Posted by
John Cord on Monday, November 24, 2008 12:15:43 PM
Gay marriage is all over the news right now because of the recent passage of Proposition 8 in California, which restricts the definition of marriage to one man and one woman. With a 73.1 percent turnout, Proposition 8 passed with 52.1 percent of the votes.
Best known for his role in the eighties television series, Growing Pains, actor and evangelist Kirk Cameron spoke to Bill O'Reilly about the issue of marriage on The O'Reilly Factor (aired November 18; Fox News Channel). Here's part of it.
Kirk Cameron:
… I do believe that marriage is for one man and one woman for life, that that's the way that it works best and that none of us really have any authority redefining that kind of thing…
Bill O'Reilly:
Now, if a gay friend of yours said, "Well, listen Kirk, you know, I respect your opinion on that, but I have a different opinion and I believe it's a Civil Rights issue… I want the parity that heterosexuals have in every area including marriage and you don't have a right under the Constitution to deny me that," and you say what?
Kirk Cameron:
Well, I'd say that it really comes down to who defines marriage. I certainly don't define marriage and neither does anybody else. Marriage is not a new institution. It's been around for thousands of years, if not longer, and it's defined by God. None of us have the opportunity to redefine that without coming up against serious consequences and unraveling the fabric of our society.
The Spirit of God knows no fear, yet Cameron claims that redefining marriage to allow homosexual marriages will unravel the fabric of American society! Really? Are we to believe that heterosexual marriages constitute the fabric of our society? How do gay marriages destroy heterosexual marriages, unraveling American society? Don't heterosexuals do that well enough without the help of gays, evidenced by their divorce rates? If the fabric of our society is held together by heterosexual marriages then it is, at best, only half-held together, as over half of marriages end in divorce.
When Kirk Cameron says that marriage goes back "thousands of years, if not longer," isn't he referring to monogamous marriage? If so, know that there has never been any universal standard model for marriage, as the history of marriage has included and still includes polygyny (one man with more than one wife) and polyandry (one woman with more than one husband) and group marriage.
"While having more than one spouse is illegal in the United States, polygyny is the preferred form of marriage throughout most of the world. Seventy-five percent of the world's societies prefer this type of marriage (Saxton 1993). Preference, however, does not necessarily translate into practice, because the number of men and women of marriageable age in most cultures is about the same, meaning that there are rarely more than a few extra women available as second or third wives. Thus, even when polygyny is preferred, there are only a few men, mostly wealthy ones, who have more than one wife at a time" (according to the
The Marriage and Family Encyclopedia,
http://family.jrank.org/pages/1122/Marriage-Definition-Types-Marriage.html).
Evangelist Cameron teaches that humans do not define marriage and have no authority to redefine marriage, but he is incorrect. Humans do define legal marriage and, as such, do have the authority. Nowhere in the Bible does God create a legal contract for marriage. The marriage between Adam and Eve was not of the world, by legal contract, but of the Spirit, in the Garden of Eden, where they were instructed to "be fruitful and multiply."
God's instruction to "be fruitful and multiply" was given to Adam and Eve when they were Pure and Sinless in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 1:28). They had no consciousness or understanding of such worldly things as sex. No children were born in Eden. "Be fruitful and multiply" is firstly a revelation about the Spirit, instructing them (and all of us) to produce the fruits of the Spirit ('be fruitful') and magnify ('multiply') its knowledge, confirmed as follows.
Colossians 1:10
10. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work (good works are fruitful when born of unselfish hearts and motivations), and increasing (magnifying; multiplying) in the knowledge of God;
"Be fruitful and multiply" can be interpreted as being about sexual reproduction, but that understanding is worldly and secondary. Its primary and most-relevant definition is about producing and magnifying the Spirit of God. This is effectively the First Commandment—to love God (Spirit of Selfless Love) before all else.
In First Corinthians 7:1-2, Apostle Paul tells us that "it is good for a man not to touch a woman." This revelation further confirms that "be fruitful and multiply" is not firstly about producing babies, but producing the fruits of the Spirit of God. Paul continues, "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man him have his own wife" (First Corinthians 7:1-2). Literalists point to the word "wife" as proof that marriage must be between a man and woman because the term "wife" is legally defined by humans as the female partner of a man-made, contractual marriage. But Christ reveals that all souls "married" to His Father's Spirit shall be His "bride" and "wife" (Revelation 18:23, 19:2, 19:7).
There are two end-all marriages. Those married to the Spirit (Selfless Love) shall know the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Salvation; Heaven; Oneness with God; Revelation 19:9). Conversely, those married to the anti-Spirit (selfishness) shall know the supper of the great god (damnation; hell; separation from God; Revelation 19:17).
There are no separate marriages in Heaven between souls. All of Heaven has the same One Marriage to God's Spirit.
Luke 20:34-36
34. The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:
35. But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage:
36. Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
A legally binding or contractual marriage is a worldly mechanism. Marriage contracts are ultimately about societal structuring and ensuring property and legal rights for both partners, as in cases of divorce.
Homosexual Americans wanting the "Married" status want to have equality with heterosexual Americans, who have the legal right to that status. Still, we must not forget that marriage is not blessed or sanctified by God via a contract. A legally-binding marriage means nothing before God if it is not firstly a marriage bound by the Spirit. Unlike contractual marriages, marriages bound by mutual companionship in Selfless Love never end in separation or divorce.
We often think of marriage as "man and wife," but when we broaden the concept, we are "married" to every moment of our lives—to our parents, our siblings, our friends and our jobs in some measure. Every experience marries us to that experience. We are to be married to the Spirit before all worldly marriages—for this is the First Commandment—to love God (Spirit of Selfless Love) before all else.
If interested, here are hyperlinks to my other blogs regarding homosexuality.
The Anti-Homosexuals (01-25-07)
Haggard and Homosexual (Part 1) (11-07-06)
Sodom and Gomorrah - What's It About (Part 2) (11-08-06)