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Same-Sex
Marriage? We saw last time that marriage was instituted by God in the Garden of Eden. It was a beautiful gift given to mankind. It’s important to note that God brought together Adam and Eve, that is one man and one woman, not two of the same gender: “Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”1 It would be through this wonderful relationship of husband and wife that mankind would fulfil the earlier command to be “fruitful and increase in number”2 on the earth. This is affirmed by the Lord Jesus when He said, “"Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, '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."3 The Bible says nothing here about giving or even allowing any sort of same-sex union. In fact, whenever the Bible speaks of any intimate same-sex union, it is always as something aberrant and evil. Homosexuality was running rampant in Sodom and Gomorrah which led God to destroy them. When two angels went to warn lot of the coming destruction, men of all ages surrounded Lot’s home and demanded, “Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them,” to which Lot replied, “No, my friends, don’t do this wicked thing.”4 Shortly after this Sodom and Gomorrah were burned to ashes for their great wickedness which was most prominently seen in their homosexuality.5 And this isn’t simply an Old Testament matter. The righteous judgment of God against the evil of Sodom’s sexual perversion is cited positively by both Peter and Jude “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”6 Being gay or lesbian is no innocent choice of lifestyle; it is a sin before the Lord. The LORD stated it clearly in the Law of Moses, “Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.”7 This was upheld in the New Testament by the Apostles, as Paul writes, “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-- who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.”8 Later Paul mentions it again as a condemned lifestyle, “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”9 In short, it’s impossible to be a Christian and engage in homosexuality, much less same-sex marriage. But there is hope for all who are caught up in this sin. If you struggle with such desires or even engage in the practice of same-sex relationships, there is forgiveness in the blood Jesus and renewal of your life in the Spirit of Jesus when you sincerely repent and trust in His sacrifice on the cross. Christ died for the forgiveness of sins, if only we believe in Him. This is true for every sin. We don’t say these things about homosexuality to be hurtful, but to be helpful. Being trapped in a sinful lifestyle is deadening to any relationship with God. We know ourselves to be sinners who struggle with our own shortcomings. We are no better than anyone else. The only thing is: we sinners have found forgiveness in the cross of Christ and by His power we are starting to live changed lives. Do you wish to change? You can have this same blessing – all it takes is faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour from sin. Won’t you join us as forgiven sinners? Biblical quotations
on this page are from: 1) Genesis 2:22; 2) Genesis
1:28; 3) Matthew 19:4-6; 4) Genesis 19:5,6; 5) Genesis 19:24,25; 6)
Jude 7; See also 2 Peter 2:6; 7) Leviticus 18:22; 8) Romans 1:26-27;
9) 1 Corinthians 6:9 Looking for more? Has God planted a hunger in your heart to seek Him?
We invite you to come and join us on Sunday for worship and instruction in what God has to say to us. Come and join a community of believers as we respond to the Spirit's call to worship our Creator and King. For worship times and information, please visit our Worship Services Page. Ladies, if you are looking for information
about the faith, encouragement and support then please consider joining
us for our weekly Coffee
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