I live in a state where the populous has decided that all people regardless of race, religion, sex, or socioeconomic status should be allowed to marry any other person regardless of race, religion, sex or socioeconomic status.
This fact doesn't really affect my daily life. Sure, I see same sex couples around town, but their legal relational status is not known to me.
I think the Bible is pretty clear in God's design for marriage. God created man, saw that he was lonely, and then created a woman who would be a suitable helper for him. Then they were told to multiply. God put them in the Garden and told them to rule over all the plants and animals on the earth. And everything was perfect.
Last year I read a fabulous book by Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage. In the book Keller writes about a translation issue with regards to "suitable". The Hebrew definition of "suitable" is "like opposite him" another translation says "counterpart" which can be defined as "one of two parts that fit, complete or compliment the other". I'm not making this stuff up people. Two parts that fit. I love this visual.
Before sin, the only picture we have of marriage is the one God provided in Genesis. Adam and Eve in perfect peace. They lay naked together and there was no shame. They knew each other as intimately as possible and they were perfectly comfortable together as complete counterparts. Beautiful.
However, after the apple snacks, things changed. Now there would be shame with each other and before God. The first thing they did was hide because they were scantily clad. This is symbolic of those dark places that we don't want anyone to know about. After the sin everyone had all sorts of things to be ashamed of! Our great heroes in the Bible were guilty of murder, adultery, lying, child abandonment, unbelief, denying Christ, disobedience, pride, lust, anger, and unfaithfulness to friends, spouse, and God. I could go on and on but the point is, after sin entered into the picture, a whole bunch of things fell out of order including marriage.
Marriage was in disorder.
Marriage IS in disorder.
People who are of the same sex and want to be married haven't caused the breakdown of "marriage". Heterosexual couples have been breaking down marriage for decades. People enter into and pull themselves out of marriage covenants without really taking into account the cost. People cheat, people lie, people are unkind and competitive. People put their marriage second or third or fourth in the line of priorities. People do not regard their spouse in the way that God desires them to.
God's design for marriage is MORE than just a man and a woman in a garden. His design was for a man and woman to serve Him and serve each other. His design was for marriage to be the most important earthly relationship anyone would have. For this man and this woman to be the physical representation of God's love for us. Together to be complete.
I'm not overly concerned with the Supreme Court ruling on marriage. God designed marriage, not the Supreme Court and God's law governs marriage not the law of the land. It doesn't matter if marriage is legal or not in any state or country, marriage as God designed it to be is not a legal status, it is a holy covenant.
I believe when God looks at a "married" homosexual couple, he does not see marriage as he designed it to be. However, I also believe that God looks at a whole lot of "marriages" and doesn't see the relationship as the covenant that he designed it to be.
There is a lot of focus on who should be in a marriage not designed by God and rather little on the design of marriage.
I wonder, if Christians were as concerned about marriages between a man and woman being in line with God's design as they are about marriage between two of the same sex being Biblical, what would happen to marriage?
This fact doesn't really affect my daily life. Sure, I see same sex couples around town, but their legal relational status is not known to me.
I think the Bible is pretty clear in God's design for marriage. God created man, saw that he was lonely, and then created a woman who would be a suitable helper for him. Then they were told to multiply. God put them in the Garden and told them to rule over all the plants and animals on the earth. And everything was perfect.
Last year I read a fabulous book by Timothy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage. In the book Keller writes about a translation issue with regards to "suitable". The Hebrew definition of "suitable" is "like opposite him" another translation says "counterpart" which can be defined as "one of two parts that fit, complete or compliment the other". I'm not making this stuff up people. Two parts that fit. I love this visual.
Before sin, the only picture we have of marriage is the one God provided in Genesis. Adam and Eve in perfect peace. They lay naked together and there was no shame. They knew each other as intimately as possible and they were perfectly comfortable together as complete counterparts. Beautiful.
However, after the apple snacks, things changed. Now there would be shame with each other and before God. The first thing they did was hide because they were scantily clad. This is symbolic of those dark places that we don't want anyone to know about. After the sin everyone had all sorts of things to be ashamed of! Our great heroes in the Bible were guilty of murder, adultery, lying, child abandonment, unbelief, denying Christ, disobedience, pride, lust, anger, and unfaithfulness to friends, spouse, and God. I could go on and on but the point is, after sin entered into the picture, a whole bunch of things fell out of order including marriage.
Marriage was in disorder.
Marriage IS in disorder.
People who are of the same sex and want to be married haven't caused the breakdown of "marriage". Heterosexual couples have been breaking down marriage for decades. People enter into and pull themselves out of marriage covenants without really taking into account the cost. People cheat, people lie, people are unkind and competitive. People put their marriage second or third or fourth in the line of priorities. People do not regard their spouse in the way that God desires them to.
God's design for marriage is MORE than just a man and a woman in a garden. His design was for a man and woman to serve Him and serve each other. His design was for marriage to be the most important earthly relationship anyone would have. For this man and this woman to be the physical representation of God's love for us. Together to be complete.
I'm not overly concerned with the Supreme Court ruling on marriage. God designed marriage, not the Supreme Court and God's law governs marriage not the law of the land. It doesn't matter if marriage is legal or not in any state or country, marriage as God designed it to be is not a legal status, it is a holy covenant.
I believe when God looks at a "married" homosexual couple, he does not see marriage as he designed it to be. However, I also believe that God looks at a whole lot of "marriages" and doesn't see the relationship as the covenant that he designed it to be.
There is a lot of focus on who should be in a marriage not designed by God and rather little on the design of marriage.
I wonder, if Christians were as concerned about marriages between a man and woman being in line with God's design as they are about marriage between two of the same sex being Biblical, what would happen to marriage?
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