Does "Gay" Marriage Harm the Institution of Marriage?
by Daniel J. Phillips

 

 

Rogue court activism, and messed-up people with (evidently) far too much time on their hands and far too rich resources, have once again set out to push America in a direction in which it ought not go.

I speak, of course, of "gay" (homosexual) marriage.

My intent here is not to focus on the whole issue of homosexuality. I have a more modest aim. I want to address one argument which is heard frequently from the pro-"gay"-marriage faction: "Nobody has ever explained to me how 'gay' marriage threatens the institution of marriage."

While I find this claim initially hard to believe, I'm not sure I've ever seen a direct response. So here is my own modest effort. I phrase it in the form of a question: "Does counterfeit money threaten genuine currency?"

The answer to that is that, of course, counterfeit money does threaten genuine currency. It devalues it. If a $1 bill bearing picture of Bill Clinton on it, run off on someone's HP printer, suddenly is accepted as being as legitimate as a genuine $1 bill, then all currency is devalued. The broader the acceptance, and the greater the proliferation, the more devastating the blow to currency.

What Is Marriage?

The Bible is fairly plain on the subject. To wit:

For this reason, a man shall forsake his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh
(Genesis 2:24, my translation)

Here are the elements, in a nutshell:

  1. The transaction involves one man, one woman.
  2. The man severs his ties to his previous family unit of father and mother ("forsake")
  3. A covenant creates a new family unit ("shall cleave")
  4. This new covenant is sealed with sexual union ("shall become one flesh")

That is marriage, in God's eyes. All variations are offensive to Him, and destructive to man.

How Is Marriage Doing?

Marriage has already taken serious blows. It is easy to get into, and easy to get out of. A man stands before God and everyone else, and swears the most solemn oath imaginable that he will be faithful to his bride alone. But if he then turns into a serial adulterer, he is protected from consequences. As far as I know, he cannot be jailed nor sued for breach of contract. In fact, he might become a very popular figure. Even President.

Or, if the wife in this solemn relationship gets bored, or finds marriage more demanding than she anticipated, she can get right out of it. Any reason will do, or none at all. Just fill out the paperwork, hit the legal "reboot" button, and she's back on the market.

All of this damages marriage. All of this lowers the estimation and value of marriage. All of this cheapens the institution.

And yet, even amid all that, society for centuries has been clear on at least one element: marriage involves a woman and a man.

That is what today's moral nihilists are trying to change.

So, Does "Gay" Marriage Harm the Institution?

So, back to the lead matter, briefly. Does "gay" marriage harm marriage?

Of course it does.

It harms many other things as well -- the individuals involved, society, any poor children who get caught up in any way in the resultant monstrous abomination. But marriage is harmed by the redefinition of a basic word. "Marriage" by definition cannot be homosexual. If it is broadened to include one sexual perversion, there is no rational reason why it should not be broadened to include every sexual perversion. Advocates don't like this point very much; I think that is because it is irrefutable.

And so, if "marriage" means everything, then it necessarily means nothing. A word with no fixed definition has no definition. A word that can mean anything at all means nothing at all.

This is just a little glimpse at a teensy bit of the harm this insane notion involves.

It all goes to prove the point made often in Scripture, and summed up nicely in Jeremiah 8:9b. The prophet says: "behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" The slightest rejection of God's Word necessarily and unavoidably moves one just that far in the direction of insanity.

And so we see here.

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Copyright © 2003 by Daniel J. Phillips; All Rights Reserved

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