The President of the United States has come out in favor of homosexual marriage. Ironically, he made known his position a few days before Mother's Day. His Vice-President and Secretary of Education had already declared themselves on the issue, so perhaps the President felt some pressure to follow suit. True leaders, however, do not merely reflect the opinions of others; true leaders take a stand for what is right regardless of the cost—politically or otherwise. If I may say so, our nation is in desperate need of true leaders—from the White House right on down to the local levels of government.
No one should hate homosexuals, and homosexuals should not be discriminated against. Jesus taught His followers to love all human beings. He ate and associated with the vilest sinners of His day. He "did not come to call the righteous (or those who thoughtthey were righteous, hf), but sinners, to repentance" (Matthew 9:13). And we must all remember that "there is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10, quoting Psalm 14:3). But here is the point: Jesus calls us to repentance. He does not permit us to continue in our sins. We must turn away from them. To the woman taken in adultery He commanded, "…go and sin no more" (John 8:11). There was not and is not the slightest indication that the sinner can continue in his or her sin and still be pleasing to the Lord.
From the beginning, God ordained that marriage was to be between a man and a woman. "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24). Jesus endorsed this as being God's plan, and called on the people of His day who had departed from it to return to it. He said: "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh' " (Matthew 19:4-5). Christ recognized the sanctity of God's original plan for marriage, and wherein mankind had departed from it, He called them back to it. In this sense, Jesus was a restorationist and gave credence to the restoration principle.
The Old Testament reveals God's hot displeasure toward all kinds of sexual perversion—including homosexuality, bestiality, and incest. Not only are sexual relations between those of the same gender forbidden, but sexual relations between family members and near relatives are likewise forbidden (Leviticus 18). One is made to wonder what would happen if brothers and sisters began to demand the legal right to marry each other, if fathers and daughters should begin to demand the right to marry each other, if mothers and sons should begin to demand the right to marry each other! Yet same-sex relations are condemned right along with these other forms of perversion.
Earthly governments ignore God's moral law at their own peril. In commenting on the moral degradation of the nations of his day, the apostle Paul wrote: "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust toward one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting…" (Romans 1:26-28).
The United States seems to be headed down this same road, joining most of the countries of Europe. Our President has given his endorsement to such depravity. Hollywood and the liberal media rejoice and applaud his actions. Liberal scholars (so-called), professors, theologians, and preachers do so as well. But God still says, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34).
Hugh Fulford
May 22, 2012
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