One flesh

"... and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh." Mark 10.8

Obh, obh, here we go again... the Church of Scotland General Assembly taking another step closer to embracing gay "marriage", prioritising social relevance over faithfulness to scripture and unwittingly driving an ever greater wedge between ourselves and neighbouring denominations. It is not primarily about ethics or tradition and certainly not about homophobia, for which the church has already and necessarily apologised. So why does this issue matter?

Maintaining traditional teaching on marriage matters because - from Genesis, through the Gospels and into the letters of Paul - the one-flesh union of a man and a woman in marriage has been elevated as a reflection of the love of God for his bride, the Church. Mess with that and you have undermined God's own chosen image of what his relationship with us is supposed to look like.

The only reasons to change a doctrine of faith is a fresh revelation of scripture or a theological epiphany - neither of which has occurred in this case, which is entirely driven by social change and our Church's desire to conform. One may take comfort in the legal concessions which claim to guarantee the rights of ministers and congregations to opt out and hold fast to traditional teachings - but for how much longer? Further departures and defections will almost certainly follow. May God have mercy...