Marriage is Life!
There is little doubt that, in Australia today, we are experiencing a clash of worldviews. Over the last decades, the Secular Humanist attack upon Biblical Christianity has gathered pace. However, in 2012, Secular Humanism is presenting a challenge to this nation such as never before. The attack is of such intrinsic importance that both Christian and Secularist alike must be made fully aware of its implications.
Christianity, both as a belief and a worldview, has been systematically attacked in this country for at least fifty years. In that time, attacks have been mainly focused against the application of Biblical law. Examples of this may be seen in the erosion of (traditional) marriage. The concept of both “de facto” relationships and divorce were popularised and de-stigmatised. By stealth, therefore, marriage was undermined. Its significance and importance was devalued. Marriage was relegated to the status of a cultural relic from the bygone age of “religion” and non-enlightenment. With the devaluation of marriage, came the subsequent depreciation of the family. Families were no longer the building block of society. They were no longer afforded protection, assistance, and honour.
All of this is attributable to Humanism’s attack on the application of Biblical law. Of course, all of this stems directly from the fact that the Secular Humanist has denied the existence and importance of the Bible’s God (Psalm 14:1). With God removed, the Secularist believes himself free to set about making this world after his own laws. Consequently, the Secular Humanist has sought to erode any law that was explicitly based in Scripture. Well, not quite. He has eroded any law that means he must restrain himself as far as carnal appetite and pleasure are concerned. He is rather keen to keep the laws regarding murder and theft as he wants to live long enough to enjoy his greed and hedonism.
The question for us all is, ‘What is next?’ What is Humanism about to redefine after its own making? The answer is already before our eyes. 2012 has seen several bills introduced to parliament with the express purpose of changing the definition of the Marriage Act so as to allow for homosexual marriage. The thing that must be impressed upon all, at this point, is that this is an escalation in the war. No longer are the Humanists simply attacking the peripheries in the application of Biblical law, they are insisting on nothing less than a redefinition of man. This battle is not about the institution of marriage as a standalone item. No. This battle is about marriage as an essential part of Man, his definition, and his purpose. At heart, it is an argument regarding Man and Marriage as life.
When Christians argue against homosexuality, they typically turn to texts such as Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination” or Romans 1:26-27. These are good texts. They teach us much. Yet we must press to the crux of the matter, if we are to argue the best case in our day.
The question that must be asked is, “Why is homosexuality and homosexual marriage Biblically wrong?” To answer this, we must return to the book of Genesis and to the Cultural Mandate (Genesis 1:26-28). There we find the incontrovertible evidence. The Cultural Mandate reads: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
In this text there are some fundamentals that simply cannot be ignored. First, let us start with the simple but important fact that Man is made in the image of God. Of priority, we must grasp and understand that God made Man. God Almighty, in Trinity, determined to create and Man was part of that creation. Man is not, therefore, a creature from the black swamp that one day “got smart” and decided to crawl out of the primordial slime and make something of himself. Man is not the Mk 4 in monkey design – as though each new version of monkey could self-assess and rationalise what further improvements would be beneficial and then will those changes into being as the next model. Man is not chaos, chance, randomness, coincidence, or accident. He is not a cosmic virus virulent upon the earth as some type of intergalactic plague – with the earth hoping for vaccine! Man is not the meaningless, unknowing, unintelligible, transient dream of the existentialist! Man is the product of nothing less than the perceptive, absolute, unmistaken, determinative will of Almighty God. No mistake. No design flaws. No errors. Made in fullness! Made in perfection! Man, made as God intended him. Man, endued and imbued with every power, grace, gift, talent, ability, faculty, facility, and function that God intended him to possess. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Second, we note that there is “Deflation” and “Inflation”! A) – Deflation: Man is not God! He is like unto God, but he is not God. Hence, man is not a demiurge or demigod; We are not god’s trapped in mortal wrappings; We are not, as Jesus, partakers of the Divine nature. No. We are human. Our nature is human. Yet, our human nature is God like. B) – Inflation: We are more than animals. Man is not just the best of animalia. Man stands above the animals. He stands above the creation. He is God’s vice-regent over creation. Thus, we understand that Man is elevated above creation, but we must also see that the elevator does not travel all the way to God’s throne. We are shown the magnificence of Man, but also his limitations.
Third, and this point must hit home, God’s Man was created in plurality! Man is made in God’s Image and he is made male and female. Like a coin, Man was made with two sides. Both image bearers. Both endued with God’s gifts, talents, and purposes. When the two are brought together in the marriage covenant, the whole becomes far greater than the sum of its parts. Thus says the Lord God (Genesis 2:24)!
This point must be understood, for it is the essence of any and every rebuttal to all schemes which attack Man and particularly the relationship of man to woman. In Genesis 1:28, God pronounces a blessing upon Man. Part of that blessing is that Man should be fruitful and multiply. God’s Man, made in plurality, covenanted in unity through marriage, can receive this blessing and bring it to fruition. Humanism’s Man cannot. It does not matter how much semen you pour into a man’s rectal cavity or how many attempts are made to fashion the perfect phallic symbol, Man’s futility can never replicate or replace God’s fertility! The only reason these contemporary perverts claim any right to success is because of modern scientific advances and perverted moral behaviour. God did not need a test tube! God did not need a surrogate womb! God did not need to hatch a foul plan to inebriate some poor unsuspecting; just so the lesbian could steal his seed and claim to be fruitful! No, God made Man male and female. God gave them perfect fertility and bodies designed and equipped to fulfil Man’s assignment within God’s purpose and plan.
Therefore, the homosexual desire for marriage is not simply a desire to change a rule or definition in regard to marriage. Rather, it is a diabolical attempt to redefine Man according to the idols of Humanism. It is an attempt to rebuild Man without any reference to God, which basically means that Man must be smelt and recast. Consequently, it is nothing less than an attempt to destroy Man. In short, it is death.
Marriage, as we have seen, is not a human institution, statist or otherwise. It is not a convention or human cultural tradition. Marriage is the inherent consequence of Man being created male and female in the image of God. Marriage, therefore, is not only bound to Man as male and female, but it is bound up in the essential nature of Man as male and female. You cannot remove marriage from Man anymore than you can remove the male and femaleness of Man. Any attempt in that direction ends in the destruction and death of Man. Therefore, homosexual marriage must be repudiated as a travesty.
God made Man in His image. God made Man in plurality as male and female. God blessed Man in his plurality. All this meant that Man could come together in the union of male and female and bring forth life. God’s design had included every aspect necessary mentally, physically, and spiritually. God also gave to Man marriage; the covenant bond in which plurality became unity. Here, two halves met as rain meets a parched land. The result was an explosion of life, effervescent and vibrant. Life as God intended.
Therefore, marriage is life! That is, one man and one woman in covenant union before God. Marriage is life!
