What Is the Big Deal with Same Sex Marriage?

In thinking about the issue of same sex marriage, there are two main issues involved, homosexuality and marriage itself.

A Scriptural Foundation For Understanding Marriage

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:27–28, ESV)

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4–6, ESV)

Marriage Was Designed By God To Be:

• Complementary
• Exclusive/Monogamous
• Fruitful/Place of Procreation
• Permanent

God is for Sex and Sex is for marriage

Procreation is not the Sole purpose for marriage, but procreation is to be rooted in marriage

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31–32, ESV)

Marriage was intended to Reflect the relationship between Christ and His Church (bride of Christ – Revelation 19:7)

“Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.” (Baptist Faith and Message, Article XVIII, “The Family”)

What Is the State’s Interest in Marriage?

Government recognizes marriage because it is an institution that benefits society in a way that no other relationship does. Marriage is society’s best way to ensure the well-being of children with minimal state involvement.

The state’s interest in marriage is not that it cares about anyone’s love life for the sake of romance. The state’s interest in marriage is ensuring that children have mothers and fathers involved in their lives.

“Marriage exists to unite a man and a woman as husband and wife to then be equipped to be mother and father to any children that that union produces. It’s based on the anthropological truth that men and women are distinct and complementary. It’s based on the biological fact that reproduction requires a man and a woman. It’s based on the sociological reality that children deserve a mother and a father.” Ryan T. Anderson

The state will define marriage the only question is will it define marriage based on the Desires of Adults or the needs of children?

Laws teach and shape beliefs. Beliefs shape behavior. Beliefs and behaviors affect human interests and well-being.

Example: No fault divorce laws

What Are the Likely Costs to Redefining Marriage?

1. It will fundamentally Reorient marriage away from the needs of children and toward the desire of adults.
2. It will further Erode other historic components of marriage: monogamy, sexually exclusivity and permanent union.
3. It will further threaten Religious Liberty.

What Do I Do?

1. Pray
2. Live Out God’s design for singleness, marriage and sexuality
3. Educate and Communicate
4. Involve Yourself with groups championing God’s design for marriage
5. Participate in the rights and responsibilities of citizenship
6. Lovingly Minister God’s grace and truth to those who may practice another belief or lifestyle