PMW2018-020 by Keaton Halley (Creation Ministries, Intl.)
Gentry note: This is an excellent article on an important culture topic which greatly impacts one’s worldview. Sadly many Christians are succumbing to the liberal agenda for our culture, even in an area historically opposed to biblical norms.
Article by Keaton Halley
Three reasons that abandoning God’s design for marriage is bad for society.
Even now that same-sex marriage has become widely accepted in many countries, Christians cannot surrender. We must continue to lovingly and graciously stand for the truth. Also, if we want to be effective, we must learn to articulate the reasons why gay marriage not only violates God’s moral standard, but actually harms society. Indeed, a faulty view of marriage will create many victims, as we highlight in response to today’s question.
[M]y question is what do you think about gay marriage and adoption?
CMI’s Keaton Halley responds.
Hi G.P.,
We have addressed this topic in a short booklet called Gay Marriage: right or wrong? You might want to pick that up from our webstore to read more details about some of the things that I’ll touch on below. Also, I’ll be drawing on a book called Truth Overruled by Ryan T. Anderson, which I’d recommend if you want another helpful resource.
Evangelical Ethics (3d ed)
by John Jefferson Davis
One of the best treatments of contemporary ethical problems facing Christians. John Jefferson Davis brings mature biblical thought to issues such as homosexuality, genetics, abortion, euthanasia, war and peace, the environment, divorce and remarriage.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
The debate over same sex marriage is not fundamentally a disagreement about who can get married, but about what marriage is. Is marriage an arbitrary custom that people invented, one which they can define however they please? Or is marriage an institution established by God, well-matched to His design of human beings?
The Bible says that marriage is rooted in God’s creation of mankind (Matthew 19:4–8). In Genesis, we read how God made Eve out of Adam’s own flesh as a helper suited to him, and then the text says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).
Throughout Scripture, it is clear that marriage is a lifelong, exclusive covenantal union of two people—a husband and a wife—which forms the foundation for the family. That is, marriage is oriented toward producing and raising children, if God so blesses (Genesis 1:28; Malachi 2:15). God created us male and female to complement one another, and the production of children requires both a man and a woman. So there cannot be any such thing as gay marriage, because marriage requires husband and wife.
The reason, then, that the Bible opposes the homosexual lifestyle is that it violates God’s design for marriage and family. Two people of the same gender do not complement one another as husband and wife do. Their union cannot produce children. And homosexual activity is harmful and destructive to oneself and others. So there are good reasons why the Bible explicitly condemns homosexual relationships. See Does the Bible really forbid homosexual relationships? and What does the Bible really say about homosexuality?
Let me mention just a few of the problems with gay marriage and gay adoption, in particular.
Same-sex marriage debases true marriage, and thereby weakens society
If we abandon the Bible’s teaching on marriage and just make up new definitions as we go, then why couldn’t marriage be redefined in other ways? Why couldn’t it be more than two people, for example? Why couldn’t it be a temporary rather than a lifelong commitment? There’s a logical slippery slope from same sex marriage to polygamy, temporary marriages, and other corrupt practices, because the same wrong thinking underlies these ideas—that people rather than the Creator have the authority to decide what marriage is. Sadly, once the definition of marriage is separated from the Creator’s design, it becomes so flexible that it begins to lose any significant meaning. Indeed, many homosexual activists have admitted that their real goal is to destroy the institution of marriage altogether. They realize that championing same-sex marriage works toward undermining the norms of marriage (like monogamy, permanence and exclusivity) and ultimately even the very concept of marriage itself.
Transforming Homosexuality
What the Bible Says about Sexual Orientation and Change
by Denny Burk and Heath Lambert
Is same-sex attraction sinful, even if it is not acted on? Denny Burk and Heath Lambert challenge misconceptions on all sides as they unpack the concepts of same-sex orientation, temptation, and desire.
See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com
But healthy societies are built on healthy families. The more we move away from the biblical teaching on marriage, the more we’ll have broken homes, because other arrangements simply do not work as well as God’s design. Logic indicates that the undermining of marriage will lead to an increase in cohabitation, divorce, single parenting, abortion, etc., and various studies help to confirm this. The weakening of marriage will place a burden on society as a whole, because others will have to step in with time, energy, and money to try to repair the damage. They will have to minister to hurting adults and help to raise the children of broken homes, and those children will be more likely to get into trouble, causing further problems. This leads to my next point.
Same-sex marriage harms children
What’s wrong with same-sex couples producing children through a surrogate or adopting children?
The fact that many children require adoption means they are already in a less-than-ideal situation. The ideal is that children would be raised by their own parents. Children long for and tend to be healthier when raised by their biological mother and father.
The next best thing, though, would be for children to be raised by a married, opposite-sex couple, as opposed to a single parent or a same-sex couple. Adoption by a same-sex couple would give children additional difficulties to overcome instead of giving them the best chance for success. This is because same-sex parenting would deny children the ability to have a parent of each gender (both a mom and a dad). This isn’t good, because men and women parent differently. They bring different strengths and weaknesses to the table, so children learn different lessons from mom than they do from dad, and vice versa. . . .
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Tagged: Gay marriage, gay rights, homosexual marriage
Postmillennial Worldview 
There are several issues relating to this subject. One is freedom of speech – is it safe to talk about these things when the rage machine is in full tilt and where facts and truth are seen as subversive?
A second one is the evangelical distancing from a literal understanding of the creation in Genesis, whereby everyone knows that undermining Genesis undermines God’s word at the start, and any appeal to scripture is already invalid.
A third one is perhaps the Christian’s responsibility for the society he/she lives in, and the role of the church in it. Many people in the traditional churches (state churches or ex-state churches) have a confessional understanding of the gospel rather than a transformational work of the Holy Spirit. These churches had a large influence on society in the past, providing moral boundaries which were accepted even by most unbelievers. Today this is gone, for good or for bad, depending on what the truth of salvation is. Salvation was never by being good and going to church but that is how they saw it.
A fourth is the compassion Christians have for those who are suffering, and the children who are forced to be brought up in situations they did not choose. Forced to live in a false world where their natural longing is for the true parents, both mother and father.
There are many more things, but this will do.
All of this alleged harm by 2 people of the same sex wanting equal rights, which they should be entitled to is non-existent. Since when is the private love life of 2 consenting adults any of society’s business? Same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting harming children-the reason for that automatic assumption essentially devalues the opinions of children who should be free to speak for themselves.
Same-sex marriage harming children-that is a presumptuous statement that devalues the opinions of children. Of course, with some parents, they believe that children should be seen, not heard.
We all recognize that there are conflicting reports on the consequences of children being raised in a homosexual environment. But we cannot deny that Scripture condemns homosexual conduct as immoral. Thus, we should be obligated to seek a moral environment of our children.
The “alleged harm” is documented by many psychological reports.
I am not sure if there is a definition of “harm” that we would all agree with. In the article referenced, Heather Barwick reveals what must surely be a common experience, to have missed a never present parent. Is this harm? Is it possible to measure it? Does this “harm” or any other “harm” actually matter to anyone?
Kenneth Gentry, I have read very little, if anything, that spoke to the condemnation of homosexuality. Now, some things can be taken out of context. Perhaps abomination was used to describe it as not being normal in Biblical times. Not every person is gay. Not every person is straight. These hardcore religious types need to stop forcing their views on other people by legal means.
On such a large moral question as this, one that overthrows hundreds of years of Western tradition and values, you would do well to read some of the literature on the other side. A good place to start would be: Robert Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics.
I would also highly recommend the testimony of a leading lesbian, women’s rights leader who converted to Christianity and left the homosexual life behind: Rosaria Butterfield, The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. She was a Ph.D., tenured professor at Syracuse University.
The word “abomination” as found in the statutes of Israel includes Divine visitation of wrath no later than from Ascension Sunday, May 8, 2016 A.D. unto Holy Family Saturday, the 1,335th day of Daniel 12:12 and the 2,300th day of Daniel 8:14, respectively.
The God of ancient Israel is still real today, and so is the holy law He has given us, inclusive to any just punishment due for disobedience unto it.
In my opinion, the lamest argument against same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting is this one: “Think about the children.” That is a lame argument because it automatically assumes that children may be against having 2 parents of the same sex. Any person who claims that children should be seen and not heard is making a judgement that does not factor the views of the child or children into the equation.
It is one argument among many. But the foundational arguments are spiritual and moral. It is not a question of what a child might think of the matter. Children prefer staying home from school over studying all day long. It is a question as to whether it is morally and socially damaging to raise a child in an environment that goes against nature. The body was designed by God to function heterosexually, not homosexually.
Kenneth Gentry, you make good points. Having said that, here are a few questions that I have for you: 1: If a child raised in a same-sex parent household is just as happy and well-adjusted as a child raised by straight parents, would that make any concern among opponents of same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting null and void? 2: Since pregnancies are unlikely to occur in a lesbian couple’s marriage without a sperm donor, should same-sex marriage not have support from groups that are pro-life?
Regarding child-rearing: again the matter is a moral issue. I don’t doubt that children raised in homosexual homes (or for that matter, child-abusive or drug-abuse contexts) can grow up to be well adjusted. I am thankful they can do so.
Regarding pro-life advocacy: the pro-life argument is a MORAL argument. Therefore, it cannot affirm one type of immorality (homosexual conduct) while speaking against another (abortion).
Kenneth Gentry, homosexuality is not immoral, nor is heterosexuality. If God hated gay people, why would it be in his plan to keep creating them? Unless you have someone who is bisexual, meaning they can be attracted to either sex, why would being gay be worthy of condemnation but being bisexual would not be?
Would you say the same for pedophilia? Would you ask why God keeps creating sinners? God does not create homosexuals, he creates people who fall into all sorts of sin. Sinners engage in sinful homosexual acts, which is as an aspect of their rebellion against God (see Rom. 1:25-28 below).
God created two distinct, mutually-compatible genders from the beginning, and ultimately for the purpose of procreation (Gen. 1:26-28). Therefore, homosexual conduct is condemned as sinful in both testaments, in that it is “unnatural” and opposed to God’s created order.
1 Cor 6:9 “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, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”
1 Tim 1:8 “But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.”
Rom 1:26 “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.”
There are, of course, many more heterosexual sinners than there are homosexual sinners, by the statistical nature of the case. Homosexual conduct is engaged by an extreme minority.
But by God’s grace, homosexuals can be converted to Christ, just as can any sinner (murderers, rapists, liars, whatever): 1 Cor. 6:11 “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.”