The Fight for Biblical Marriage

by Ken Ham on November 26, 2014

The battle over whether to legalize gay “marriage” continues to rage across America. Thankfully, in a recent decision, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Michigan have all upheld the marriage ban against same-sex marriages.

A Victory For Christianity?

Most journalists and lawyers believe that this issue will likely soon head to the U.S. Supreme Court. As Christians, we need to be in prayer that if and when it does fall to the Supreme Court to make a decision, that our nation will honor God and His Word. We need to be active in praying that God’s definition of marriage—not man’s—will be upheld in our courts.

While we rejoice that these four states—including our state, Kentucky—have decided not to allow for same-sex marriage, it is clear that, while we may have won this battle, we are losing the war across the nation. According to the Human Rights Campaign, in 33 states and the District of Columbia, gay “marriage” is now legal—and 17 of these rulings have come in this year. How has this happened so quickly? Well, we have seen a dramatic shift in recent years from people basing their thinking about marriage on God’s Word to people simply forming their opinions about marriage on what is popular. And, sadly, the church has not presented a unified front against so-called gay marriage but, instead, much of the church has compromised with man’s word and sided with culture by endorsing gay marriage. As I have been saying for years, if you reject biblical authority in one area—such as Genesis—compromise in other areas soon follows, and that is exactly what has been happening. After all, the doctrine of marriage comes directly out of Genesis! Jesus Himself reaffirmed that marriage is for one man and one woman because that is what God created it to be (Matthew 19:4–5). However, since much of the church has rejected a literal Genesis, it is no surprise that many, even in our churches, have also rejected the biblical definition of marriage.

Marriage Is God's To Define

Now, according to Genesis, God has the right to define marriage because He created us and He created marriage. He did this when he made the first man and woman—Adam and Eve. But if man simply determines truth, then man gets to define marriage however he wants to. It’s actually interesting to note that people who want gay marriage want “marriage” between two men or two women—but why two? Where did they get two from? Actually, from the Bible in Genesis, when God created marriage with two people. But true marriage is between a man and woman—anything else is a perversion of the truth. If man can decide what marriage is and isn’t, what’s to stop marriage from becoming between a man and three women or two men and a woman? Or what about between a man and an animal? After all, those who believe in evolution believe we are just animals related to all other animals! As soon as the biblical foundation for marriage from the absolute authority of God’s Word—one man for one woman—is destroyed, you no longer are able to say that any of these other “marriages” would be wrong. But God’s Word makes it clear that “marriage” other than one man for one woman is sinful, because God instituted marriage between one man and one woman.

As Christians, we need to stand boldly on the Word of God—even when it goes against the culture. It is God’s Word, not man’s, that will endure forever (Isaiah 40:8), and that is a firm foundation for our thinking (Matthew 7:24).

How Can You Make A Difference In Today's Culture?

And sadly, just because a law may change in favor of Christianity, it does not mean it cannot change back again. And while Christians can work to change laws as part of being salt and light, we must be focused on spreading the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and seeing hearts and minds changed for the Lord—only then will we make a difference in this culture. I explain more of this in my article “Are Christians Commanded to Change the Culture?

To learn more about what the Bible says about marriage, please visit this topic page.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

 

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.

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