The world frames, or characterizes, the debate in the context of marriage equality. They say there should be an equal access to marriage, no matter the sex of the couple - or trio, or group - or even whether they are humans, animals, or other sort of living, or non-living things. You see, you can't stop with two women or two men - if you destroy what marriage is, and was created to be - a union between one man and one woman - then there are no boundaries at all. It can be whatever anyone wants it to be. And that's the debate that the Christian must defend. Marriage is not a right that gays, lesbians, and all other possibilities are denied. Marriage is an institution ordained by God. By it's definition, it is the union of one man and one woman, and it cannot, and should not, be altered. There is a God in heaven. And like it or not, He has given us boundaries within which to live. We are blessed if we live within them. This is not hate - this is love. God loves each and every one of us, the whole world over (read John 3:16!). In fact, God is love.
Many people try to defend homosexuality and same-sex marriage using the Bible, itself. President Obama is a case in point. He has cited both the Golden Rule and the Sermon on the Mount, in general (there are no verses specific to the topic of homosexuality in either one), as a Biblical support for gay marriage. He also dismissed the passage in Romans that does mention homosexuality, as "obscure". Well, there are no verses in the Bible that are obscure or unimportant. Jesus Himself said - in the Sermon on the Mount, no less - "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished." (Matthew 5:18)
Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a long time defender of traditional marriage, changed his position after his son, Will, revealed to his parents that he was a homosexual. In 2013, Senator Portman made this statement:
I wrestled with how to reconcile my Christian faith with my desire for Will to have the same opportunities to pursue happiness and fulfillment as his brother and sister. Ultimately, it came down to the Bible’s overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God.The problem with these arguments and many others like them, is that they aren't taking the whole counsel of God into consideration. You can't pick and choose which verses to apply to your life, and throw out the others. You have to submit to the authority of God in all of His word. You can't add your own beliefs to what the Bible has already said. You take it all in, and let Scripture interpret Scripture, and you don't take away, or add, even the dot of an "i".
The Bible is clear on homosexuality, lesbianism, adultery, fornication, bestiality, etc...anything outside the bounds of Biblical matrimony is sin. The Bible is also clear on marriage. It was ordained by God, and it is to be between one man and one woman. To speak up and say such a thing in the public square is not hateful; it's not pointing fingers and feeling superior to someone else. Christians, of all people, realize the sinful nature that we all share. We are all fallen sinners. But gay activists are a small group of people, in relation to our entire population, trying to make same-sex marriage - what the Bible calls sin - the law of the land and force everyone in this country to agree with them that it is okay. Speaking the truth is becoming discrimination and hate-speech. Children in the public schools are being taught that homosexuality is okay, and an acceptable lifestyle - no matter what their parents believe. To say that same-sex marriage is not okay; to make a judgment call on a moral issue based upon the Bible is perfectly acceptable, and absolutely essential. If not, then our right to free speech is gone.
What does the Bible say about all of this? A whole lot - but I'll just point out a few things, and I'm going to start at the beginning. In Genesis 1:27-28, it says:
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."He made two people: one male and one female, and He blessed them. He told them to be fruitful and multiply. Only a male and a female could obey that command.
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:18)Adam was with God, Himself, but yet God said it wasn't good for him to be alone - he needed someone "suitable", someone like him! But God didn't make another man...
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:21-22)She was made differently. Adam was formed from the dust of the ground; Eve was fashioned from Adam's own body. He made her for Adam, and He gave her to the man.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)And there it is - marriage - originated, ordained and blessed by God. And just to point out the obvious, it says "a man shall leave his father and his mother" (not his father and his other father; not his mother and his other mother), "and be joined to his wife" (not his husband).
God couldn't be clearer. This is what marriage is - anything else is not marriage.
All the other verses are based in this! You must take in the whole counsel of the Bible - interpret the Bible in light of the whole Bible.
It is argued that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. Well, the Old Testament says that homosexuality is a sin. And Jesus never, ever, contradicted or dismissed the Old Testament Scriptures. He affirmed them over and over. He said (again, in the Sermon on the Mount), "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill." He quoted Old Testament Scripture, and never changed or altered it. Furthermore, Jesus may not have uttered the word "homosexuality" (as far as what is recorded in the Gospels), but He did talk about marriage:
Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?" And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh?' So the are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." (Matthew 19:3-6)Jesus affirms everything about marriage that was written in Genesis. He affirms that marriage is one man and one woman, whom God joins together.
Finally, a passage written by Paul, (the author of that "obscure" book of Romans - which is so important, it is considered the constitution of our faith), from another letter of his, to the church at Corinth:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)That whole list starting with fornicators all the way through swindlers comes under the umbrella of "the unrighteous", which means the unbeliever, the unjust, sinful person. And that's what we all are, until we come to Jesus - and trust in Him and the price that He paid for our sins on the cross, to wash all those sins away, and be clothed in His righteousness. Let's take a look at what those words mean (going back to the original Greek words):
- fornicators (original Greek word is "pornos"): sexually immoral person; a man who prostitutes his body to another's lust for hire, a male prostitute, a man who indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse
- idolater ("eidololatres"): worshipper of idols; used of anyone even Christian, participant in any way in the worship of the heathen....; a covetous man as a worshipper of Mammon
- adulterer ("moichos"): an adulterer (self-explanatory); metaphorically, one who is faithless toward God, ungodly
- effeminate ("malakos"): soft, soft to the touch; homosexual, passive partner in male-to-male sex act, catamite, a boy kept for homosexual relations with a man, a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness, a male prostitute
- homosexuals ("arsenokoites"): male homosexual, one who takes the active male role in homosexual intercourse, one who lies with a male as with a female
- thieves ("kleptes"): one who steals; the name is transferred to false teachers, who do not care to instruct men, but abuse their confidence for their own gain
- covetous ("pleonektes"): greedy; one eager to have more, esp. what belongs to others; greedy of gain
- drunkards ("methysos"): drunken, intoxicated
- revilers ("loidoros"): slanderer, verbal abuser, railer
- swindlers ("harpax"): vicious, violently greedy, destructively ferocious, ravenous, rapacious, like a robber, a violent swindler, extortioner
Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:11)That is the hope that Jesus gives to the world.
Are we, as a nation, going to turn our back on the God who our founders called out to when they were building this "great experiment"? Are we, as a nation, going to declare "good", what God has declared "evil"? Listen to the words of the "father of our country", George Washington, in his inaugural address on April 30, 1789:
No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude along with a humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.He is so humbly thankful to God for His hand in establishing this great nation. And he also gives us a warning:
...the propitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which heaven itself has ordained...He ends his speech with this benediction:
Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race, in humble supplication, that since He has been pleased to favor the American people, with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government, for the security of their union, and the advancement of their happiness; so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this government must depend.Constitutionally, if the Supreme Court makes same-sex marriage the law of the land, those nine justices will have fundamentally changed something that existed long before the United States of America began. And millions of citizens will be forced to choose between following their conscience and obeying the law - the exact thing our founders fought so hard against!
I've heard the question asked - who has the right to tell people whom they can and cannot love (meaning have sex with, and marry)? I don't. No human being does. But God does - and God did.
A gay activist once said of Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania - who, like Senator Portman, changed his mind to support gay marriage - that his new position "puts him squarely on the right side of history". I completely disagree with that assessment. But more importantly, the real question is not what side of history you're on, but what side of eternity.
Do not be deceived! The Bible does not condone homosexuality or same-sex marriage, no matter how many ways the politicians and the activists try to spin it.
We are to be salt and light in our nation and in our world. America is getting darker and darker - it's time for a revival in the Church, His body...and it's time to let it shine.
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. (Galatians 6:7-9)
