Marriage

Why marriage? Why should we even bother with the formalities? Isn't it basically a legal way of saying two people want to live together? So what's the fuss all about? And now that homosexuals are asking for the same rights as the heterosexuals, what's the harm?

But I ask again, why marriage? Where did this idea even come from? I'll be honest, until I started writing on this subject I never thought I'd be asking if marriage somehow originated from the animal kingdom, as in evolution. It's an interesting question, is it not? How, and more succinctly, why would marriage even begin if we evolved from apes, or monkeys, or some other creature? As I looked at this subject, it occurred to me that evolutionists have yet another question to answer to corroborate their theory. It doesn't make sense that as man evolved from the animal kingdom that out of ignorance, with no knowledge or need for such a system, we would have created a social order that would take primal instincts and relegate it to a restrictive notion as marriage.

In a comprehensive look at this question, gospelhour.net has explained this in more depth. It appears that evolutionists have tried to answer this preposterous question, and their answers lack veracity. It's a leap in any case to first believe that something was created from nothing and then believe that life was brought forth by nonliving matter. But it's an even greater insult to the intelligence to suggest that ethics, morality, feelings, emotions, etc. somehow just evolved when it never existed. Where would the very idea develop? And why would man take something so primitive and free, as liberals like suggest about sex, and come up with a social institution like marriage that restricts them to boundaries and laws, thus making sex dull and confined as is their understanding?

By using this logic, therefore, wouldn't it suggest that as man evolved, man's intelligence and intuitiveness would also have evolved? So carrying this through, over time as societies became more aware of civilized behavior, wouldn't they begin to acknowledge the value and merit of monogamy, and even more so, marriage? Whey then, are those who support this theory trying to revert us back to primitive behavior? Isn't that counterproductive in the progression of evolution?

There's so many flaws in these hypothetical preconceived notions that it would take volumes of pages to repudiate them in great detail. And there are some that have done so within the Christian community. Let it suffice to say that I'm not buying it. Never have and never will.

So what are we left with then? If on one hand evolution is a weak argument for the institution of marriage, wouldn't it be safe to assume that it had to come from somewhere, perhaps Someone? My argument, rather should I say it's the argument of many faithful believers in a Creator, asserts that it came from the God of the Bible. I have seen no other book, resource, or explanation that would adequately disprove that God Himself created marriage for the enjoyment of his creation and for His glory.

If God then is the origin of marriage, wouldn't that imply there was a purpose to this structure? Contrary to most of the intellectual thought of today, marriage has a far greater purpose than just building upon stable relationships that nourish a need for care and compassion. It even goes beyond the feelings and emotions of love. Familyministries.com suggests that "God's primary purpose for marriage is to use it to help shape us into the image of His Son." I would take that even a step further. The fact that God has saved us through His Son, Jesus, tells us there is a greater purpose. It's not about us. The ultimate goal is not even to save us and conform us into His Son's image. Everything God does is for the sole purpose of bringing glory to Himself. Jesus life, Jesus' death on the cross, Jesus' resurrection, our salvation, the community of believers, our worship all suggest that everything is to bring glory to God!

So what is it about marriage that brings glory to God? Marriage is a unique relationship that exemplifies God's nature. God is in a communal relationship with the Trinity. Though I can't adequately understand, let alone explain this, God is three persons in One. But in this unique relationship, God the Father is contantly pouring out His love and personification to the Son and the Spirit. The Son, likewise to the Father and the Spirit. And the Spirit to the Father and the Son. It's always a giving, committed, selfless action of love that one pours out to the other. It's the embodiment of what a "PERFECT" relationship looks like.

Given that God is the perfect example and that marriage is created to replicate God's nature, that must mean that marriage takes on the personality of God as well. In fact, when love is inserted in marriage in the relationship that God designed between a man and woman, doesn't in fact demonstrate this very thing? There is no better way to describe God's love than in 1 Corinthians 13:

 1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

 4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

 13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The question that comes to mind, though, is why is marriage only between a man and a woman? Well, in God's system of marriage, Jesus points out, "But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." There is no wiggle room here for discussion. Jesus says that marriage (in context Jesus was explaining why divorce is not really an option) is the original plan that God had for a man and a woman.

At Christiananswers.net, they put the answer to this question this way:

The image of God is both male and female and is reflected in a godly union between male and female where the creative power of God, His life-giving, His self-giving and His moral nature are perfectly expressed. This is only possible in a heterosexual union.

When God created a partner for Adam He created Eve - not another Adam. This means that perfect partnership requires some level of difference as well as a level of similarity so great that Adam could cry out loudly, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh". Sexual intimacy between a man and a woman is the normal method of male/female bonding (emotionally and physically) because it corresponds to the design of our bodies and because it is the normal means by which offspring are created.

If God had intended the human race to be fulfilled through both heterosexual and homosexual marriage, He would have designed our bodies to allow reproduction through both means and made both means of sexual intercourse healthy and natural. Homosexual anal intercourse carries a high risk of disease, this is recognized in Scripture where gay men are said to receive in their bodies the due penalty for their error (Romans 1:27).

So, in view of God's intention for marriage, we have to understand that going against this structure (i.e. same-sex marriage) is actually in violation of God's nature. Time and time again, the Bible warns against homosexual relationships. Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:9-10 are examples of God's warnings against it. It's not something to be tolerated, but rather something to be warned against. Judgment follows something that is so radically opposed to God's character and His commands. Though the judgment came in Genesis 19:1-29 against Sodom and Gomorrah, the indictment actually was given earlier when God and Abraham were discussing the destruction of the cities. Genesis 18:16-33 The sin that was a stench to God was so great that destruction was going to be thorough and complete. And by reading the following chapter, you can see what kind of sin was so pervasive in those cities...homosexuality.

Let's not kid ourselves about what marriage is and what marriage is not. To some, they can't understand why Christians are so adamant in their fight against same-sex marriage. Aside from the fact the allowing same-sex marriage would bring in a host of other problems in regards to government, discrimination, and a host of social problems that would be pervasive, it's a complete disregard to the commands and ordinances of God. Our priority is not to placate man and ensure that we all are happy and content and comfortable. Our goal is the glory of God. And since homosexuality actually does the opposite, Christians are naturally going to be opposed to it. And the Glory of God is always something to take a stand on.