Redefining Marriage
When Jesus was asked concerning divorce in Matthew 19, His immediate reply serves as the most concise statement made concerning marriage in all the Bible. Jesus said:
4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 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’? 6“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” ( Matthew 19:4-6).
Jesus answered their question by returning to the institution of marriage. He did not consult the majority of opinion, or poll the audience to ensure that no one would be offended. Jesus went directly to the source of marriage, His Father. The law of marriage instituted by God in the garden of Eden serves for all time and is immutable. Marriage is the union of one male and one female.
This law of marriage established by God seemed not only disagreeable with the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, but now is being redefined by many mainline denominations to include homosexual unions. On March 9, 2015, “The largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States is only seven votes away from having enough regional bodies favor changing its official definition of marriage to include homosexual unions.” The Presbyterian Church (USA) has already adopted amendments in their Book of Order (doctrinal handbook, bcj) that redefines marriage from “a man and a woman” to “two people, traditionally a man and a woman.” This year the assembly is simply pushing this redefinition to its final end. One of their proponents justifies this new definition of marriage by saying, “Our goal is to share with them the love of Jesus Christ and to let them know that they are fully loved, fully welcomed as they, who they are.” It seems by this statement that they have redefined much more than just marriage.
While we may ignore this redefinition because it comes from the church’s national body of its congregants, the Presbyterian Church of North Alabama voted 28 to 24 to accept this new definition of marriage. This is no longer an accepted lifestyle just in the bigger cities and along the coasts, but rather one voted on and accepted at First Presbyterian Church, Florence, Alabama. The law of marriage in the Presbyterian Church is no longer dependent upon the Word of God, but rather is based upon the majority of opinion. As Reverend Tom Lovell prayed after their vote tally, “We are different minds of this topic, but we pray that we are of the same heart. We pray that we recognize and respect one another’s opinions in a way that brings glory to you.” They have single handily considered their opinions as more important that the inspired Word of God.
We need to get back to the basics of teaching God’s will for man and woman in marriage. The law of marriage is not dependent upon those in Montgomery, Washington D.C., or any local denomination, but rather resides solely upon the authority of the One who created it. Therefore, while the majority may be swayed by “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life,” these things are not of the Father, but of the world. We must find ourselves standing firmly upon those things taught in the Word of God. Marriage will always be a union between one man and one woman and anything different is apostasy.
By Colby Junkin
http://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2015/02/presbyterian_gay_marriage.html
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