MARRIAGE

FIRST:
let's commit to loving our spouses and our children.
SECOND:
lovingly remind others and our government
of the truth of God's word
and the many reasons for upholding marriage.

This isn't to be mean. It's not to offend.
Nor is it meant to be a stand for bigotry.
I AM A CHRISTIAN.  
We are to show love to everyone and we stand on God's word.

The Long Island Family Coalition (Chairman Pastor Bruce Bennett of Grace Gospel Church, Patchogue, NY) has put out a pamphlet that enumerates reasons same-sex marriage should not be allowed.

THIS IS NOT "HATE SPEECH"
THIS IS MY FREEDOM TO RELIGION
THIS IS WHAT I BELIEVE AS GOD HAS DICTATED

1. It violates the essence of what a wedding and marriage mean. God defines the meaning of such a relationship. Scripture begins with a wedding and ends with a wedding. The relationship between Christ and his people is described as a "marriage between a groom and a bride." (Eph 5:32)
2. It violates natural law and prevents the full complement (biologically, psychologically, and sociologically) of God's image to be fully expressed. God made man in His image, male and female he created them (Gen. 1:27)
3. It degrades the time-honored institution of marriage, thus destroying a foundational pillar for any society. History bears witness to the fact that no society has survived, that has re-defined marriage or allowed marriage-like relationships outside of the man/woman bond for a lifetime.
4. It denies a child a mother and a father. The optimal and standard scenario for child-rearing is to have the child's biological father and his masculine view of life, and his biological mother and her feminine view of life, as the foundational context for their family life, so they develop with a healthy and balanced view of themselves and of the world around them.
5 It allows for any assemblage of people as marriage. Using the logic that is foisted by special interest groups that marriage is a right of any two consenting individuals, one must logically conclude that any number of consenting people including brothers marrying brothers and mothers marrying daughters must be permitted.
6. It redefines and belittles the civil rights movement by equating a behavior (homosexuality) with the indigenous and immutable characteristics of race, ethnicity, and gender, thus sanctioning a behavior that has always been considered immoral in Western Civilization since its inception. If taken to its logical conclusion, theoretically a rapist or thief could simply say their behaviors should be approved of as well.
7. It redefines the mission of civil government. Historically our civil government upheld the Biblical ethical paradigm whether consciously or unconsciously; this would be an obvious example of violating this standard. Young people especially equate the laws of the land with what is ultimately ethical. What lesson would this be teaching our youth?
8. It will open the floodgates of persecution against the people of God. Already in states where same-sex marriage has been legalized, Christians and those people who hold to marriage as sacred between a husband and wife have been threatened and jailed for not accommodating or supporting homosexual marriages or unions. Recently, a Massachusetts father was arrested for simply telling his kindergarten son's principal not to expose him to homosexual "families" in his son's curriculum.
9. It misleads people into thinking that a privilege is a right. Obtaining a marriage license is like obtaining a driver's license; certain conditions must be met and the privileges granted by the civil government can be enjoyed only within certain parameters to insure the common good.
originally published 6/19/2009