Why should we be concerned with the changes in marriage or the redefinition of marriage? Why does marriage matter?

Those against redefining marriage might answer marriage between a man and a woman matters because it is best for society. Others might say marriage, between a woman and a man, matters because it has been tried and tested over the centuries across the cultures of the world throughout the continents of the earth...not perfect, but the perceived wisdom is...

Some of you may answer, ‘I can’t put it into words, but I know in my heart of hearts marriage, between a woman and a man, is right and marriage between two people of the same gender is wrong. What I want to do this evening is dig a little deeper and provide you with objective grounds for why it is best for society, why it has been practised over the centuries within all the major cultures of the world and why we know in our heart it is between a man and a woman.

In support of the case that marriage is right and appropriate only between a man and a woman, I want to call three witnesses to give testimony.

1. THE WITNESS OF NATURE

From observing and analysing what we see in the world of nature, the human race has made remarkable discoveries, so much so that we speak of the laws of nature. We note two examples: Nicholas Copernicus was a Polish astronomer. In 1543, while on his deathbed, he published his theory that the Sun is a motionless body at the centre of the solar system, with the planets revolving around it. Before that, astronomers believed the Earth was at the centre of the universe. How did Copernicus conclude that? By observation.

120 years later, Isaac Newton, a mathematician and scientist, figured out that gravity is the force that draws objects toward each other. It explains why things fall like the proverbial apple that is supposed to have fallen upon his head from the tree he was sitting under. It explains why the planets orbit around the sun. Again, it is the product of observation.

Now let us go outdoors to observe...the animals. The first thing we observe is that they divide into two groups and only two – male and female. Watch long enough, and we will observe: each gender is attracted to the opposite - the male to the female and vice versa; that attraction leads to the union of the male and the female and in the reproduction of species.

If we apply what we observe in the animal kingdom to our benefit as human beings, we will accept that
by nature, there are two human genders, male and female, each with differing genitalia. The male and the female are designed to unite as an expression of their sexuality, and that union typically results in the reproduction of human life and the continuation of the species.

2. THE WITNESS OF CONSCIENCE

Human beings have things in common with the animal world. However, what separates and distinguishes us from animals is what makes us unique and distinct as a species. We have personality, individuality, the ability to co-operate, to communicate, to innovate. We have highly developed
intelligence, spirituality, morality, and a conscience.

Part of human nature is having inbuilt values or morals. This expresses itself in a vertical dimension in a belief in God or some form of higher being upon whom we depend, an afterlife. I know someone who, growing up in an unreligious home, began to pray to God at six years old. This also expresses itself at a horizontal level in relation to fellow human beings. We want to treat one another in the right way: not to lie, not to steal, not to covet, not to dishonour. And we are frustrated that we are unable to do so. Further, we experience guilt when we fall short of our values or morals. This is due to a conscience which judges all we are and do by our inbuilt value system.

The witness of conscience includes our sexual actions. We don’t have to be taught it is wrong to seek sexual fulfilment with one’s own gender. Conscience confirms what the human body displays, the male and the female are made to achieve sexual fulfilment in and with each other. Indeed, if we seek sex fulfilment through one’s own sexual organs or those of someone of the same gender, conscience finds us guilty.

We have then the witness of human conscience that the sexual relationship is natural when pursued by those of the opposite gender. This agrees with what we observed in nature. Humanity, however, attempt to explain away this inner moral value system and to suppress conscience when it tells them what they are doing is wrong. That being so, we must consider thirdly and most importantly:

3.THE WITNESS OF SCRIPTURE

So, where does marriage come into the picture? Is marriage merely a social construct? Is marriage something individuals or governments devised and therefore can change at will? On the contrary marriage is designed and defined by God. He established it in the beginning between the man and
the woman, ordaining it to be a lifelong, exclusive relationship. Picture the scene in Gen 1, Adam is engaged in his first task as God’s ruler in charge of the earth. He is naming the creatures. He can’t help but notice they are in pairs, a male and a female. As Adam names the creatures there is a growing sense
of ‘When will I meet my other half, my counterpart?’ When Adam names the last pair he realises there
was no partner left for him. At this point God performs the first operation, forming the woman from the rib of Adam. God brings her to Adam as the first father of a bride. Adam is in raptures of joy and delight, exclaiming, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she has been taken out of man’ (Genesis 2 v 23.)

And God performs the first marriage declaring, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh’ (Genesis 2 v 24)

The ultimate reason why marriage should not be redefined is because God defined it in the beginning. God did not create another man for Adam. He created woman for man.

Jesus, during his earthly ministry, affirmed that marriage is between a man and a woman, with the Apostle Paul teaching: ‘For as the woman was from the man even so the man is also through the women, but all things are from God’ (1 Corinthians 11 v 12)