WHAT DOES GOD THINK ABOUT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE?
On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court passed a law to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Right after the announcement shock waves flooded throughout the country fueled by the media. Many same-sex couples were elated they could now marry their partners. Courthouse lines were filling up in many states with homosexual couples eager to legalize their union. The White House went so far as to light up their building with the signature gay pride rainbow colors. The President at that time also gave his verbal approval congratulating the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage. Also, many churches were split down the middle on whether the Supreme Court made the right decision. So the question I like to pose to individuals who profess to be Christians is how should we respond biblically to the legalization of same-sex marriage? The first two words that come to mind are love & truth. Ephesians 4:15 states “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” This verse is simply saying we are to lovingly speak to people, but we are to also proclaim the truth to them as well.
The problem I see with most evangelical churches/Christians in regards to their stance on homosexual marriage is they are huge advocates on speaking to this issue lovingly, but not so eager to proclaim God's truth on the matter. The reality is speaking lovingly absent of truth is not true love. To drive this point home a little bit more I’d like to give a quick analogy. Picture with me for a moment someone you love & truly care about has a life-threatening disease they are not aware of yet, but they know & feel something is not quite right. This person decides to go to the doctor for a checkup & during their visit the doctor/staff runs a series of test/x-rays & discovers your loved one has cancer & has six months to live. The doctor & the nursing staff hold a quick meeting & agree it’s not worth ruining your loved one’s life by giving them this life-threatening diagnosis. The doctor enters the room your loved one is patiently waiting in, & with a smile & polite loving tone announce to your loved one that he or she is healthy as an ox! (Aka perfect health). With that news, your loved one leaps for joy & gives the doctor a big hug & leaves the office only to find their situation worsening & finally within six months your loved one dies.
The reason why I gave this quick analogy is that that’s exactly how many Churches/Christians are addressing this same-sex marriage issue. They speak with a loving tone, but it's void of any truth. This consequently is void of love as well. The reality is you can’t have love without truth. You may be asking what I mean by speaking to this same-sex issue with truth. The bottom line is we who profess to be Christians must preach judgment to the homosexual community in love. The cancer inside the homosexual community & all other unbelievers is sin. & if we don’t diagnose it properly they will leave the doctor’s office leaping for joy only to find their situation worsening die & go to hell for eternity. Now I do want to clarify homosexuals are not the only individuals in danger of going to hell for eternity. To back this up 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 states: “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[a]effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” In these verses Apostle, Paul is warning the Corinthian Church that individuals who practice all these types of sins will not go to Heaven.
To add more clarity let’s focus on the word practice, the idea here is individuals who habitually perform an act as an adopted lifestyle. This attitude/way of living is critically vital in determining if a person is truly a born-again Christian. To back this up 1 John 3:8-10 states “The one who does what is sinful is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.” These verses are simply saying if a person has truly been born again God’s seed lives in them & it’s impossible to continue in sin because the Holy Spirit now lives inside that individual. The reason why a person can’t practice sin & at the same time call themselves a Christian is because there is no evidence of true repentance.
See 1 John 3:8-10 is not saying a Christian is free from ever sinning again, but rather when a Christian does sin he or she feels a deep sense of remorse for sinning against a Holy God they love & adore. But as we can see this mindset is contrary to an individual who lives a lifestyle as a homosexual. Not only is the person not broken over their sin & offending a Holy God, but they’ve also decided to practice & celebrate it as a lifestyle that is the exact opposite of repentance. So why did our former President, the Supreme Court, & other elected officials give hearty approval to individuals who practice this lifestyle? I think the answer is found in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 it states: “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” These verses are simply saying when a nation rejects & rebels against the word of God, He sends a spirit of delusion & turns them over to themselves & they can no longer distinguish between what’s right or wrong. So we must understand as Christians when we proclaim the truth & boldly announce God is going to someday destroy all the ungodly that do not repent & turn from their evil ways. We are not been unloving it’s just the opposite we are being the most loving because we are attempting to save them from the wrath to come by giving them the truth. I am of the personal belief that preachers, who do not openly condemn homosexuality & all other sins to their congregation & preach to them the truth of God’s word, do not love those people but rather themselves. Simply put they are afraid you won’t like them & risk losing financial support if they offend you, so they rather give you flowery words instead of proclaiming God’s truth to you.
In closing, I believe the true Church will face more & more persecution from the world in the days to come because of our stance on sin in this ungodly world. But let us remember in Ephesians 6:12 states “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” This verse is simply saying satan is currently the god of this world & he & his demons operate evil in high places. Man is just a pawn being deceived to carry out the plans of satan to destroy everything good God has put in this world including marriage. So therefore we are to more boldly proclaim the truth of God’s word to a dying world.