WHAT ABOUT GAY MARRIAGES?

 Massachusetts has paved the way for same sex marriages in recent ruling.  Will this spread to other states?  What effect will this have on our nation?  Is it morally acceptable?  Are people born as homosexuals or is it a choice?  After one becomes a practicing gay, is it possible to stop it?  What effect will it have on insurance, health care and taxes?

 It is obvious that same sex marriages raise many important questions that deserve answers.  I do not choose to deal with political issues, but will consider some social and religious aspects that are involved.  I affirm the Bible reveals the view we should have toward homosexuality, as it does on every subject.  God has “given unto us all things that pertains unto life and godliness” (2 Peter 1.3).  We are not left to wonder about these matters.

 They asked Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”  His answer takes them to the beginning in Genesis 2.24.  “Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?”  (Matthew 19.4-5).  From the beginning it was the plan of God that one man and one woman should live together until parted by death.  God instituted marriage between a man and a woman, not same sex marriages.

 We all know about the practice of Sodom and Gomorrah.  When God told Abraham He would destroy these cities, He said, “because their sin is very grievous” (Genesis 18.20).  Abraham responded by asking, “wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” (Genesis 18.23).  What they were doing is called “sin” and “wicked”.

 Two angels came to Lot in Sodom and Lot persuaded them to spend the night under his roof.  “But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, where are the men which came in to thee this night?  Bring them out unto us, that we may know them” (Genesis 19.7).

 They wanted to “know” them sexually.  Adam “knew” Eve and she conceived, and Cain was born (Genesis 4.1).  These were men of Sodom wanting to have homosexual relations with the men at Lot’‘s house.  This practice was so wide spread it included young and old from every part of the city.  Abraham could not find even ten righteous people.

 We must never find something respectable and just another acceptable lifestyle when God calls it sin or wicked.  If these cities were destroyed because of homosexuality, why do people think we will escape the same fate if we do the same thing?

Paul shows the Gentiles at one time knew God, but step by step they left Him to serve idols they had made, which resulted in many sins which are listed in Romans 1.28-32.  Part of their sins was homosexuality. 

“Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.  For this cause God gave them up into vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.” (Romans 1.24-27).

 Please read those verses carefully to see the extent to which they had gone.  It is a dishonor, a lie, unnatural.  Jude 7 gives Sodom as an example of punishment for the disobedient.  “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

 It is not possible to legislate “sin, wicked, fornication” into something that is good, acceptable and respectable.  This sin, like any other, must be repented of and stopped.  It is foolish to claim “I was born this way”, when God says it is against nature.

 Corinth was a wicked city, and the church was made up of people from that city who had  engaged in all types of sins.  Paul does not soften or adjust the message but tells it like it is.  “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 or drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”  (1 Corinthians 6.9-10 NKJV).

 Now, notice verse 11..  “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”  You “were” idolaters, but you are not now.  You “were” drunkards, but you are not now .  You “were” homosexuals or sodomites, but stopped it when you were washed, sanctified and justified.

 If one can continue as a homosexual after becoming a Christian, one could also continue as a drunkard, as a fornicator, or a thief.  We all understand we quit doing these sins when we repent of them.

 Will it be easy?  Not any more than it would be easy for a drunkard to stop drinking, but with the help and grace of God it can be done.  Some of the church members at Corinth did it.

 One of the major social, physical and economic effects of the gay lifestyle is the problem of aids.  One could contact aids through blood transfusion or impure needles, but homosexuality is the major way it is transmitted.  Same sex marriages constitute what the Bible calls “sin, wicked, unnatural and fornication”, which must be repented of and stopped.  To make it legal will in no way lessen or soften what the Bible says about it.  This practice destroyed cities and can destroy nations.


Copyright © 2003 Albert Gardner. All rights reserved.
All rights granted for copy and use as long as nothing is sold, no profit is sought and the information is presented without edit.
Revised: August 21, 2008 .