On Jan. 4, 1896 Utah became a state and entered the union after many years of outright civil conflict over the issue of polygamy. This was only made possible by the fact that Utah’s Constitution specifically banned the practice of polygamy. This was a condition of a number of western states before they were admitted to the union. Once this condition was met the civil strife that had flared since the 1840s ended.
Given the federal governments’ judgment on polygamy the question begs to be answered, by what legal and/or moral principle is same-sex marriage entitled to any more serious consideration than polygamist marriage? Of course the answer is quite simple, none.
Same-sex marriage, as well as polygamy, is outside the bounds of traditional marriage. Jesus’ own words in Matthew 19:4-6 are infallibly precise on this very issue: “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
Therefore marriage is between one man and one woman, this has been God’s will since the beginning in spite of what man has done since. To engage in sexual intimacy outside the bounds that Jesus has clearly defined is nothing more than fornication and/or adultery, which by law is tolerated between consenting adults but not given the same civil status as traditional marriage.
Does this mean that we hate those who engage in this kind of behavior? No more than Jesus himself who said to the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more.” In fact, if you really love your neighbor as yourself you’ll warn them to leave their life of sin so that they can escape its consequences.
This is the real Jesus who was revealed by the Father in heaven.
If we ever lose that right to call sin what it is, as the unjust federal judge in the San Francisco ruling would have it, then civil rights will be no more secure than they were under the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.
Most respectfully,
Bill LaPorte
Moran, Kan.
