Today’s Question: What
does the Bible say about same sex marriages?
Bible Answer: I’m
not aware of any ancient society allowing same sex marriages, so
you won’t find any direct reference to this in your Bible.
The issue just did not come up. It hasn’t even come up in
our country until recently. The best we can derive from the Bible
about same sex marriages is by seeing how the Bible speaks about
homosexuality.
Most people know about the Old Testament prohibition against
homosexuality.
"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that
is detestable. (Lev 18:22)
This scripture is rather clear. No deep interpretation needed
here. In fact, this statement describes homosexuality as detestable
sometimes translated as abomination. It means
"disgusting." This word is carefully used in
conjunction with serious sins. Make no mistake about it:
homosexuality is a serious sin under the Old Testament.
Gay people should not think God is singling out their sins,
however. This sin is simply part of a list of twenty other sexual
unions forbidden. Other sins include adultery, incest and
bestiality.
Concerning the New Testament, Jesus does not directly address
same sex marriages; although, He does talk about marriage. He
said,
"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." (Matt 19:4-6)
Jesus taught that marriage is between male and female.
There is no point in trying to get Jesus to sanction same sex
marriages. He doesn’t.
There is a direct reference to homosexuality in the New
Testament. It comes from the pen of Paul.
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit
the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the
sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male
prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the
greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10)
Homosexual offenders are placed in the same category as
adulterers, prostitutes and thieves. They are all wrong. I
couldn’t imagine the apostle approving of homosexual
marriages, can you?
Not only does the Bible forbid same sex marriages, but tradition and nature
prohibits it also. The concept is against every tradition known to the human
race and is obviously against nature. Allowing same sex marriages will devalue
real marriages, open a Pandora box of other issues such as polygamy, incest
marriages, child marriages, and even foolish marriages between men and animals.
Same sex partners will demand equal rights to adopt children, so we would be
forced to put children in harms way to learn this lifestyle.
Where will the line be drawn? Let's allow reason, common sense, and our inner
sense of right and wrong help us to make the right choices, not withstanding the
clear biblical teaching on this subject.
America is at a crossroad concerning same sex marriages. Runaway mayors,
disguising themselves as equal rights activists, have forced this issue by
illegally performing marriages for homosexuals. Although the "Defense of
Marriage" act gives the states the right to reject same sex marriages performed
in other states, this issue must be settled once and for all with a
constitutional amendment.
In the past, slavery was a state issue, but eventually, it was clear that the
Federal government had to put an end to it. Civil war broke out because
other states wanted to maintain their right to have slavery. The issue of
marriage cannot be left to each state to decide. This issue is so fundamental to
society that congress and three fourths of the states should settle the issue
for our country.
In the end, the state has only one reason why they should be involved in
marriage laws at all, and that is to seek to promote in its marriage law the
best setting to nurture children. The state should recognize that the best
setting is between a mother and father. Children have a better chance to turn
out better if they are raised by their parents. So if a couple divorces the
state tries to make sure that both parents stay involve in the children's lives
through visitation rights and through child support. On the other hand, gay
couples will never have biological children together. If there is biological
children then the children will rightfully belong to the one biological parent,
thus the state should stay out of that relationship.
If two men "feel a connection" they can do what they want with that feeling.
If they want to move in and buy a house together, fine. If they want to make a
commitment to each other, then they are free to do that, but they don't need the
government to get involve in their relationship, because that is not in the
state's interest. Love and emotional connection is outside the scope of the
state's interest. The state should care about the biological children created in
the union, and children can only be born with two heterosexual couples.
On a related topic, you might check out my
other question about Can Homosexuals Change?
or watch the YouTube video on Same-Sex Marriage.
Today’s Question: What
does the Bible say about same sex marriages?
