The Family In Crisis

The Family in Crisis

July 11, 2004

Intro: Today we are dealing with a topic that many will find uncomfortable and disturbing. Many Christians believe that our political lives and our spiritual lives should not mix. However, that is like saying the oxygen we breathe in and our blood should not mix. We can’t help it. They automatically do. We cannot live in a spiritual vacuum without it affecting our social conscience and today in America, the family is in crisis.

This week, Congress begins debate on the Federal Marriage Amendment which would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Without this law, the activist courts in the United States are prepared to destroy the institution of the family. It is imperative that we as Christians take a stand and allow our voice to be heard.

To that end, today has been called Protect Marriage Sunday. Churches all across America are being urged to challenge their members to be involved in this important social debate.

Today, I will share with you God’s view of marriage, the distortion of the homosexual agenda, and one application point that could change the course of our society.

I. God’s Design for Marriage

The first thing we must understand is that government did not create marriage. God created marriage between Adam and Eve and people for hundreds of years before there was a political or social organization were practicing marriage.

Dr. Alan Keyes, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and political commentator says:

“Marriage pre-exists civil society. It is not defined by government; it is not defined by society.”

(Interview on Citizen Link- March 9, 2004)

God created marriage in the Garden of Eden.

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

Genesis 2:24 (NIV)

God created marriage to be a union between one man and one woman.

Every scripture reference that speaks to marriage speaks in relation to one man and woman.

“Five thousand years of recorded history have come and gone, yet every civilization in the history of the world has been built upon it.”

Dr. James Dobson “Marriage Under Fire”

Three ancient civilizations gave themselves over to homosexuality:

Sodom and Gomorrah, Greece and Rome. All perished.

“Marriage is the traditional building block of humanity. It is intended both to unite couples and bring children into the world.”

Chuck Colson, Breakpoint. Org, May 17, 2004

Husbands and wives fulfill each other in ways no other man of woman was intended to.

“Wives, understand and support your husbands in ways that show your support for Christ…. Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church.”

Ephesians 5:22 & 25(The Message)

A woman provides stability for a man and a man provides intimacy for a woman. We were created to “Fit” together physically, emotionally and spiritually to create a family unit.

Children need the stability and assurance that comes from having a mother and a father.

Chuck Colson, who heads prison fellowship, cites these statistics for the importance of a mother and father being present in a child’s life.

*Boys who grow up without a dad are at least twice as likely as other boys to end up in prison.

*60% of adults and 72 % of adolescent murderers never knew or lived with their father.

*In the toughest inner-city, 10% of kids from two parent homes get into trouble while 90% from broken homes do.

*Girls raised without a father in the home are five times as likely to become pregnant while still adolescents.

*Children from broken homes are nearly twice as likely to drop out of high school.

“Listen, my son to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.”

Proverbs 1:8-9(NIV)

God designed a family to be one man and one woman united to fulfill each others needs, produce children and train future generations.

II- The Homosexual Fallacy

People believe that a person’s sexual preference has not bearing on me and should be left to their own desires. The homosexual activist says that two loving dads are better than an arguing mother and father. They also say that this only gives homosexuals the same right as everyone else. These statements are all false.

Sexual Preference

God did not design us to have sexual relationships with people of our own gender. Physically we are not created that way, and God does not condone that behavior.

“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.” Leviticus 18:22(NIV)

“Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations for unnatural ones and were inflamed with lusts for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received themselves the penalty for their perversion.” Romans 1:26-27