It's About the Children
Aproximately 1.7% of Americans describe themselves as homosexual. Now that means that roughly 2 out of every 100 people you encounter are gay. That’s not that many, but it is enough that you are likely to find some among your friends or at the very least you know people with them in their family. Being the nice person that you are, you might not see anything wrong with gay “marriage”. After all, it isn’t like it will change anything for you. If they want to get married, what’s wrong with it? As long as they keep what they do behind closed door—and isn’t that true for heterosexual relationships also? So what’s wrong with gay “marriage”?
For the sake of argument, let’s forget what the Bible says about homosexual relationships. The thing is, every sin that exists manifests itself in the form or something harmful, so if there is any merit to what the Bible says, then there ought to be a harmful manifestation. If that isn’t the case, then maybe the Bible isn’t right.
As an example, consider the sin of gluttony. Even without the Bible, we can see that gluttony is a bad thing because it results in obesity, which can cause heart problems, diabetes, and may even lead to cancer.
Can we also see a harmful manifestation that is caused by gay “marriage”? Yes. Gay “marriage” creates homes in which children are raised without the tutelage of a parent of one of the sexes. Imagine a child being raised by two women as his parents. He would not have the benefit of seeing how women ought to treat men and men ought to treat women. He wouldn’t know what it means to be a man and would be missing a role model to guide him on his way. Often, homosexuals are disenfranchised with the opposite sex, so a young man growing up in such a home is at risk of thinking that he is part of a worthless gender. Or if he were raised by two men, he might come to believe he is of a superior gender. In either case, the proper balance is missing in his life. Gay “marriage” harms children.
But what about heterosexual marriage? Is it any better? Some men beat their wives and children. Some marriages end in divorce. There are many things that can go wrong there too. This is certainly true, but two wrongs don’t make a right. Instead of asking whether homosexual “marriage” is any worse than what can happen in heterosexual marriage, what we ought to be asking is what the ideal situation is. Divorce is also a sin, according to the Bible. Abusing one’s children is also a sin. But what is ideal is that the biological father and the biological mother living in a loving relationship with their children.
That kind of relationship is ideal because it gives balance to what children learn about men and women. It is ideal because parents have a natural affection for their biological children. And children have a natural affection for their biological parents. There is also the practicality of it. Two men cannot have children without the aid of a woman outside the “family”. For that matter, neither can two women, though they could go to a sperm bank. A child in such a family will naturally side with the parent he shares genetics with, causing him to prefer one over the other, while a child living with both biological parents will be more likely to love them both equally, though differently.
It may be tempting to think that if that’s what they want to do then let them do it, but let’s not forget the children. We have a great responsibility to protect children because they lack the ability to protect themselves.
For the sake of argument, let’s forget what the Bible says about homosexual relationships. The thing is, every sin that exists manifests itself in the form or something harmful, so if there is any merit to what the Bible says, then there ought to be a harmful manifestation. If that isn’t the case, then maybe the Bible isn’t right.
As an example, consider the sin of gluttony. Even without the Bible, we can see that gluttony is a bad thing because it results in obesity, which can cause heart problems, diabetes, and may even lead to cancer.
Can we also see a harmful manifestation that is caused by gay “marriage”? Yes. Gay “marriage” creates homes in which children are raised without the tutelage of a parent of one of the sexes. Imagine a child being raised by two women as his parents. He would not have the benefit of seeing how women ought to treat men and men ought to treat women. He wouldn’t know what it means to be a man and would be missing a role model to guide him on his way. Often, homosexuals are disenfranchised with the opposite sex, so a young man growing up in such a home is at risk of thinking that he is part of a worthless gender. Or if he were raised by two men, he might come to believe he is of a superior gender. In either case, the proper balance is missing in his life. Gay “marriage” harms children.
But what about heterosexual marriage? Is it any better? Some men beat their wives and children. Some marriages end in divorce. There are many things that can go wrong there too. This is certainly true, but two wrongs don’t make a right. Instead of asking whether homosexual “marriage” is any worse than what can happen in heterosexual marriage, what we ought to be asking is what the ideal situation is. Divorce is also a sin, according to the Bible. Abusing one’s children is also a sin. But what is ideal is that the biological father and the biological mother living in a loving relationship with their children.
That kind of relationship is ideal because it gives balance to what children learn about men and women. It is ideal because parents have a natural affection for their biological children. And children have a natural affection for their biological parents. There is also the practicality of it. Two men cannot have children without the aid of a woman outside the “family”. For that matter, neither can two women, though they could go to a sperm bank. A child in such a family will naturally side with the parent he shares genetics with, causing him to prefer one over the other, while a child living with both biological parents will be more likely to love them both equally, though differently.
It may be tempting to think that if that’s what they want to do then let them do it, but let’s not forget the children. We have a great responsibility to protect children because they lack the ability to protect themselves.
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