Sin must be taken seriously if the elevated institution of marriage of one man and one woman is to endue and thrive! When Jesus talks about marriage in the oldest of the gospels (Mark) it is preceded by his discussion with the disciples about how they should treat sin in their lives.
The wedding at Cana reminds us of Jesus concern for the creational ordinance of marriage and how his presence at a wedding is a sign of his restoration of people marred by sin and distortion.
“And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire.” (Mark 9:43–49, ESV)
The God of love who shed his love upon us; loved at great cost. His Son died upon the cruel cross to remove sin and evil from us. So it is no wonder that if we are to live in the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that we must be ruthless with love's enemy: sin. It must be cut out of us like a cancer. When sacrificial love shapes marriage between one man and one woman for a life time: then a beauty is beheld. It is not a passing infatuation, but a sacrificial love that loves in sickness and in health until death do us part. We may not believe it but it is like not believing in the air we breathe.
Marriage is not "Christian marriage". It is not a sacrament for one portion of humanity but it is God's blessing for all people and the foundation of society. Muslims and Jews know this as do all ancient cultures. When Jesus defends marriage he states clearly that it is between a man and a women, there is no allusion to same-sex relationships. The creation of marriage is hard wired into our being. It is the way we were made:
“And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire.” (Mark 9:43–49, ESV)
Progressive judges may try to remove God's mark from our humanity, but in doing so they turn us into brutes not the saints God sent Jesus Christ to save us to be. We are broken and torn apart by sin. But there is hope in the restorative work of Jesus Christ. Our families, our children and the future rest in the assurance that God does not change. Governments rage against the king (Ps.2) but his little ones hear his voice and find life, joy and freedom at his feet. You can lock up all the Christians; but Jesus will stand with those our society marginalizes. We are not "gay" or "straight". We are all twisted by sin and radical surgery occurred at the cross to lead us in the straight and narrow. LGBT is a fantasy of a deluded and twisted humanity. God, give us grace and courage to stand gracefully and with love to all people.
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