Letters to Jerri: On the Bible and Same-Sex Marriage

The Rev. Dr. D. Mark Davis, Pastor of St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, California, was asked by a friend how he could justify his support of same-sex marriage from the Scripture.  Mark responded in a series of 15 essays; he has graciously granted us permission to publish the series here.You might prefer to download the full series in one document.The essays are also available separately:Letter #1 ~ "... the precise definition of 'marriage' and 'proper sexual relationships' has been a changing social reality over the years -- as opposed to a fixed religious reality"Letter #2 ~ the creation story in Genesis 2Letter #3 ~ the uses of the word "abomination"Letter #4 ~ Leviticus 18 as "one presentation among others in the Bible regarding acceptable sexual relationships"Letter #5 ~ being aware of "the assumptions that we bring when we read texts"Letter #6 ~ how Jesus addresses a question about divorce and remarriage in Mark 10:2-12Letter #7 ~ the "sin of Sodom" according to other Hebrew Bible writersLetter #8 ~ Sodom and Gomorrah in the intertestamental period and the New TestamentLetter #9 ~ the topic of Romans 1:26-27 is "idolatry and its effects"Letter #10 ~ the purpose of Romans "is to declare us all alike as sinners, in order to declare much more surely that we all alike share in the free gift of redemption through Jesus Christ"Letter #11 ~ "Taking the Scriptures seriously ... means embracing the truth that comes from the depths of God's wisdom, as well as acknowledging the finitude of the writer."Letter #12 ~ discerning the real issues in I CorinthiansLetter #13 ~ translating, and therefore interpreting, I Corinthians 6:9-10Letter #14 ~ I Corinthians 6 -- inheritance and family law for ChristiansLetter #15 ~ human experience and biblical interpretation

I have written these “Letters to Jerri” in response to a question sent to me by a friend. Jerri and I began our Christian journeys as part of a theologically conservative and biblically fundamentalist faith tradition. I have moved on from that tradition, but my commitment to biblical theology is one of the many gifts that I received from that religious upbringing that I continue to appreciate. ~ D. Mark Davis

We are grateful to Dr. Davis for allowing us to listen in!