With the pending decision by the United States Supreme Court on the legality of homosexual marriage, there has been a heated debate recently over the issue. There is one voice, however, that is not being sufficiently considered, and that is from God Himself, who is really the only opinion that really matters. In this first installment of a three-part series on how each Person of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are being dismissed in this debate, we will start with how God the Father and His will are being ignored when it comes to this issue of gay marriage.
First, the Father’s standard is being ignored. Since everyone in this country is entitled to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” this supposedly is sufficient reason for allowing gay people to be legally married. Instead of trying to find justification from an imperfect document like the Declaration of Independence, shouldn’t we instead look to God’s perfect Law, which is the foundation for the laws in this country? After the first woman was created from the rib of the first man, God’s Word 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, English Standard Version). One man and one woman was always God’s plan for marriage; so to choose to try to redefine it is a bit presumptuous on our part, don’t you think? Who are you or me or even the Supreme Court justices to think we could have the authority to overrule God Himself and change what He has created to suit us and our own selfish desires? When we start saying, “marriage has traditionally been between a man and a woman,” we’re not really declaring truth, but actually falling for a lie. Marriage has not traditionally been a man and a woman; it is only to be that way because that is how God created it to be, and since He had the first word on marriage, He should have the last and every word in between. He has never opened it up for discussion.
Secondly, the Father’s love is also being ignored. God doesn’t just love everybody; He loves each and every person. That means He loves the guilty homosexual just as He loves the guilty blasphemer, and just as He loves the guilty murderer. God loves guilty sinners, no matter what the sin looks like in a person. While God does indeed love sinners, He hates sin; and this balance was perfectly displayed at the cross of Jesus Christ. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, ESV). “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Just because you love someone, that doesn’t mean you give them everything they want. If my 9-year-old daughter wanted to play with matches, would I be a good father by just giving in to her desires and handing her the matches? Of course not, and that’s the same with same-sex marriage too, for the behavior is sinful and self-destructive that draws the individual(s) farther away from God, His standard for living, and the Savior He lovingly sent to redeem and forgive each of us by grace through faith. Can God’s love still reach self-described “homosexuals” if gay-marriage was to be legalized? Certainly; but by acting in a way so contrary to God’s will, we as a country and a culture would be putting God’s patience and mercy to the test. This leads us to the third way we’re ignoring God the Father.
Finally, the Father’s judgment is being ignored. While they were on the brink of the Promised Land, Moses told the people of Israel, “It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve…You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 6:13-15, ESV). Just as the nation of Israel knew how God had been lovingly cared for them for 40 years in their journey to the Promised Land, we here in the USA know how God has been gracious to us for over 230 years. By going down the road of accepting what God says is unacceptable, we are going after “other gods” that Moses warned Israel about so long ago. These gods of today are the gods of tolerance, acceptance, and “political correctness,” and by going after them, we will show our contempt for the only true God and set ourselves up for His anger and wrath to be aimed at us. While God’s judgment comes in many forms, including Him merely giving us up to our own sinful desires and allowing us to reap the painful and inevitable consequences of our foolishness, God’s Word also makes it clear that there will be a Day of Judgment. And of God, the Bible says, “Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them” (Psalm 21:8-9, ESV). Until that all-consuming Day comes, there is still time, to turn back to God today.
So let us not ignore God, His standard for marriage, or His love for each one of us guilty sinners, but “seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7, ESV). “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3, ESV).
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