"Gay marriage" is getting a lot of press these days.
The very idea that men could marry men was pushed to the forefront in the last decade.
2004, and the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that indeed men many marry men, and women may marry women.
The first state to sanction gay marriage then set a heady, empty precedent in which more states, little by little, have endorsed gay marriage.
California passed by constitutional amendment a prohibition against gay marriage, which is now being debated and contested in the Supreme Court.
Point of fact, homosexuality is a choice, and a bad one. Homosexuality is a sin, but not the worst one, not as bad as any other.
Men and women were never called to identity with their sexuality or their sexual behavior.
In fact, we identify with one of two men:
"15But not as the
offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many
be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by
one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16And not as it
was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was
by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto
justification. 17For if by one man's
offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace
and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the
righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification
of life. 19For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous. 20Moreover the law
entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound: 21That as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5: 15-21)
Adam or Jesus — one or the other. We are defined not by what we do, but who we identify with.
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam
was made a quickening spirit." (1 Corinthians 15: 45)
So, we have a choice. We can die in Adam, or we can live again in Christ.
We are invited through the Glorious Good New of Jesus Christ to die to our former status in Adam, and to enter into New Life in Christ. Using the analogy of a wife, a woman cannot enter into another marriage as long as her husband is still alive. Under the Old Covenant, the Israelites were married to the law. The law is perfect and good, but we cannot meet the law. We needed to die so that we could be free of the law, and thus God has provided the death for us, through His Son:
ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be
married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we
should bring forth fruit unto God. 5For when we were in the
flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to
bring forth fruit unto death. 6But now we are
delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should
serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." (Romans 7: 4-6)
her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she
shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came
up out of the land of Egypt.
16And it shall be at
that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me
no more Baali." (Hosea 2: 15-16)
and
"Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou
shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and
shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer
the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called." (Isaiah 54: 4-5)
husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." (2 Corinthians 11: 2)
through their word;
one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one
in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou
hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (John 17: 20-23)
church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all
things he might have the preeminence." (Colossians 1: 18)