Does God Support Gay Marriage?
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Brother Bob Pellien: Can one believe in the Bible or be a true Christian and at the same time believe in, or promote on our social media accounts, same-sex marriage? Does God support same-sex marriage?
Hello, everyone, and welcome to this program! The basis of the teachings here, in the Church Of Christ, is and will always be the Bible or the Holy Scriptures.
Now, we want to clarify though that the Bible does not answer just any and all questions, but regarding proper worship, regarding [the] right relationship with God, and most importantly regarding salvation—those answers, most definitely, are here in the Holy Bible.
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That’s in the Bible!
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Brother Bob Pellien
Minister of the Gospel
Brother Bob Pellien: I’m Bob Pellien and welcome to That’s in the Bible! On a recent episode of this program, we addressed the question, “How many genders does God recognize?” or “How many genders did God actually create?”, which the biblical answer is, as we learned then, was two: and they’re male and female.
Now, we move on to another question on a similar topic that was emailed to the program by Annie. Annie asks us this: “What does the Bible say about gay marriage?”
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Annie | San Diego, California, USA
What does the Bible say about gay marriage?
Brother Bob Pellien: Thank you, Annie for that question.
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Can two people of the same sex or gender be married in God’s sight?
Does God support same-sex marriage?
Brother Bob Pellien: So, can two people of the same sex or gender be married in God’s sight? Can one believe in the Bible and be a true Christian and at the same time believe in or promote, like I said a while ago, promote on their social media accounts same-sex marriage? Like. Share. Does God support same-sex marriage?
Again, before we start reading the answer, we would like to clarify ahead [that] we do value and recognize the human rights of every individual. We as Christians also, we do not tolerate that any person is oppressed or discriminated against by others. And, we do not promote hatred against anyone.
With that said, to answer the question regarding same-sex marriage, we turn as always to the Holy Bible to understand what is marriage and what marriage is not. And we do that by turning to the book of Genesis, chapter 1, verse 27 and 28, and it reads this way:
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
[Genesis 1:27-28 New King James Version]
Brother Bob Pellien: So, dear friends, here we can see that marriage was established by none other than the Creator Himself. It’s important to understand that there is no culture, there’s no country, nor government, nor any person or group of people that came up with or established marriage. Marriage, it’s not simply a legal institution. It’s an institution established by God. So, it is a religious union or a spiritual union. Why? Because the two, they cannot be joined as one in God’s sight unless they first seek the blessing, the blessing from Him, since God’s the One who established marriage.
Dear friends, this union, like all of God’s other institutions, has very clear rules and guidelines that cannot be altered or adjusted by anyone. The Bible is very clear that the two God joins together is male and the female, or a man and a woman.
And after blessing them, or marrying the first couple, what was His instruction to them? He gave the instruction to go forth and multiply, fill the earth.
Consider: that cannot be done by those who enter into that marital union as same-sex partners, obviously. Even with the help of modern medical science, a child created for these same-sex couples is not a product of their union with each other. Which is why, therefore, we are very sure that same-sex marriage is not what God has established.
Now to be fair, many may argue that, well, because this is a new day and age, a whole new era–the Christian era, and the complexities of modern life, current culture should be taken into account, there should be a change in attitude. “Jesus is love,” they would say. Others simply avoid taking a stand at all for fear of offending others and say, for example, “Who am I to judge others?” And there are even some who say, “Christ never discriminated. He taught love.”
Dear friends, being that we are living in the Christian era, the Lord Jesus Christ is Whom we should follow and listen to, which is the true definition of a Christian anyway. And because we should not be judging others, and that’s true really, who are we to judge, right, we should simply respect and follow the judgments of the ultimate Judge–God our Creator.
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What does the Bible teach regarding marriage?
Brother Bob Pellien: According to Jesus, what does the Bible actually teach regarding marriage? Has God’s original establishment of marriage, that we read a moment ago in the book of Genesis from the Old Testament, has that changed according to His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ? Let’s read what Jesus actually says on that matter, in Matthew, 19, verses 4 through 6. He said:
And He answered and said to them, “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’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
[Matthew 19:4-6 New King James Version]
Brother Bob Pellien: Dear friends, we can see how there is nothing vague or confusing about Christ’s teaching regarding marriage. Our Lord Jesus Christ shows how God’s policy stands to this day: marriage is between man and woman. In fact, Christ even quoted word-for-word what is written earlier, as we read earlier, in the Holy Scriptures so as to avoid any misinterpretation. True Christians follow Christ’s teachings, so they can be right with their Creator—the only Judge, as we also mentioned earlier.
It’s understandable, though, that there are countries now that are changing their laws to recognize same-sex marriages. But, it should also be understood that same-sex marriages will only be recognized by man’s laws, not God’s, because God’s law written here in the Holy Bible does not change based upon ever-changing cultural tolerances.
Maybe some however are thinking, or maybe even are a bit conflicted thinking that, “I thought Christ preached a message of love and understanding. How is this possible if He does not allow same-sex marriages?” Dear friends, to clarify how Christ’s stand and policy on marriage is in fact really a message of love; how could that be? Well, I Corinthians, chapter 6, verses 9 and 10 read this way:
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
[I Corinthians 6:9-10 New International Version]
Brother Bob Pellien: Why should this be considered a message of love? The message of love makes it clear what will happen if one does right or does wrong. We can see here that it is wrong to engage in same-sex or homosexual relationships, just as it is wrong to steal, or to slander, or to swindle others. It is a warning, a loving warning, to help people be saved from what will happen if left to their own desires. The biblical truth is that those who do these acts “will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Making this perfectly clear is a great manifestation of the deep love of Christ. He doesn’t want anyone to be punished by God.
Christ’s love for all people is the reason He taught the truth. The modern, pop cultural concept that Christ’s love approves of and encompasses any and all relationships between consenting adults—it’s NOT in the Bible. This is also the reason why we are here, why all of us here inside the Church Of Christ, continually share what is actually written here in the Bible. Why? So that just as we have read, we would “not be deceived” but we could still inherit the Kingdom of God.
We are fully aware that there might be some who, as they watch this episode, we know there may be some to be hurt, get angry even, and refuse to believe what they’re hearing and seeing in the Bible. We also know that there are many more people who are not even interested in what’s in the Bible and would rather base their beliefs on their own sources, such as personal philosophies and ideologies, or internet influencers. Why is it not surprising that there are people who refuse to believe God’s words written in the Bible? It really is not surprising, and here’s why. We turn to the book of Psalms, 107, verse 11, because it says this:
Because they rebelled against the words of God, And despised the counsel of the Most High,
[Psalms 107:11 New King James Version]
Brother Bob Pellien: Dear friends, the Bible makes mention here of the people even before who despised God’s words, decided to rebel against them. Are you one of those people today in our time? So, what we are seeing today is, it’s nothing new. It’s just that society’s legal definition of marriage is one point of rebellion for some.
Now that we’ve learned God’s laws regarding marriage, that He established it, it’s He who blessed the first couple, a man and a woman, male/female to be joined together, well, what about those that have tendencies or desires to go against that set order?
Dear friends, if there’s anyone watching at this moment who might have these tendencies, these feelings, the question now is: would you automatically be punished eternally for having these tendencies, having these feelings, feeling this way? We find the answer again here in the Holy Bible, and this time we turn to the book of James, chapter 1, verse 14 and 15:
But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions). Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.
[James 1:14-15 Amplified Bible]
Brother Bob Pellien: First of all, we have to clarify that not all desires or passions are evil. But notice: if the desire is drawing one away from God and tempted, entices one to break His commandments, then that is an evil desire. What we can notice in this verse, that we’ve just read here, is that every person is tempted but not all are tempted in the same way. Some may be tempted in other kinds of vices, in stealing, drinking, or gambling, or they easily get angry or maybe are easily led to laziness, immorality, or lust for same-sex relationships, whatever it may be.
What does the Bible say, however? Only those whose desires are allowed to conceive will it give birth to sin and bring forth death. Everyone is tempted, yes. But we can see also that merely having an evil desire, a passion, or let’s say the tendency, it does not—we have to emphasize that, dear friends—it does not automatically mean that you will not enter heaven or will be punished eternally.
It was made clear that when the evil desire of a person manifests itself by committing sin, or taking action on those evil desires, that is when a person falls into God’s judgment already established. Which is why, as we read earlier, the wrongdoer not the tempted, I repeat, the wrongdoer not the merely tempted, the ”wrongdoer will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Even though many people today are very concerned with making sure they live their lives politically correct, we inside the Church Of Christ are primarily concerned that we live our lives biblically correct or in accordance with God’s will.
This is, again, the reason why learning these biblical truths is truly God’s love for us. People say Jesus is love. He is! He warned us. That is love. We hope, through this teaching today that comes from the Lord here in the Holy Scriptures, we have all received that love.
But there are many similar topics yet, similar topics regarding sexuality and self expression that we’ll be covering regularly here on upcoming episodes of That’s in the Bible. And some of these topics include: Gender identity, Being created in God’s image.
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Gender identity
Being created in God’s image
Brother Bob Pellien: We’d like you to continue learning about the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ).
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Brother Bob Pellien: Please visit us online and browse the different topics, or set up an appointment to meet with a minister of the gospel. If you have any questions about the Bible, about salvation, please email them to us.
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answers@incmedia.org
Brother Bob Pellien: I’m Bob Pellien.
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Brother Bob Pellien
Minister of the Gospel
Brother Bob Pellien: Thanks for watching. See you next time, as we continue this discussion, right here on That’s in the Bible!
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