Gay marriage

There is a lot of controversy these days about gay marriage.  Just this week Chick-Fil-A president’s public criticism of gay marriage sparked a firestorm. Boston’s mayor and a Chicago alderman have vowed to fight the opening of Chick-Fil-A restaurants in their cities.  Did you know that the Amazon CEO and his wife announced Friday they are donating $2.5 million to the campaign to defend Washington's same-sex marriage law?  Did this draw the same attention as opposing gay marriage?

I have struggled with trying to write about this subject for several years.  I oppose gay marriage, I think it’s wrong, and I get offended by those that tell me I am wrong for my opinion. 

Why, may you ask?  God tells us that marriage is of a man and a woman, gay marriage is wrong and that those that do not listen to the Word of God will pay for their sins.

God tells us right from the beginning what a marriage is:

Genesis 2:19-24 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

²³ The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

    and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

    for she was taken out of man. ”

²⁴ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

There are almost 50 verses in the Bible that specifically talk about giving a daughter to a man in marriage, but none, zero, nada about giving a son in marriage.

God also tells us that those who sin and do not repent will be punished.  I am sure everyone knows a little bit about Sodom and Gomorrah.  The entire city was destroyed because of their sins.  Homosexuality was not the only sin in which the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah indulged but, it does appear to be the primary reason for the destruction of the cities. Go read for yourself: Genesis 18 & 19

Those who attempt to explain away the biblical condemnations of homosexuality claim that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was inhospitably. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah were certainly being inhospitable. There is probably nothing more inhospitable than homosexual gang rape. But to say God completely destroyed two cities and all their inhabitants for being inhospitable clearly misses the point. While Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty of many other horrendous sins, homosexuality was the reason God poured fiery sulfur on the cities, completely destroying them and all of their inhabitants. To this day, the area where Sodom and Gomorrah were located remains a desolate wasteland. Sodom and Gomorrah serve as a powerful example of how God feels about sin in general, and homosexuality specifically.

Political leaders can pretend that “same-sex marriage” is acceptable, but the Bible teaches otherwise.

The following passage, written nearly two thousand years ago, essentially predicts resurgences of amorality, plus explains why this happens:

Romans 1:18-32 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

²⁸ Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. ²⁹ They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹ they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. ³² Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Most governmental positions do not wish to retain the word of God, so it is little wonder that increasing societal acceptance of sin is occurring. Also notice that God warned that many would “also approve of those who practice them” (verse 32). This is what more and more government leaders are doing.  Political leadership is pushing our nation further away from the Bible.

Now, I did not say I do not like gay people, I only said I am against a gay lifestyle.  God also tells us to love the sinner, but hate the sin. And yes homosexuality is a sin. I do believe that someone born with gay tendencies can change their behavior by repentance. What is repentance?  Repentance includes sorrow for sin and a turning away from it. One person cannot do this on their own, God alone can change your heart and tendencies.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

Wednesday August 1, 2012 is Chick-Fil-A Appreciation day. Go show your support for someone taking a stand for God. I know I am going, because “PEACH SHAKES ARE BACK!”