On Same Sex “Marriage”
One of the benefits of writing is that it necessarily
requires you to focus your thinking. We live in a day when
“change” is not only in the air but shaking the ground under our
feet. The news is
filled with so many troublesome reports. Such reports include
economic/financial meltdowns; taxpayer funded “bail-outs;” foreign
wars; terrorism; pirates (real live ones!); and encroaching
government tyranny in areas such as health, education and
environmental regulations. It becomes difficult not to be
overwhelmed by this multifaceted assault on common sense moral
values. The moment one
begins to analyze one issue, another vies for your attention. One simply does not know
where to begin to sort it all out. Fortunately for me, the Iowa
Supreme Court’s recent contribution to legalized debauchery was
enough to bring me out of the spin of events and focus my mind on
the issue of same sex “marriage.”
Much is being discussed on the air waves and newspapers about
the legal, social and personal ramifications of this decision. I think WHO Radio’s Steve
Deace has done an excellent job of analyzing the legal issues
concerning this decision.
Much can be learned about the abuse of this court concerning
the separation of powers.
Clearly the courts are not to be in the business of making
law. To say that the
Iowa Code concerning marriage between one man and one woman violates
the Iowa Constitution is not the same thing as to require that
marriage licenses from henceforth be made available to homosexual/
lesbian couples. A more
sane approach may be for the state to re-think its involvement in
the licensing of marriages all together.
Now I am a Christian with strong libertarian (NOT liberal!)
leanings. But I have
those leanings because I think the Bible requires them. Governmental checks and
balances are a biblical means of controlling the effect of our very
sinful dispositions.
There are many sins in the Bible but not many crimes, at
least compared with the Federal & State Codes of today! For
example, one cannot be punished for the mere thought of murder. The thought must be followed
by action. Drinking and smoking cigars are not sins at all. Unfortunately for our
sodomite fellow denizens of this fair land, God’s Word declares that
homosexuality is not only a sin, but its blatant & deliberate
practice is a capital crime.
But then so, in many cases, is adultery. It seems that the reason for
these strong measures is that the family is to be considered the bed
rock institution for a Christian society. Treason against the family
(which both homosexuality & adultery are) is a capital offense,
while treason against the state is pretty much non-existent. This is because biblically
speaking the state is to have only a very narrow jurisdiction in a
Christian (i.e., free) society. Ultimately, however, I stand
against the notion of legal same sex “marriage” because God insists
on my doing so. I am a
Christian before I am a libertarian or even an American for that
matter. A free society is possible for any length of time only
because God’s Law gives it transcendent support.
The legal status of same sex “marriage”
has become a problem because the Church feeds the broader society
morally. And the Church
has been remiss, not only in refusing to confront her own sins (easy
divorce & out of wed-lock pregnancies being but two examples),
but in neglecting to honor and teach God’s Law as the moral
foundation for a free society and the necessary consequent of saving
faith in Christ. Many
Christians worry a lot about when we may expect Jesus to return in
glory but not nearly enough about what He commanded us to be doing
until that time. He
commanded us not to wait, but to occupy and extend His Kingdom by
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The simplest solution to the same sex “marriage” issue is to
put the Iowa Supreme Court in its place and ignore its decision on
the basis of appeal to a higher Law, viz., “the law of nature and of
nature’s God” inscribed in our Declaration of Independence. A piece of paper (yes, even
one with an embossed symbol of state authority) does not make a
marriage! Marriage is
defined by the One who ordained it & not by the state. Sodomites can SAY they are
married but so can two parrots. A marriage occurs when a man
and a woman exchange vows in the presence of God and other
witnesses. That’s what
marriage is, and no “Supreme Court” can change that. It is time to revert back to
the biblically informed foundation of common law and call nonsense
what it is. And if your
church doesn’t teach the application of biblical law to the issues
of the day, find one that does! Your political and spiritual sanity
depend on it.
Now, back to the spin of events we call life.
Doug Holmes, pastor
SGC Dows
