Australians are confronted with a relentless push for ‘same-sex marriage’. ARPA[i] is urging its members to email Federal Members of Parliament and Senators. As an example of what to write, it provides the following suggestions:
- “The Bible defines marriage as a man-woman relationship and the only legitimate institution for sexual relationships.
- Same-sex ‘marriage’ disadvantages children, deliberately depriving them of at least one of their biological parents and disadvantaging them in numerous ways. A survey of 3000 children found that children in homosexual families did worse on 77 out of 80 outcomes compared to children from ‘intact biological families.’ Outcomes that were worse included education, mental health, welfare dependence, drug use and vulnerability to sexual abuse.
- Legalising same-sex ‘marriage’ will come at the cost of religious freedom and tolerance. Persecution of Christian celebrants and other wedding service providers is inevitable, despite promises to the contrary. Australia has already seen the appalling treatment meted out to Margaret Court, Coopers Brewery and Tasmanian Archbishop Julian Porteous for publicly defending a Biblical definition of marriage.
- A Newspoll revealed yesterday that support for a plebiscite has increased. 46% of Australians want a say about same-sex ‘marriage,’ compared to 39% who want politicians to decide and 15% who are undecided. Holding a plebiscite was Coalition policy going in to the last election and this promise should not be broken.”[ii]
The last dot-point refers to the government’s promise at the last election to hold a national plebiscite allowing Australians to vote for or against same-sex marriage. Having made that promise, the government should stick to it (Matthew 5:7). However, its attempts to do this have been hampered by the Labor and Greens parties who don’t want a plebiscite but instead seek a conscience vote in parliament, and even some government senators are now backing away from the promised plebiscite and openly support same-sex marriage. It’s a sad reflection of the moral decline of our government.
Of course, there should never have been a promised plebiscite in the first place. A government is elected to rule the country and must do so in the awareness that it rules “as God’s servants” (Romans 13:6) since “the authorities that exist have been established by God” (Romans 13:1). Hence its first responsibility is to rule in a way that is pleasing to God. It is the law of God that must govern its actions, not the will of the majority of citizens. So it’s good to see ARPA directing us to write to the government about what God’s Word says.
In all the talk about a plebiscite we are to remember that the ultimate authority in everything is God, the creator of the universe. He ordained rulers because He wants the world to be governed by laws and policies in order that the licentiousness of people is restrained and so that everything in society is done decently and in good order. That is why He has also given the government the means to punish wrongdoers and to protect those who do what is right. He shows us what is right in His Word, the Bible.
In the Bible He gave mankind His directives for life. One of those directives is that marriage is to be restricted to the relationship between a man and a woman. It is, as one of the ARPA points says: “the only legitimate institution for sexual relationships”. This is evident by the fact that God gave Adam a wife in Eve and illustrated how the relationship should function in, for example, Ephesians 5. Moreover, creation itself shows that both male and female are required to produce offspring, and common sense and research studies also show that children are best served by having both a mother and father.
The Bible also teaches that it is highly offensive to God when homosexuality is practised. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of its homosexual practices (Genesis 19:24, 25), warned the Israelites, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman” (Leviticus 18:22), added that people who do this have “committed an abomination” (Leviticus 20:13), and called homosexual practices unnatural and shameful (Romans 1:26-28).
The homosexual lifestyle is associated with far higher levels of disease and sickness than heterosexual relations, as has been documented by both the Red Cross and the Department of Health. It has also been shown that homosexuality is linked to sexual promiscuity, unstable relationships and a greatly reduced life expectancy. Over 85% of AIDS cases and 90% of HIV transmissions are associated with homosexual sex.
This is what happens when people exchange the truth for the lie (Romans 1:25), when they exchange the natural use for what is against nature (vs 26), “committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due” (vs 27).
There are powerful pressure groups marketing homosexuality[iii] and there are a few prominent businesses that are allying themselves to the homosexual lobby. Some very rich men are pouring many millions of dollars into promoting the LGBT agenda. Not surprisingly the ABC and the Greens also show support. However, let us urge the government not to cave in to such pressure, but to show moral leadership based on Christian principles.
Australia has its roots in the Christian religion. Our Constitution speaks of “humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God” and Federal Parliament commences each session with the prayer:
“Almighty God, we humbly beseech Thee to vouchsafe Thy special blessing upon this Parliament, and that Thou wouldst be pleased to direct and prosper the work of Thy servants to the advancement of Thy glory, and to the welfare of the people of Australia.
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil; for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.”
So let us implore the government senators to show that that the government means what it says, both in its Constitution and in this prayer, by rejecting those things that clearly go against God’s Word. That necessitates the government taking a principled stand against ‘same-sex marriage’.
Australian society cannot expect God’s blessings upon it unless we respect God and His Word and uphold the Christian heritage and principles evidently dear to our founding fathers. May God give the government the courage and determination to do what is right and to withstand every attempt to undermine those Christian principles, and may our prayers include Paul’s injunction to pray for all those God has placed in authority over us (1 Timothy 2:2).
JN
[i] Association for Reformed Political Action
[ii] Email “ARPA News and Action – 12 July 2017” by ARPA Australia <admin@arpa.com.au>
[iii] See, for example, David Kupelian’s fine book The Marketing of Evil