This week the President announced his support for same-sex marriages: “At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
What has been missed in some of the discussion is that he also related it to his faith: “The thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the golden rule — you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated.…And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids, and that’s what motivates me as president.”
So our President is in favor of changing a moral standard and then he relates it to Christ, as if Christ might approve and affirm this transition.
Let us be clear: the Scriptures sanction marriage for one man and one woman for the duration of their lives. God’s intention in Genesis 2 could not be more clear: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24; NASB).
And in case it is not understood that the statement in Genesis precludes homosexual marriage, then other passages make that clear. For example, “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…” (1 Cor 6:9; NASB). In fact, homosexuality is revealed to be part of God’s judgment on rebellious men (Rom. 1:24-27). Those who reject Christ think they are wise (Rom. 1:22), but their actions are folly and their unnatural passions are a demonstration of the judgment of God on them. So to invoke Christ into this debate as if He would sanction this is not an enlightened act, but is folly of the worst kind (because it invites God’s judgment).
Another sorrow related to this foolishness is where this moral decline will end. If homosexuality is not only no longer considered deviant, but is “blessed” with the privilege of marital union, what is next? And make no mistake, there will be a “next.” Sin cannot provide ultimate satisfaction, so there will always be a quest for more. So opening the door to homosexual marital unions will also open the door to the “normalizing” of other deviant sexual behaviors. Are polygamy and polyandry next? How about incest? Statutory rape? Consensual relations with children? What makes any of those out of bounds if the standard of behavior is no longer absolute? What will the standard be if the test of behavior is no longer, “what is right?” but “what is tolerant?”
J. I. Packer’s words from a generation ago still apply:
Nowadays some will maintain, in the name of humanism, that the “Puritan” sexual morality of the Bible is inimical to the attainment of true human maturity, and that a little more license makes for richer living. Of this ideology we would only say that the proper name for it is not humanism but brutism. Sexual laxity does not make your more human, but less so; it brutalizes you and tears your soul to pieces. The same is true wherever any of God’s commandments are disregarded. We are only living truly human lives just so far as we are laboring to keep God’s commandments; no further. [Knowing God, p. 114; HT: The Cross Quoter.]
We have been watching the slow decline of the destruction of a nation and culture. But the slow slide down a slippery slope is now accelerating. The death spiral is tightening and we are moving more rapidly to the end.
God be merciful on our children. And may they have boldness to continue to stand strong for truth.
Here are some articles that put the issue in biblical perspective:
- Al Mohler, “Evolution’s End? President Obama Calls for Same-Sex Marriage”
- Kevin DeYoung, “Why Christians Should Continue to Oppose Gay Marriage”
- Justin Taylor, “Some Seminars on Homosexuality, Change, and the Gospel” I haven’t read or listened to all these resources, but several of them look to be particularly helpful.
- Collin Hansen, “How to Win the Public on Homosexuality”
- John Piper, “Thoughts on the Minnesota Marriage Amendment” (other resources from John Piper and Desiring God)
- Michael Youssef, “Standing on Solid Rock, Not Sinking Sand”
Words of Grace 