Why Faithful Christians Cannot Support Homosexual Marriage

Although I’ve written several posts in the past about homosexuality and “gay marriage,” I’ve not written anything on the subject since the Supreme Court handed down their landmark ruling. This ruling will put many Christians in an awkward position. It’s not just bakers, florists, and marriage license clerks, every Christian will have to make some tough decisions. We must decide to be gentle, humble, loving, and kind and still stand for the truth in regards to marriage and human sexuality.

The Supreme Court ruling certainly isn’t cause for us to lose heart and despair; we are people of faith and hope. And it is no excuse for us to be angry and unkind; we are people of joy and love. But there are certainly some situations, which will become increasingly more common in the coming months and years, that we need to consider how faithful Christians should respond:

• What will you do when a homosexual co-worker invites you to attend his wedding?

• What will you do when a homosexual couple, who lives next door to you, asks if they can use your church building for their wedding?

• What will you do when your daughter’s kindergarten teacher marries her girlfriend and tells your daughter’s class all about it?

How will we respond to situations like these? We must respond with patience, gentleness, kindness, AND truth. But make no mistake, faithful Christians CANNOT give approval to homosexual behavior. God’s word clearly says, those who “give approval” to sins – and homosexuality is specifically mentioned – are just as guilty as those who “practice them” (Romans 1:32).

1. If we support gay marriage, we are no friend of God.

God created people. God created sex. God created marriage. He knows better than you, me, the Supreme Court, or anyone else in the world how the human body, sexuality, and marriage work. What an insult to the Creator when we accept the world’s opinion over His holy word.

God’s word says sex is intended to be experienced ONLY between a man and a woman who are joined together in marriage for life (Matthew 19:4-5). It says ANY sexual activity outside of this relationship is “sexual immorality.”

When Christians practice or give approval to sexual immorality, or any sin, they are not being faithful to God. In fact, Scripture says they are committing adultery against God and making themselves God’s enemy:

“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4).

So before you attend a gay friend’s wedding ceremony or do anything that shows approval of sin, remember, “whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

2. If we support gay marriage, we are no friend of homosexuals.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love homosexuals. God loves homosexuals. Jesus loves homosexuals. And it is because of that love that I cannot explicitly or implicitly give approval to a behavior that is destroying people emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

Scripture says, “the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18). Not only is the person who lives a homosexual lifestyle sinning against God, he is sinning against himself. And he is rushing headlong into everlasting destruction. Why would we applaud while we watch a friend destroy his life?

We keep hearing “love wins,” but make no mistake, it is never “love” for a Christian to support homosexual marriage. It is hatred. “[Love] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6).

Be a friend to homosexuals. Be a real friend and don’t rejoice in their wrongdoing. Don’t applaud as they further commit themselves to a path of self-destruction.

3. If we support gay marriage, we are no friend of truth.

If we really love God, homosexuals, and the truth, we will tell them the truth. I don’t mean posting Facebook statuses saying, “Homosexuality is wrong.” I mean more like looking into a friend’s eyes and saying:

“I understand you’re attracted to people of the same sex. That’s your temptation. That’s your cross to bear. I’m not pretending that temptation is just going to go away. I have my own temptations and my own life-long cross to bear. I want us to help each other figure out how to walk faithfully with God.”

Tell people the truth. Tell them that God is better than any sexual experience. Tell them that no earthly relationship can compare with a relationship with God. And help them understand that they are not the only ones who have to put to death their sinful desires; we all do. That’s what it looks like to follow Jesus (see Matthew 5:27-30; Luke 9:23; Romans 6; Romans 12:1-2).

Jesus ate with known sinners; and I have a hunch many of those were sexually immoral people. But make no mistake, Jesus loved the Father, sinners, and the truth too much to support, accept, or applaud people’s sin. He called sexual immorality sin (Matthew 15:19) and He told people that they could only be saved if they repented of their sin (Luke 13:3).

Love only wins when it is really love. So let’s love our sexually immoral friends so much – and love God and truth so much – that we refuse to rejoice in wrongdoing. Let’s love them so much that we tell them, “God is better – so much better – than sin.”

I love you and God loves you,

Wes McAdams

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