What Is Wrong With Same-Sex Marriage?

In a brazen attempt to destroy the human race, Satan the devil has influenced millions to embrace the idea of men “marrying” men and women “marrying” women! Otherwise intelligent people are being seduced by clever arguments and tactics into thinking that this once-unheard-of practice should be a “civil right.”

Our world is rapidly changing! It is amazing to see how swiftly so many are embracing a new way of life that for millennia was unthinkable. Even as recently as 40 years ago, in 1973, the American Psychiatric Association still considered the practice of homosexuality a “mental disorder.” This was not something from the far-off Dark Ages. These were modern men and women, many still alive today. Yet they watched as the APA gave in to pressure from homosexual activists and officially declared homosexual practice “normal.”

One has to wonder: did these psychiatrists begin to grasp what Jesus Christ meant when He described the wiles of Satan the devil? Jesus described Satan in this way, “When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). Satan wants mankind to believe a lie!

There is plenty of documentation about America’s headlong march into a new way of life apart from God’s word. Researcher David Kupelian outlines the transformation:

“Indeed, in fifty years we’ve gone from a nation unified by traditional Judeo-Christian values to one in which those same values are increasingly scorned, rejected, and demonized.

What’s going on? Are today’s Americans inherently more morally confused and depraved than previous generations?

Of course not. But we have been taken in—big-time—by some of the boldest and most brilliant marketing campaigns in modern history….

The plain truth is, within the space of our lifetimes, much of what Americans once almost universally abhorred has been packaged, perfumed, gift-wrapped, and sold to us as though it had great value. By skillfully playing on our deeply felt national values of fairness, generosity, and tolerance, these marketers have persuaded us to embrace as enlightened and noble that which all previous generations since America’s founding regarded as grossly self-destructive—in a word, evil” (The Marketing of Evil, pp. 11–12).

This transformation was not something random or spontaneous. It was planned by those who wanted to radically change society. Kupelian describes one of the many public demonstrations designed to bring the public’s attention and sympathy to their cause:

“One infamous incident was the assault on New York’s famed St. Patrick’s Cathedral on December 10, 1989. While Cardinal John O’Connor presided over the 10:15 Sunday morning Mass, a multitude of ‘pro-choice’ and ‘gay rights’ activists protested angrily outside. Some, wearing gold-colored robes similar to clerical vestments, hoisted a large portrait of a pornographically altered frontal nude portrait of Jesus.

‘You bigot, O’Connor, you’re killing us!’ screamed one protester, while signs called the archbishop ‘Murderer!’

Then it got really ugly. Scores of protesters entered the church, resulting in what many in the packed house of parishioners described as a ‘nightmare.’

‘The radical homosexuals turned a celebration of the Holy Eucharist into a screaming babble of sacrilege by standing in the pews, shouting and waving their fists, tossing condoms into the air,’ recounted the New York Post. One of the invaders grabbed a consecrated wafer and threw it to the ground.

Outside, demonstrators, many of them members of ACT-UP, carried placards that summed up their sentiments toward the Catholic Church: ‘Keep your church out of my crotch.’ ‘Keep your rosaries off my ovaries.’ ‘Eternal life to Cardinal John O’Connor NOW!’ ‘Curb your dogma’” (ibid., pp. 22–23).

Another important document to help us understand this transformation is a 1990 book by two Harvard-trained activists, who put together a public relations campaign to advance the “gay rights” movement. Their book was titled, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the ‘90s. As Kupelian explains:

“The bottom line of Kirk and Madsen’s master plan? ‘The campaign we outline in this book, though complex, depends centrally upon a program of unabashed propaganda, firmly grounded in long-established principles of psychology and advertising.’….

Simple case in point: homosexual activists call their movement ‘gay rights.’ This accomplishes two major objects: (1) Use of the word gay rather than homosexual masks the controversial sexual behavior involved and accentuates instead a vague but positive-sounding cultural identity—gay, which, after all, once meant ‘happy’; and (2) describing their battle from the get-go as one over ‘rights’ implies homosexuals are being denied the basic freedoms of citizenship that others enjoy” (ibid., p. 24).

Satan’s Clever Lie

Satan the devil often uses human instruments to accomplish his purpose—often very educated and clever human instruments. For, as the “Master Deceiver,” Satan wants results. And he knows that people like to empathize with an oppressed victim, which helps them feel better about themselves. So he focuses people’s attention on the idea that homosexual men and women are “born that way” and supposedly cannot help themselves.

One focus of his attack involves the idea of a “gay gene”—part of the inherited makeup of a person supposedly “born” to be a homosexual. However, reputable science not tied to the “gay agenda” has shown that this gene is a myth. In his technical paper “Male homosexuality: absence of linkage to microsatellite markers at Xq28,” published in the respected Science periodical, clinical neurologist George Rice and his fellow researchers confirmed that no connection could be proved between any supposed “gay gene” and a tendency toward homosexual orientation. And, when pressed on the question, even former “gay gene” advocate Dr. Dean Hamer, whose activism first promoted the idea 20 years ago, has admitted, “There is not a single master gene that makes people gay.… I don’t think we will ever be able to predict who will be gay” (“Science of Desire,” Salt Lake Tribune, April 28, 1995).

Yet the “gay gene” idea—certainly influenced and guided along its path by Satan the devil—even now continues to be used by homosexual activists to convince weak-minded people to believe that homosexuals “can’t help themselves.” Certainly, all human experience indicates that people may have a tendency toward alcoholism through their family heredity, a tendency to be fat or thin, a tendency toward violent tempers, etc. But if you believe the word of God’s clear statements, you will know that there is absolutely no way that the God of the Bible will cause anyone at any time to be “born” so that he has to sin—so that he has to go against God’s clear instructions! Almighty God inspired the Apostle Paul to write, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

So, God will never—at any time—force anyone to sin. That should be very plain through this verse and many others that say essentially the same. And it is not just a few words of Scripture that tell us this; there remain a few courageous leaders in society who remember what we all knew just a few decades ago.

Why the Change?

For some activists, it is simple; their desire for “personal gratification”—regardless of the potentially terrible effect on society—is all that matters. To change millennia of tradition or long-standing civil laws is of no concern. Even though every one of these activists had a mother and a father, they want to see a society where the biological reality gives way to a “politically correct” enforcement of “two mommies” or “two daddies” in households that choose that lifestyle.

And who is considering the terrible health consequences? Studies have shown that—even apart from the terrible scourge of AIDS—men who have sex with men have dramatically shorter lifespans than other men. Some of this involves the higher suicide rate among homosexuals. Some of it involves other diseases that involve cleanliness. Some involves the alcohol and drug abuse that is such a common part of the “gay lifestyle.”

The activist left and the mass media do not hesitate to point out the very real and troubling consequences of cigarette smoking, which may shorten a smoker’s lifetime by a decade. Yet they are silent—or even approving—of what even many doctors have recognized as a lifestyle that can shorten a man’s life by 20 years or more!

Ultimately, though, what matters is not what the media may say, or what health officials have found. The “key” fact that we should truly be willing to listen to is: What does Almighty God—the Creator of heaven and earth—have to say about this idea of same-sex “marriage”?

What God Says

Almighty God instructed ancient Israel, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). In the New Testament, God inspired the Apostle Paul to describe how the “great thinkers” of his day actually were viewed in the sight of Almighty God: “Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22). Paul continued, “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (vv. 26–27).

Are Paul’s words hard to understand? Even many professing Christian ministers seem to have a hard time acknowledging that God powerfully condemns such conduct. Why would anyone want to promote conduct that is called abominable by Almighty God Himself?

All of you who have actually studied the Bible know that it is filled with direct instructions and examples which very clearly indicate that our Creator intended marriage to be a union between a man and woman. God did not create “Adam and Adam”! He created Adam and Eve. Jesus Christ Himself directly stated, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” (Matthew 19:4–5).

The Apostle Paul was inspired to tell us that the intended relationship of a husband and wife is to typify the relationship of Christ and the Church. Paul wrote, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Ephesians 5:22–25). Giving inspired instruction to widows, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully” (1 Timothy 5:14). This is God’s stated purpose for the marital relationship.

Paul was inspired to write, “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.... For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man” (1 Corinthians 11:3, 7–9).

Men need to understand that the Eternal God created our female partners to be the beautiful companions and the helpers for us men. For this, we should all be very thankful! When I walk into my home after a day’s work, I am thankful to be able to have a beautiful companion greeting me with a very loving embrace. I am thankful for her feminine beauty, her soft skin and the smell of her hair. For me, another man could never fulfill this need—any more than a mule or kangaroo could! I am deeply grateful for God’s gift of the male-female union!

The Creator God tells men, “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love” (Proverbs 5:18–19). The natural love of a young man and woman in marriage is a beautiful thing in God’s sight. For He is the Author of marriage—not some man or the courts of men! God told the Israelites that He would not regard their offerings for one reason: “Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth” (Malachi 2:14–15).

The Covenant of Marriage

The “covenant” of marriage was intended by our Creator to produce “godly offspring”! How can a humanly invented union of Bible-rejecting men produce “godly offspring”? How can this unbiblical use of the human body, mind and personality ever be pleasing to the Creator God who gives us life and breath?

Some years ago, my family and I were visiting my mother in Joplin, Missouri. Since my church had no local congregation in Joplin back in those days, I packed our entire family into the station wagon and drove up to Springfield to attend services there. Since my Methodist grandmother wanted to hear me preach, we took her along as well as my daughter, Elizabeth. Although the idea had not occurred to me at the time, our local minister in Springfield thoughtfully stated in introducing me for the sermon: “Brethren, we have with us today four generations of Merediths! For Mr. Meredith has brought here with him today his mother, his grandmother and his daughter Elizabeth.”

Through the decades, my father’s mother and father, my mother and father, and various uncles and aunts have all pointed out the meaningful connections between each of us: “You look just like your mother.” And, “You have this trait just like Uncle John.” We have shared memories of how my “Grandfather Meredith” brought his new wife, Elizabeth Cunningham Meredith, to Oklahoma in a covered wagon before Oklahoma was recognized as a state. It was still called Indian Territory. And I will always remember the joyful family gatherings with various uncles, aunts and cousins—as well as our parents and grandparents—who would lovingly share many stories of our common heritage. Each and every one of us was the grateful product of the union between a mother and a father. We experienced the family blessings God desires for all families that follow His inspired pattern of family life!

Family Is the Key!

My friends, our Creator is Himself called: “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). He has made us in His image. He intends to build a family through His Spirit-begotten children by “impregnating” us with part of His divine nature through the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:3–4). God has intended that the human family be a “type” of His divine family, with the loving father as the head, and obedient children gathered together who have a common heritage—for they will have come right out of the “seed” of God the Father (1 John 3:9). In this way, once we are fully “born of God” we will fully reflect the very nature of God in a manner not possible in any other way than having this common heritage.

When the God-ordained family structure is destroyed—a structure, designed by God, which has served mankind for thousands of years—the strength of nations, of cities and of families will never be the same again! God help all of us to wake up! May God help all of us to “cry out” for Christ’s Kingdom to come soon. For that is the only genuine and permanent solution. Only this will give us the strength to resist Satan’s lies, as he pushes more and more people to accept “same-sex marriage.” If we do not resist, we can expect to see not just polygamy, polyandry and “group marriage”—already being discussed by some—but many other new arrangements put forward to replace what God intended.

Please understand! No one should feel “trapped” in homosexuality, afraid that a same-sex marriage may be the best he or she can have. Although homosexual activists consider “reparative therapy” controversial, and some treatments may be more sound than others, there are many examples of happy men and women who have abandoned the “gay” lifestyle, gotten rid of their former same-sex attraction, and married a loving spouse of the opposite sex! Some have found help from secular therapists such as those associated with the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. Others have turned to counselors associated with their religious faith. The point is that God does not make anyone live the homosexual lifestyle. For those who want to get out of that lifestyle, God will provide the will and the way. And, for Christians with the Holy Spirit, God’s direct power is available to help overcome this and any other human weakness!

We must resist the lies of Satan the devil. Truly, as we see these things unfolding before our very eyes, it should give emphatic meaning to the first request which Jesus told us to make when we pray, “Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).