THE ISSUE:
Some people say it's only fair to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. Is this a good idea?
WHAT ADVOCATES SAY:
Everybody should have a right to marry.
Homosexuals should get legal benefits of marriage just like heterosexuals.
What’s wrong with same-sex couples adopting children?
My same-sex family won’t hurt your family.
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS:
God created male and female to reflect His image. See Genesis 1:26-27.
It’s not good for man to be alone, and woman is God’s answer. Check out Genesis 2:18-24.
Husband and wife in their differences become one flesh in marriage. Focus on Genesis 2:24.
Jesus affirms what Genesis teaches: Marriage is for life and involves only man and woman who become one flesh. He says so in Matthew 19:3-6.
The only sexual activity God approves of is sexual intimacy between a man and a woman who are married to each other. Look up 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and Hebrews 13:4.
SO IS SAME-SEX "MARRIAGE" A GOOD IDEA?
Let’s answer advocates’ questions to find out.
Shouldn’t everyone have a right to marry? Every adult has a right to marry. But no one has a right to redefine marriage. Think of a group of friends who want to play soccer. Some believe that anyone should be able to use their hands to grab and handle the ball if they choose. They also want to do away with the goal nets and put up hoops that each team must put the ball through in order to score. Well, these few can change the rules, but they can’t call it soccer anymore. Changing the rules makes the game something else.
No one has a right to redefine marriage to say that men and women are not necessary for the family or that mothers and fathers are not needed for children. But this is exactly what same-sex activists are trying to do. They want to change marriage to not-marriage — and still call it marriage.
Heterosexuals get legal benefits from marriage. Why can’t we? There’s a very good reason. Let’s start by considering this question: Would too much natural marriage ever be harmful to society? Actually, social scientists tell us that too little marriage in any society is a serious problem. That’s because children need mothers and fathers, and marriage is the framework to make sure moms and dads care for the children they bring into the world.
Consider another question: Would too much same-sex marriage ever be a problem for society? Yes, it would be harmful if most people entered such relationships. That would make it difficult to reproduce the next generation of humanity, and too many children would intentionally be deprived of mothers or fathers.
You see, our government favors or rewards natural marriage with legal and tax benefits because natural marriage does something society needs. It provides the healthy framework for sexual activity and provides mothers and fathers for children. Same-sex marriage only serves the interests of adults and provides no necessary benefits for society.
We can be loving parents. What’s wrong with children having two mommies? Children need more than loving parents. They need their mothers and fathers. And every same-sex home denies every child it touches either her mother or father. Rosie O’Donnell, one of the world’s most famous lesbian mothers, told Diane Sawyer in an ABC Primetime Live interview that her little boy Parker sometimes asks, “Mommy, why can’t I have a daddy?” According to Rosie, she answers him by explaining that she is the kind of mommy who wants another mommy. Unfortunately, thousands of children like Parker who live in same-sex-parent homes don’t get a role model of both genders because their parents choose to pursue their own desires.
How will my same-sex family hurt your family? If advocates were only asking for marriage for themselves, that wouldn’t be as big a problem as asking all of us to change our understanding of marriage so that it’s no longer about men and women or mothers and fathers.
If same-sex marriage is seen as a basic human right, then your school will be forced to teach that the same-sex family and homosexuality are normal and healthy. Your church may be forced to perform such ceremonies or risk losing its tax-exempt status from the government. It could be considered hate speech to say that children need a mother and a father.
Months after legalizing same-sex marriage, Canada passed a law making it a crime to make public statements against homosexuality. Say the wrong thing and you could go to jail for as many as two years. How’s that for tolerance?
And if marrying whomever you want is a basic human right, how do we say no to a woman who wants to become the third current wife of a man — or to the two homosexual women who recently sued in Canadian court to be able to both marry the male who donated sperm to conceive their child? When we start redefining marriage, where does it stop?
LOVE AND MARRIAGE
God gave marriage as a gift to all human civilizations. It’s not our place to change that gift into something that He never intended. It’s arrogant to say we can improve on His creation. Both men and women are essential for the family, and marriage is how societies bring them together.
Same-sex marriage advocates want us to believe that none of this matters, but marriage is about much more than loving feelings people have for one another. Marriage is an earthly picture of God’s wonderful relationship with His precious church (Ephesians 5: 22-32) within a structure He created. It’s about His love. 
Want to dig deeper into this important issue? Check out www.family.org/cforum/fosi/marriage.
