Our nation is undergoing a struggle concerning marriage. For whom is marriage appropriate? Who is it not? I have heard a number of questions about this debate. It seems everybody has their own ideas about what is right and what is wrong. I heard a national news figure say he had not heard a good defense of marriage as being strictly between one man and one woman. I really found that hard to believe. I know he will never see this, but just the same, I decided there may be others who feel that way, so I offer this explanation of marriage.
I think we have to stop and consider where marriage came from. It is obvious that marriage had its beginning with the first man and woman. Judaism and Christianity offer a very clear picture of its beginning in the Bible. Genesis says God made Adam from the dust of the ground and then, Eve from one of his ribs. These were the first people. After Adam received Eve he said in Genesis 2:23-24 “‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Marriage was instituted by God to be between one man and one woman. Christ confirms this concept in Matthew 19:4-6 “‘Haven’t you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.’” The disciples asked at this point why Moses allowed the Jews to divorce. Jesus answers in Matthew 19:8 “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not that way from the beginning.” God created marriage to be between one man and one woman and it was to be for a life time.
What was the purpose of marriage? It was to bring the man and woman together into a close intimate relationship that showed the world a picture of the relationship people were to have with God (Ephesians 5:22-24). It was for the procreation of man. It gave the woman a place to fulfill her duty of bringing babies into the world without sin (Ephesians 5:25-28, I Timothy 2:15). Fornication, which is sex outside of marriage, is a sin (Ephesians 5:3). It was to develop the concept of family which is a heavenly concept. Unity with each other where mutual love and respect are nourished and grow (Ephesians 5:28-33).
Any attempt to make marriage broader than God designed will result in sinfulness. The debate today centers around homosexual marriage. What does the Scripture say about homosexuality? Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman.” Romans 1:26-27 “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men. Leaving the natural use of the women, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.” I Corinthians 6:9-10 “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 homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” Can it be any clearer, homosexuality is a sin. Therefore, marriage cannot exist between two people involved in such sin. It does not properly picture the unity God established marriage to show. It cannot result in procreation, therefore cannot picture the concept of family God speaks of in the Bible.
If homosexual marriage is allowed, or legal unions that allow the same privileges, our nation will be judged and condemned by God. Marriage was instituted by God and given to mankind for the purpose of making life easier and showing men how to live with each other in harmony, as well as, pointing them to a closer relationship with him. If homosexual unions are allowed, that will open the door to polygamy, incest, pedophilia, and bestiality. There will be no stopping the perversions that destroy the human soul, and our children will be the ones who suffer the most. Christians must find their voice on this perversion and stop it before God brings the terrors of his wrath down on America.
The place of marriage in any society, as shown through the Scripture, is to be the foundation of that society. It is to give a moral foundation, as well as, a foundational unit upon which the society can rest and grow. If that unit is perverted and the moral nature of it weakened, then, the society will degrade and fall into a chaotic state in which every man will be drawn into doing what he sees as right in his own eyes. The design of this attack on marriage is to destroy the moral pillars of our society and bring us into another dark age that will bring back many of the terrors the world once endured, terrors God so graciously gave us relief from because we stood upon a moral foundation. |
Top
