Maine is a state where the issue of homosexual marriage is at the forefront of political issues. With a heated campaign by both sides of the fence last November on a referendum question to repeal the legislative decision to allow gay marriage. In the end gay marriage was repealed and is not currently recognized in Maine. For those who lost the fight back in November there is probably much encouragement in a statement recently released by the Obama administration. Yesterday, during a press conference, Jay Carney, Obama's Press Secretary, explained that Obama was moving forward on recommending that the Defense of Marriage Act be deemed unconstitutional. The Defense of Marriage Act states that the only marriages that should be legally recognized are those between men and women, thus rendering same-sex marriage illegitimate.
As expected, Obama is already facing severe criticism for this decision. A Rhode Island bishop states that this decision by Obama is "a clear dereliction of duty and an obvious attempt to promote a politically-correct agenda in our nation." He is calling Rhode Islanders to stand against this decision. Surely it won’t be long before the rest of the Conservative Christian community makes similar statements. The attempt is to oppose the sinful activity of homosexuality and defend marriage as the institution that God designed it to be. This seems noble and consistent with Scripture, but it may be too late. Marriage may already be transformed into something God did not design it to be.
Christians who oppose gay marriage do so based on the premise that two people of the same gender cannot be married. This makes sense from a biblical perspective. The problem is the underlying premise, which is that the government legitimizes a marriage. In the biblical explanation of marriage there is never mention of any government role whatsoever. The only time the government stepped into a marriage was when a man would divorce his wife, which is not the design of marriage, and the government would force that man to treat the woman fairly, and not leave her destitute. From the first marriage, between Adam and Eve, marriage is seen as a covenant between the couple and God. It is never treated as a legal contract between the two parties.
The government does not legitimize a marriage, God does. Fighting gay marriage has no value. If God designed marriage to be between a man and a woman, which I believe He did, then that is what makes a marriage. The government may allow two people of the same sex to sign a marriage certificate and receive the legal advantages of a married couple, but the reality is that marriage is what God says it is. The government cannot change that. If someone, even the government, said that the law of gravity no longer applies, the fact remains that we are standing on the ground. The government has no authority in marriage or physics, so what they call a marriage is irrelevant.
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