1. How long have you believed that gay marriage is something to be celebrated? About 10 years.
2. What Bible verses led you to change your mind? No specific Bible verses led me to change my mind in and of themselves. I was led to change my mind through prayer, exegetical scriptural study, Reason, and Holy Tradition under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
3. How would you make a positive case from Scripture that sexual activity between two persons of the same sex is a blessing to be celebrated? The hermeneutic displayed in this question is inherently flawed. It isn't possible (nor helpful in any way) to make a positive case from Scripture on any number of moral issues. It is appropriate to read Scripture, try to figure out what the original audience understood the text to mean to them, and then further interpret that message through the lens of Tradition and Reason under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Some people have an indelible sexual orientation towards those of the same sex, a concept that historians broadly (but not uniformly) believe didn't exist in biblical times, and so the references in the Bible that seem (*seem*) to refer to same-sex behavior can't be understood to address homosexuality as it is understood today.
4. What verses would you use to show that a marriage between two persons of the same sex can adequately depict Christ and the church? There aren't any that directly show this.
5. Do you think Jesus would have been okay with homosexual behavior between consenting adults in a committed relationship? Yes.
6. If so, why did he reassert the Genesis definition of marriage as being one man and one woman? To quote Heath, "Heterosexual marriage was the framework of the question (about divorce), not the point of the answer."
7. When Jesus spoke against porneia what sins do you think he was forbidding? This Greek word had a plethora of meanings. There are many scholarly figures that try to figure this out, but it's safe to say that conceptually it includes sexual sin that is exploitative, unfaithful, or abusive.
8. If some homosexual behavior is acceptable, how do you understand the sinful “exchange” Paul highlights in Romans 1? The original audience would have understood this passage as having to do with the consequences of idolatry using imagery common to the present-day cultural norms. As Heath said, "A dominant way of understanding same-sex desire in the ancient world was that it was the result of excessive heterosexual lust. Paul could be talking about people who indulge lust to such a degree that they exchange heterosexual desire for homosexual desire." There are many commentaries that address this in further depth.
9. Do you believe that passages like 1 Corinthians 6:9 and Revelation 21:8 teach that sexual immorality can keep you out of heaven? Yes.
10. What sexual sins do you think they were referring to? See #7.
11. As you think about the long history of the church and the near universal disapproval of same-sex sexual activity, what do you think you understand about the Bible that Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, and Luther failed to grasp? The disciplines of science and psychology didn't exist in any of their contexts. Had God enlightened humanity with these areas of wisdom in each of their contexts, these theologians might have come to a different conclusion.
12. What arguments would you use to explain to Christians in Africa, Asia, and South America that their understanding of homosexuality is biblically incorrect and your new understanding of homosexuality is not culturally conditioned? For the first part of the question, see numbers 1-11 above. The second part of the question doesn't make sense as everyone interprets reality from their own cultural context (and thus every person's understanding of Scripture must be interpreted from within that person's individual and communal worldviews).
13. Do you think Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were motivated by personal animus and bigotry when they, for almost all of their lives, defined marriage as a covenant relationship between one man and one woman? No. Who is claiming that? I haven't heard that one. I'm taking a leap here, but is this question inferring that gays and their supporters think that anyone who understands marriage as one man and one woman for life is motivated by personal animus and bigotry? I don't know a single person who thinks that, though I know lots of people who conclude that this view results in a discriminatory position, motives aside.
14. Do you think children do best with a mother and a father? No.
15. If not, what research would you point to in support of that conclusion? JFG (to quote my former boss). This means ask St. Google. Colloquially, feel free to ask my friend Jordan who is 19 years old (and straight) and has been raised by two moms. It shouldn't require stating that Jordan's experience isn't scientific evidence, but Google can help you with the evidence.
16. If yes, does the church or the state have any role to play in promoting or privileging the arrangement that puts children with a mom and a dad? The state has a role to play in promoting and arranging healthy homes for children who need to be adopted. Definitely. But lots of my gay friends want children. Some already are parents and thank God for that as otherwise, their child might be in an orphanage (or might have been aborted had a healthy home not been identified and secured within the first trimester).
17. Does the end and purpose of marriage point to something more than an adult’s emotional and sexual fulfillment? Yes!
18. How would you define marriage? Two legally consenting adults who aren't related who give themselves completely to each other in a uniquely intimate relationship for mutual self-fulfillment and mutual self-giving to others (a modified version of Heath's definition).
19. Do you think close family members should be allowed to get married? Um....is this really a question?
20. Should marriage be limited to only two people? Yes, though I haven't studied polygamous societies (in Africa, for example) in the light of the Gospel to understand their context well enough to fully answer the question.
21. On what basis, if any, would you prevent consenting adults of any relation and of any number from getting married? Incestuous relationships are often related to child abuse which is, of course, awful. Polygamous relationships in the West are often associated with gender inequality which results in females being treated terribly. As a side note, my experience with hundreds of gay people tells me that this isn't something that gays are looking for (though I admit, I know one gay person who was part of a polygamous relationship).
22. Should there be an age requirement in this country for obtaining a marriage license? Yes. It should be 18, unless there is parental consent, in which case 16 might be the magic number.
23. Does equality entail that anyone wanting to be married should be able to have any meaningful relationship defined as marriage? No.
24. If not, why not? Um...this is a silly question.
25. Should your brothers and sisters in Christ who disagree with homosexual practice be allowed to exercise their religious beliefs without fear of punishment, retribution, or coercion? Yes, as long as that doesn't result in discrimination in the public sphere. Examples: Catholic priests should be able to refuse sacramental marriage to gay couples as that's a purely religious rite. Same thing with Southern Baptist ministers, for example. People who work in for-profit businesses shouldn't be able to refuse service to gay people. As a future Episcopal priest (God willing), I should be able to refuse performing a polyandrous marriage as it is against my religion and thus protected under the Constitution. A secular court official who is asked to perform a gay marriage shouldn't be able to refuse on the basis of religion.
26. Will you speak up for your fellow Christians when their jobs, their accreditation, their reputation, and their freedoms are threatened because of this issue? If their religious freedoms according to the Constitution are being denied, of course I will defend them. I would defend a Catholic priest who refuses to do a sacramental gay wedding (even though that would never happen). I would not defend a baker who runs a sole proprietorship, for-profit business that entails baking wedding cakes for a profit (in fact, I would hope that the government would defend me against them).
27. Will you speak out against shaming and bullying of all kinds, whether against gays and lesbians or against Evangelicals and Catholics? Of course!
28. Since the evangelical church has often failed to take unbiblical divorces and other sexual sins seriously, what steps will you take to ensure that gay marriages are healthy and accord with Scriptural principles? I will not take any action "since the evangelical church has often failed" to do anything. If the second part of the question stood alone, here's my answer: the same way that I would for straight marriages. Nothing more, nothing less.
29. Should gay couples in open relationships be subject to church discipline? The person asking this question clearly has had no experience in reality related to this subject. It's actually an inherently offensive question.
30. Is it a sin for LGBT persons to engage in sexual activity outside of marriage? Heath's answer is a good one, so no need to reinvent the wheel: "When it comes to sexual ethics, we need better categories than just “sin” and “not sin.” (Not that these categories are completely irrelevant, but this language often doesn’t do justice to the complexity of sexuality.) This often leads to legalistic understanding of sexual ethics that is concerned with mere “line-drawing.” Christians should see sex holistically as the intimate connection of bodies and hearts. We should resist understanding and seeking sexual fulfillment outside of relational trust and commitment."
31. What will open and affirming churches do to speak prophetically against divorce, fornication, pornography, and adultery wherever they are found? Open and affirming congregations treat these issues in a similar fashion as evangelical churches (at least in my experience).
32. If “love wins,” how would you define love? Again, Heath says, "Self-giving, other-centered action."
33. What verses would you use to establish that definition? I wouldn't use verses from the Bible to establish this definition. Heath created it for me :)
34. How should obedience to God’s commands shape our understanding of love? I think the question should be, "How should our understanding of God's love shape our understanding of God's commandments?"
35. Do you believe it is possible to love someone and disagree with important decisions they make? Yes!
36. If supporting gay marriage is a change for you, has anything else changed in your understanding of faith? Of course! Those who experience no change in their understanding of faith are dishonest to themselves and others. Or they're living with their spiritual head in the sand.
37. As an evangelical, how has your support for gay marriage helped you become more passionate about traditional evangelical distinctives like a focus on being born again, the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the cross, the total trustworthiness of the Bible, and the urgent need to evangelize the lost? It hasn't.
38. What open and affirming churches would you point to where people are being converted to orthodox Christianity, sinners are being warned of judgment and called to repentance, and missionaries are being sent out to plant churches among unreached peoples? My own parish (St. Michael and All Angels, Mission, Kansas) as well as my diocese (the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas). I could give you a list...but again, St. Google will know better than I do.
39. Do you hope to be more committed to the church, more committed to Christ, and more committed to the Scriptures in the years ahead? Of course - I'm a Christian.
40. When Paul at the end of Romans 1 rebukes “those who practice such things” and those who “give approval to those who practice them,” what sins do you think he has in mind? See #8 for an intro to Romans 1. But specifically with regards to Romans 1:32, see Romans 1:29-31.
