Same Love" is a song from a group, Macklemore and Lewis, that won 4 Grammys last night.   The crowd was reported to be enthusiastically supporting the number they performed.   I think this should be a challenge to each of us to be responsible in our entertainment choices.   At Faith Radio, our intent is to provide not only Biblical teaching that can help us grow in the Lord and to be able to discern and live out truth, but also to play music that can create an awareness of God and an atmosphere of worship.   I am thankful for the Grammy Award-winning artists in the 5 Christian categories, including Mandisa, who took home 2 statuettes last night, who offers such positive, affirming messages as, "You're an overcomer/Stay in the fight ‘til the final round/You're not going under/‘Cause God is holding you right now/You might be down for a moment/Feeling like it's hopeless
That's when He reminds You/That you're an overcomer..."  Philippians 4 talks about thinking on messages that are consistent with Biblical truth, and music can carry in a powerful way those types of messages, as well as those that contradict Scripture or even pervert it. We have to be discerning and not allow ourselves to become desensitized to the way that God would want us to live.