Hey, everybody, grab your helmets, shields and swords! Marriage is under attack! This seems to be the battle cry today across our country, esp. among Christians. I have a few things to say on this subject. Let me get these couple of things out of the way first, so y'all will know my basic positions. I believe homosexuality is a sin. I believe that it is a choice, maybe not a simple one like which shirt to wear to work today, but a choice none the less. I believe that marriage is supposed to be between a man and a woman.
Having said all that, I have a few problems with this whole, "save marriage from the queers" movement. First, how is marriage under attack simply because another group of people want to be married? Before you go ballistic on me, I understand that allowing same-sex couples to marry changes the very definition of marriage. I am not in favor of allowing same-sex couples marry, but it is not the end of marriage and what really appalls me about the whole "defense of marriage" is that with a divorce rate of around 50% for the last few decades, it would appear that marriage has been under attack from opposite sex couples for quite some time, with little fanfare to save it. Maybe if Christians spent their time helping to shore up the "correct" married couples, marriage might be stronger and could withstand the introduction of homosexuals.
Second, I believe that much of the motivation to oppose same-sex marriage and anything homosexual is the "ick factor." For most people the thought of homosexuality is disgusting, pure and simple. It is unnatural and we can't even think about it. This is natural. What is wrong is when Christians cloth their human distaste for homosexuality in a garb of spirituality. While God clearly condemns homosexuality, He does so in the same breath as He condemns adultery and pre-marital sex. Christians need to be honest in their reasons for their actions, and be certain that they are actually trying to be one with God and thus condemn what He condemns. Be sure that it is righteous indignation and not just human disgust that is moving you.
Third, I heard a pastor on a popular, Christian radio show the other day talking about the meeting he and his church had organized in Seattle on this issue. He made a statement that crystallizes what I see to be a major failing of Christians today, esp. in this area. He said, "We have brought God on board for our fight." Uhmm, aren't we, as Christians, supposed to be fighting His fight and not the other way around. Too often today, Christians have looked to changing the Government or laws to make society look more Christ-like, instead of looking to God and leading the lost to Christ, so they will actually be Christ-like. I believe that Christians today have lost their way. We feel that our lives would be better if everyone acted like we do or at least like we claim to act, so we try to legislate people to behave as Christians, even those who aren't Christians. Dr. Bob Jones Sr. is the example we should be following. He went all over the South preaching the Gospel. In many a place bars closed down, not just for the length of the revival, but permanently. He did not march in front of their doors, decrying the ills of booze. He did not pass laws outlawing drinking. He did not run for Congress to stop alcohol. He simply preached the Word of God and men got saved, women got saved and they no longer wanted the bottle, they no longer wanted to sell liquor to their friends and neighbors, hence the closing of bars. He looked to God to stop the evil, and did his one main job as a Christian-lead people to Jesus!
Finally, there is a move afoot to amend the U.S. Constitution with the purpose to "permanently define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. This is the wrong answer. The Constitution is not the place to change social problems. The only purely social change ever amended to the Constitution was the outlawing of alcohol, and that one was later repealed. This does not bode well for the "defense of Marriage" amendment. It too could be repealed at a later date. More importantly, this amendment would introduce into the Constitution a concept that is foreign to its very nature. It is the bedrock of our country's laws, but it is designed to deal with the fundamental, underlying principles that make all our other laws possible, turning it into a battlefield for social change will cheapen it and will backfire on those who endorse this measure, because then we have opened the door to all social change and one day, there will be those that are in the majority that will want to deal with the social "problem" of Christians.
Christians, if you want to do something to fight what appears to the ever declining state of our nation, stop looking to Washington for the answers and do what the Bible tells us to do, " If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2Chron. 7:14 and "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all the things whatsoever I have commanded you..." Matt. 28:19-20a.