Wiser

Some people make great claims.  Cassius Clay (known as Mohammed Ali) said he was the greatest heavyweight boxer.  The writer of Psalm 119 told God he had more understanding than all his teachers (verse 99).  Though young, he was sure.  He knew why.  He knew God's Word.

Important issues

We face many questions.  For example, When does life begin?  Is it at birth?  Is it at some point in the womb?  Or is it at the moment of conception?  Why do we exist?  Is to live as we want or to glorify God?  Who are we?  Are we mere a form of animal life or special to God?  What does it mean to be a man or a woman?  How are the sexes to relate?

These are all important issues?   Those who love God and strive to understand his Word answer  them in a different way to others.  They do not rely on the ideas of people.  Nor do they allow feelings or mere reason to dictate an answer.  Their concern is to know what God says.  It is to discover what he has revealed.  Having done that, it is to embrace and make known God's truth.

Important claim

David Cameron, Prime Minister, claimed on 7 December 2012 he believes in marriage.  If he had said just that he would not have upset many.  But he also said he does not want same-sex couples  excluded from this €œgreat institution€.

Important question

Is he right?  To many his aim seems reasonable.  It does if one is indoctrinated with the thinking of the equality agenda of today.  But those who know God's will for mankind know this thinking is decidedly wrong.  It does not matter how often nor how passionately one says it in private or public.   The frequency or firmness of a false assertion never makes it right.  Mr Cameron started with a correct claim: marriage is a great institution.  He ended with a false one: those who choose to be sexually active with a person of the same sex should also enjoy that great institution.

Important distinctions

Why is he wrong?  Because for a marriage to exist

there has to be one man and one woman.  Any other coupling is not marriage.  It never can be.

Yes, there can be a relationship between two people of the same sex but such a relationship perverts the God-given order.  God made women from man for man.  He did not make a man to go with a man.   It was not Adam and Steve who lived together in an intimate relationship in the Garden of Eden.  It was Adam and Eve.

Moreover, God declares their relationship shows it is his will for a man and a woman to leave their own homes and be united together.  Such union involves sexual intimacy.  The commands of God are clear.  Sexual intimacy with another is take place only within a properly constituted marriage.  All this we discover in Genesis 2.  We see it restated in Matthew 19.  We are also taught that sexual sin is not a trivial matter.  The people of Israel were told adulterers deserve to die (Leviticus 20.10).

The Church of England correctly argued, in response to the government consultation, that men and women are not interchangeable.  It also stated that to obscure this fact; which a redefinition of marriage will undoubtedly do; will not benefit either society or individuals.

Important warning

Those who tamper with God's laws face his judgment.

The acceptance of same-sex relations as a valid life-style choice is evidence of God's displeasure (Romans 1).  To make legal that which is an abomination in his sight and to accord it the dignity of marriage is to undermine God's ordinance.

Mr Cameron is acting foolishly (as the Bible defines it).  He has recklessly led the people of the United Kingdom astray.  He has set a bad example to the world.  Other nations are looking on.

The best advice he and his ilk can be given is to  repent.  They are in error.  A change of mind is urgently needed.  Failure to do so will have serious consequences.

9 December 2012