Marriage God’s way

By Jerry Falwell

In 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul set forth a strategy for effective marriage.

“[L]et every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband,” Paul wrote (7:2).

It is important to note that the great apostle did not outline a paradigm for relationships between two men or two women.

Throughout his writings, Paul defined methods of ensuring successful relationships between husbands and wives. It was a very important part of his God-breathed epistles to the early church.

Today these writings are viewed as archaic and outmoded by homosexuals who are currently pressing to have their relationships officially sanctioned by the government.

While leftists will not acknowledge it, present American law fundamentally reflects biblical tenets, including the Ten Commandments. In order to alter these time-honored laws that sanction the Judeo-Christian vision of marriage, constitutional revisionists are on a quest to secularize America and subsequently destroy the values that characterized the nation for most of its glorious history.

1 Corinthians is therefore meaningless in the secular society that allows citizens to do what is right in their own eyes. There can be no definition of appropriate sexual behavior in this scenario because our laws will essentially become situational, lasting only until the next shift in public morals. Under this legal ruse, marriage must be altered to permit homosexuals to marry.

And this is an unstoppable train. If the sacred bonds of marriage are destroyed, who knows what the future holds. Will men legally marry young boys and girls? Will men legally take on multiple wives and husbands? These are not outrageous questions.

The recent Texas sodomy case brought new light to this escalating issue.

As Gary Bauer noted, conservatives are concerned about “un-elected judges taking over the authority that elected officials are supposed to exercise.”

Thankfully, there is good news on the horizon.

An amendment to the U.S. Constitution is being proposed to protect the sanctity of marriage, securing it as a legal declaration solely between a man and a woman and protecting it from scheming jurists.

Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., offered the Federal Marriage Amendment on May 21, and it advanced to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution. The amendment reads:

    Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any State, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.

It must be passed by two-thirds of the House and Senate and ratified by three-fourths of the states in order to be added to the Constitution. The amendment now has 27 co-sponsors in the House and, while there is no Senate bill yet, Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has addressed the need for such an amendment. A companion Senate bill is expected to arrive on the scene soon.

This is timely legislation. Presently, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is considering whether seven homosexual couples that sued the state in an effort to gain the right to marry under civil law should be allowed to do so.

Ken Connor, president of the Family Research Institute, said, “Should the court rule in favor of same-sex marriage, pro-homosexual activists will undoubtedly resort to lawsuits based on the Constitution’s ‘Full Faith and Credit Clause’ to push for marital rights in every other state. That clause requires states to recognize the ‘public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.'”

Christians nationwide must become proactive in urging their congressional representatives to support Rep. Musgrave’s legislation.

If ever there were a time for Christians to get involved in the political process, it is now. Currently, homosexual-rights organizations are asking supporters to contact their representatives and urge them not to back Musgrave’s amendment.

We must aggressively combat the homosexual effort to destroy the tradition of marriage. This nation is on the precipice of moral devastation. Forty-two million children have been aborted in my lifetime; half of our marriages fail; millions of children are being raised by single parents; and multitudes of American teen-agers are sexually active. I don’t know if America can survive another dagger in the heart of its moral fabric.

I urge all readers to contact their representatives to encourage them to support Rep. Musgrave’s Federal Marriage Amendment that defines marriage as a sacred trust between one man and one woman.

Please call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard today (202-224-3121) and request to speak to your representative and two senators. When connected, considerately tell their spokesperson that you are urging him/her to vote for the Federal Marriage Amendment. (When speaking to your senators, remember that companion legislation to Musgrave’s House amendment has not yet come forth. You may say that, when the Senate legislation is written, you hope the senator will support it.)

E-mail your senators here and your congressman here.

Please urge your friends, family members and church family to get involved in this urgent effort to protect the sanctity of marriage in our nation!

Jerry Falwell

Rev. Jerry Falwell, a nationally recognized Christian minister and television show host, was the founder of Jerry Falwell Ministries and chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. Read more of Jerry Falwell's articles here.