Marriage, Gay Marriage, and Divorce. (and C.S. Lewis)

I love C.S. Lewis.

I am amazed not only by his fictional writings, but his writings on Christianity and theology as well.  Lately, I have been jumping between his "Space Trilogy" and "Mere Christianity".  Both wonderful and challenging in their own ways.  I really think he hits so many things square on the head. 

Today I was reading Mere Christianity and I came upon a section that I wanted to focus on, that I believe sensible when it comes to how we should approach the idea of marriage.  Maybe I share this because it's the way I have felt about the issue, and reading it just justified my reasoning more.

Mere Christianity: (p. 102 in my version. Chapter called "Christian Marriage":

"Before leaving the question of divorce, I should like to distinguish two things which are very often confused. The Christian conception of marriage is one: the other is the quite different question — how far Christians, if they are voters or Members of Parliament, ought to try to force their views of marriage on the rest of the community by embodying them in the divorce laws. A great many people seem to think that if you are a Christian yourself you should try to make divorce difficult for every one. I do not think that. At least I know I should be very angry if the Mahommedans tried to prevent the rest of us from drinking wine. My own view is that the Churches should frankly recognise that the majority of the British people are not Christians and, therefore, cannot be expected to live Christian lives. There ought to be two distinct kinds of marriage: one governed by the State with rules enforced on all citizens, the other governed by the Church with rules enforced by her on her own members. The distinction ought to be quite sharp, so that a man knows which couples are married in a Christian sense and which are not."

I, for one, think this is fair.  The issue of gay marriage is a pretty big issue currently, and I think we could easily, as Christians, see it the same way Lewis states above.   I also think it would release many for the idea that Christianity is too judgmental. 


And really...I think too many forget this one thing:

Matthew 7

 ¹ “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ² For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Agree?