Re-Defining Marriage?

What is marriage anyway?  It seems this question above any other ought to be explored these days.  In the last week i've seen no less than three articles in the local paper and have heard even more relative to the upcoming Health Care Bill discussions speaking to the status of marriage in the United States, more states expanding marriage to gay and lesbian couples (Washington D.C. being the latest) and other related topics.  Following are my thoughts on the subject for what they are worth:

First off, my starting point is similar to the one I presented in the last post on abortion, namely if marriage is just the joining of two entities who desire to enter into the state recognized union then by all means let there be no bounds on which two entities go through the process and call themselves married.  I don't intend to be crass or jocular at all in saying this, but if we continue down the road we are on I really don't think it will be that long until there is an outcry because a person cannot be married to their pet.  And why not?  If marriage is just the union of two entities who are dedicated to one another and who desire to live in the same home in a caring relationship then why should that not cover the situation I just described?  There are many who care deeply for their pets and in some situations the pet is very much loved and real caring relationship exists.

Re-defining marriage is only a problem if marriage was originally ordained by God as the Bible describes.  In other words, if man decides what constitutes marriage then it will always be in a state of flux.  As moods and conditions change, marriage as defined by the culture's ever changing attitudes must change as well.  However, if the Bible is true and the Biblical definition of marriage is true, then regardless of how culture changes marriage cannot change.  Why is that?  Why do Christians get so upset when gays and lesbians protest so vehemently to be included in marriage?

The answer is really quite simple.  God established marriage between a man and a woman as a picture, elsewhere described in the Bible as between Jesus and the Church, and also as a reflection of the very nature of God in the Trinity.  How so?  God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit have existed in the Trinity from eternity in a perfect relationship of community.  When God decided to create man, He said it was not good that man be alone and gave him a helpmeet, a partner of his own body to exist with in a relationship, namely woman (taken from man).  The man and the woman come together in an intimate way and the Holy Spirit then participates to knit the new life together in the mother's womb.  There is no other union where this particular arrangement, which was so beautifully orchestrated, can take place.  This is why there is no place in Scripture where homosexual relations are anything but condemned.  It is not that feelings are not present, or the desire to be intimate is not present, it is that any relationship other than that established by God does not reflect the glory of the relationship in the Trinity.  It does not bring glory to God, and therefore is a perversion of the natural, and should be condemned in any time and in any situation.

As to the sexual preferences of individuals the same sort of closer look is needed.  Desires and feelings for things other than those prescribed by God are real.  They are just as real as the desire to lie, to cheat, to steal, to dishonor parents.  As believers, we must acknowledge that the standard is the same for all sin, it is all deplorable for the same reason: we were created to bring glory to God, when we break His law whether in word, in thought, or in deed we fail to do as we were intended and are in need of forgiveness.  Faithfulness here I believe is the key.  We must either be faithful to God in being single, or be faithful to God in being married as God established.  In this point the Christian has done much damage over the years by not holding up the lifelong commitment and cheapened the covenant of marriage itself.  Just think, is it possible for the Trinity to be seperated?  That is exactly what divorce implies, that God can be seperated and eternal covenants can be broken.  The limitations of humankind, the fall of man and the subsequent provisions for divorce are not being discussed here, but the point remains that as Christians we must hold up our end of the bargain and not say on the one hand that marriage is a covenant relationship established by God and then run to divorce.  In "The Loving Opposition", Stanton L. Jones puts it this way, "Outside of the marriage of a man and woman, the proper use of sex is to honor God by costly obedience in living a chaste life...And so, the Christian vision for sexuality and marriage is our foundational reason for rejecting homosexual action as a legitimate moral option."

For the Christian, essence preceeds existance.  By that I mean that who we are should define what we do.  God created us to bring Him glory through being obedient to His Word, living our lives for Him in whatever circumstance or situation we are in, in short to use the free will with which we were created to actively pursue righteousness.  This is why marriage is such an important issue for believers, why homosexuality is similar to all other sin, it is attempting to revise or redefine our very essence, who we are, what we were created to be.

This is a tough issue and I hope this post has been presented in a way that lovingly but sternly addresses the issue from a Biblical point of view.  Quite simply, if the Bible is true then marriage is only defined and only legitimate if the arrangement is in accordance with the Word.  If marriage is defined by majority decision, or cultural climate, or poll data, or popular opinion then it can be anything and everything.  For my part, I believe even the idea that marriage can be re-defined is to believe a lie.  Marriage was established by God and will always be just as He originally gave it.  What contemporary culture chooses to call marriage, is not marriage re-defined, it is not marriage at all.