Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is committed to following “love is love” to its logical conclusion:
Three men married each other in a traditional Buddhist ceremony on Valentine’s Day in Uthai Thani Province, Thailand. Joke, Bell and Art have become famous sharing their beautiful story of love and commitment. While critics have said their relationship makes a mockery of marriage, I can only say that the Thai throuple has strengthened my belief in the magical and mysterious ways of love. With the dawn of legal same-sex marriage, we can expect more and more proponents and defenders of a new normative couple-based way of viewing relationships and marriage. I would argue that these folks are just as wrong as those fighting same-sex marriage. If love is love for same-sex couples, then surely love is love for the throuples. Person after person who has shared the story of Joke, Bell and Art have called them, “The First Throuple.” This is the only part of this story I couldn’t disagree with more. We all know that the first throuple was God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
I posted about the argument “love is love” last week, explaining that there’s no principled way to stop the argument at same-sex marriage. It will move on to approve other arrangements, with the same punishment of “Bigot!” for anyone who disapproves.
Here now is a pastor who is warning against “defenders of a new normative couple-based way of viewing relationships and marriage,” calling the Trinity “the first throuple.”
And lest you think this kind of reasoning couldn’t possibly reach your church, consider this conversation Hood had with another pastor, in which Hood refers to God as “the Holy Polyamorous Trinity.” The pastor he’s interacting with is Danny Cortez, who recently announced his approval of homosexuality and same-sex marriage (the church voted to keep him as pastor). Cortez’s church wasn’t “out there” theologically. In fact, it’s located near Biola, and I have a friend who attended there as a Talbot student. No doubt there were other students there, as well.
The number of things you’ll be called a “bigot” for not endorsing will only increase, and possibly even in your own church. Are you ready?
One of the most difficult lessons I’ve had to learn in my life is that sometimes the best thing you can do for someone you love is not the “nice” thing. Sometimes love is truly painful because it requires truth.* Sometimes truth, even spoken in love, causes that person you love so much to be angry with you. Maybe even hate you. Can you bear up under this? Your love needs to be strong enough for you to be willing to sacrifice your friendships and your reputation—to carry that pain of rejection and loss for the sake of those very friends who will hate you. How much easier it is to be “nice” and endorse things in loved ones that will destroy them! But that’s not love, that’s self-protection.
Friends, be ready to sacrifice yourself out of love for others. The kind of love you need only comes from God. Ask Him for it.
We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)
*This doesn’t mean you must constantly confront everyone with their sin, only that there’s a time and place for affirming and arguing for the truth God revealed to us. Greg discusses this here, starting at the 2:31:00 mark.