Same-sex marriage: Right or wrong? — Has everyone forgotten God’s word?
Julie, 16, offers her views on why she thinks same-sex marriage is wrong.
It has been painful this year to turn on the news and see gay couples who have just gotten married. As a conservative Christian, it seems to me like the secular world has been going down the drain morally. Churches, which claim to follow God, should not be marrying gay couples, and our nation, which was built on Christian moral principles, should not allow it. God says "no" to homosexuality and therefore also "no" to same-sex marriage.
"Why do you even care? Why do you bother? Why can’t you just agree with people just for the heck of it … then you don’t have to always get into arguments … dud e… I mean you have your beliefs, they have theirs. Let the politicians run this world. Relax." I get these comments now and then. Most people do not understand why Christians are so "bigoted" and "narrow-minded;" why we are willing to submit our lives to an intangible God that they cannot see. And I guess you can never truly understand unless you yourself have a relationship with the almighty God.
The Bible is not a book of rules and fictitious stories made up by man, but it is the very words of God and the true history of how this world began and how it will eventually end. Although the Bible was written years ago, it is still relevant. The Lord cannot be "out-of-date." Hebrews 13:8 says "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Christianity is not just a belief. It is the truth that applies to every living being of this world. This universe is God’s creation regardless of people’s opinions and beliefs. It is the Truth. The Life. It is who I am. So when my friends tell me to let things slide, not just for the issue of homosexuality and gay marriage, I cannot. I cannot compromise my faith in God, for I would not only let my Father in heaven down but would also betray the very person that I am.
What is the truth about homosexuality? Jesus never flat out said, "homosexuality is wrong," but then Jesus also never mentioned lying or stealing. Does that imply that lying and stealing are not sins? Absolutely not. Jesus did, however, acknowledge that marriage is between a man and a woman in Matthew 19:4-6. It is also written in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that "homosexual offenders" will not inherit the kingdom of God, as translated in the New International Version of the Bible.
God created Adam and Eve
Marriage is more than a tradition. It is rooted deeply in something that is greater—something that is beyond all of us. Before we had history textbooks, before any historians could have scratched down a date, and even before the fall of man, marriage was there. In the beginning of time, shortly after God made the Earth, our Creator made the first man and woman: Adam and Eve as husband and wife. Genesis 2:24 says "a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." Adam and Eve are the absolute picture of what marriage should be because this union existed before sin. Nowhere is it recorded that God made marriage to be between a man and a man or a woman and a woman. Then where did homosexuality come from if God did not ordain it? The answer is clear. Anything apart from the actual plan of God is the work of sin.
Humans, who are sinful, can stray from what is natural. Romans 1, verses 26 and 27 states:
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Some say that if two of the same gender love each other, nobody has the right to refuse them to marry. But are we even talking about "love?" As is indicated in Romans 1:26-27, homosexual desire is not love but "shameful lust."
I find it extremely strange when the world accuses God of not being loving because He does not tolerate such things as homosexuality. It seems like everything is being twisted into the opposite. What is wrong has become tolerated and accepted. Lust has become seen as love, while God is accused of being unloving. This is ironic because God is love and the reason we know how to love today. The Bible says: "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins … God is love … We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:10,16,19).
Loving the sinner, not the sin
You may wonder how God can possibly love homosexuals and yet condemn their sinful lifestyle at the same time. Let’s say that you grow up and marry a person that you truly love, yet this person is unfaithful to you. While you still love him or her dearly, do you tolerate his or her sin? In the same way, God does not accept the sins of homosexuals, but because of His loving nature, He still loves them. This not only applies to homosexuals but to everybody, for we are all sinners. Sin causes others and ourselves to hurt and eventually leads to death (hell). Because of our sinful nature, there is no way, it seems, for us to get to heaven or to obtain any healing. But Jesus Christ was crucified as a sacrifice for our sins. Once you open up your heart to Jesus, there is repentance, salvation, healing, and a sense of freedom and joy that cannot be obtained otherwise.
I know that many people won’t agree with me. It’s not so much that I expect everyone to agree with my views, as I want a chance to be heard and to share what God has to say. For me, it’s really scary to see that this world is slowly erasing God out of every aspect of our lives, and that’s such a loss to all of us.
I believe that our country should still uphold the values of God, as it once did. However, even if the legal system says "yes" to same-sex marriage in the future, it will never be recognized in the eyes of God. God is the beginning and the end, the Lord of Lords and Judge of all judges. He is above all authority, and definitely above our courts. Marriage is a gift that God made for mankind, and we must cherish it the way He made it. It is part of the divine creation of God and should not—cannot—be altered.
For more about the conservative Christian view of homosexuality: http://www.ankerberg.org/Articles/theological-dictionary/TD0803W3A.htm