Marriage

• Introductions: Name & What does the Bible say about the current state of the people of Israel?
• Restatement of theme:
  • “If this issue was the reason a non-believer gave as their obstacle to Christianity, what would we say to them?”
  • Theme verse: “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart.” (Matthew 13:19)
• Today’s Topic: Marriage
  • What does Scripture say? How does God define marriage?
    • “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24, NIV.
    • Purposes:
      • “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”” Genesis 2:18, NIV.
      • “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”” Genesis 1:28, NIV.
      • “Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.” Malachi 2:15, NIV.
      • “But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.” 1 Corinthians 7:2, NIV.
    • What Jesus had to say: Matthew 19:1-12.
    • What Paul had to say: 1 Corinthians 7
  • How does our culture define marriage?
    • Largely as a romantic relationship between two adults that agree.
      • Where does this definition fall short?
      • What kinds of things does this definition potentially lead to? (use news articles)
        • With this herring I thee wed
        • Divorced from Reality
        • The Gay Moralist: Kurtz’s confusions
      • Our culture used to have a “stronger” definition of marriage. Do you agree? How and why do you think it has changed?
        • Planned Parenthood has an interesting article on the topic.
        • For one thing, marriage used to be much less about “love” than it was about practicality. Although I’m not sure how universal this was—nor what the Church used to think.
        • Children are also much less about raising more “workers” than they once were.
        • Of course, I think both of those points are primarily thinking of folks like the pioneers. Folks who lived in cities, in the middle/upper class, probably thought quite differently. And, reading Shakespeare, I don’t think it was that uncommon, depending on the economic status of a family.
        • The Planned Parenthood article is probably right in saying that it is not “gay marriage activists” who changed marriage—it is us. Once we started marrying solely for love, and ultimately before God, it changed the reason for marriage, changed reasons for divorce, and rather opened up the floodgates. We are rather “fighting this battle” a hundred years too late.
        • It is interesting to note that not all gays necessarily want legalized marriage—they don’t want to have to be “just like everyone else.” Nonetheless, there are a lot of legal, etc., advantages to being married—including responsibilities.
    • Conclusion - When talking about this issue, we need to make sure we understand why “alternative definitions” of marriage make a lot of sense to people coming from their definition of marriage. - It is more important to show them what marriage is meant to be—an institution under God and under law.

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