Information Related to "Saving Marriage: Beyond Constitutional Amendments"
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And I now pronounce you husband and wife!" These or similar words have long marked the union between a man and a woman in marriage, the time-honored institution that has been the bedrock of stability for society.
When several judges and other government officials in some American states broadened the definition of marriage to include same-sex unions last year, thousands of couples took vows to legitimize their relationships. Conservative Christians and others cried foul. The traditional meaning of marriage, they insisted, must be preserved. The consequences of changing marriage would be dire, they warned, including the destruction of the traditional family, staggering health-care costs, impair-ment of religious freedom and suffering of children.
Their opponents called them hypocrites. Could both have been right? Let's examine what the Bible teaches and compare that to the current efforts of professing Christians to save marriage. You may be surprised by what we find.
Same-sex relationships: What does the Bible say?
The biblical position on same-sex marriage is not difficult to understand. Moses, under God's inspiration, wrote: "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22).
The apostle Paul reaffirms the unacceptable nature of this lifestyle in his letter to the Corinthian church: "Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders . . . will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, New International Version). Unless there is real repentance, the ultimate penalty remains the same: "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
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