Simple algebraic logic states that if God is love, and God is infinite, then love is also infinite. Or perhaps better stated, we serve a God of infinite love. Just as no finite human being can fully describe God or somehow know His limitations; so no finite human being can fully describe love or any ideas of its limitations to what love can inspire, feel like, or be shared. Christ proved His love for us on the cross, choosing rather to risk that the stain of our sin may forever keep Him parted from His Father’s side, rather than give us up to the punishment we had earned. But the love of Christ was evident to us long before the cross marked it in His blood. Our creation was an entire testament to the love God has for His creation. The first lesson of which taught in the garden was the one of intimacy.
We are created in the image of God. This means we have a sense of the things that our creator intends because we carry His likeness. After naming the animals brought before him in the Garden of Eden, Adam observed closer the relationship between male and female. This was not simply a sexual relationship with the intention of procreation; it was a bond, the foundation of a family unit. Animals appeared to work and play in teams, or in reliance on their counterparts. It was this phenomenon that caused Adam to realize he had no such partner in his world. The animal kingdom was created male and female, but man was still alone. Adam missed the companionship of someone like himself, and this was the issue God solved in the creation of Eve.
There are many who wonder at the composition of the Trinity. Within it, we find God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father and Son are always referred to in the masculine genre, but this of course is based on a human perspective. The Holy Spirit however is not gender identified, some speculate that it embodies the feminine qualities of the God head. It is pure speculation, as other theories suggest it is the “power” or “energy” of God unencumbered by a physical form. It is of note that man is created in the image of God, and we are listed as both male and female. Those who speculate that God is woman probably go a step too far. But as God created women, He certainly would know them inside and out, a feat men have yet to come anywhere near. Some speculate that God created Christ, this idea comes from the word “begotten”. If the example of Eden holds true, then God the Father might have taken a piece of Himself and separated it into His son Christ. This of course is pure speculation and matters little to our existence or fate. But this topic is one I imagine we will study for years to come once we enter the gates of perfection and shed ourselves of the nagging sins that now cloud our eyesight and judgment.
For Adam, God chose to perform a surgery (the first ever) and remove a rib from Adam’s side. Adam’s partner was more than just another creation from the ground. Woman, or Eve in this case, was to have originated from a completed part of man’s body. Symbolically she was made from the bone closest to our vital organs such as the heart. Eve was to be special, in that Adam would see her as a part of himself. The union of Adam and Eve sexually would literally be the reunification of Adam’s flesh, uniting both parts of himself into one. This was to be a special relationship. This was to be more than a friendship. This was to be inherently close. The love between Adam and Eve would be the greatest the world would see between man and wife until they died. Having been created before sin, Adam and Eve would know what pure love is like.
Notice that man was not left alone upon noticing his condition, it was promptly remedied. Notice that man was not given the sole power over procreation, it would take a team, it would take a woman to complete the process. Procreation would be the result of two who consented and shared their love, it was not an arbitrary decision for one to make alone. Notice that intimacy God intended for humans to understand required a man and woman in order to fully appreciate it. God did not create a platonic friend for Adam, He did not create a group of friends, He only created Eve His wife. Eve was intended to meet Adam’s needs completely on her own, and he to meet hers. “More” was not a consideration in this plan. “Time limits” were not a consideration in this plan.
Today we look at married couples in Hollywood and declare that if any couple lasts longer than 5 years they should be national heroes. Our standard of marriage completely embraces the concept of divorce; the garden had NO such provisions, or intentions. If Adam and Eve had never broken trust with God, we would all be living in perfection as God originally created it. Adam and Eve would STILL be married as they will one day again. Their marriage was created with the idea of lasting forever and ever. It is because their relationship was created for MORE than just sexual expression, and procreation. It was created to demonstrate the intimacy of families, and to show us exactly how God wishes to be a part of what we call family. He knows us better than our spouse, He loves us more than our parents or lover, He longs for our companionship more than Adam felt his own loneliness before Eve. Marriages were to be forever and will one day be so again.
What keeps our marriages from being what God originally intended for them lies in the mirrors of our homes. It is self-interest that keeps us from giving “all”. It is fear of rejection that keeps us “suspicious”. It is “looking out for number one” that literally prevents us from any sense of real fulfillment, joy, or peace. In short, it is the carnal man in the mirror, who robs us of God’s intent and designs. He must be killed, that is to say, “I” must die, if HE is to live in me. For, “I” am the enemy; His enemy, your enemy, and sadly my own enemy. It is my selfishness that destroys everything that it comes in contact with. It is the disease of sin that turns a relationship designed to show me the intimacy that God wants with me, into a 50:50 proposition based on a subjective fairness standard that is highly influenced by my own desires, prejudice, and perceived needs. Self-centered thinking becomes the cancerous root to all of my self-destructive behavior.
Those who debate gay marriage miss the lessons of our creation, in the same way as those who contemplate divorce as a solution for getting what they want out of life. Divorce was not an institution of perfection; it was an allowance to compensate for the self-focused hearts of man. It was our addiction to sin and self-service that made divorce a necessary escape from even greater levels of evil and pain. And once sin is removed, divorce will be unnecessary once again. Marriages will again be destined to last forever, sharing the intimacy that God intended. It is similar with the idea of gay marriage.
Homosexual life styles have been brought about by many factors such as genetic disposition, forced victimization of adult pedophiles on the innocent, and the purely optional choice to pervert or alter what “was” considered normal sexual expression into something else. It is impossible to judge the origins of another person’s sexuality, and so we should not. Christians should stay out of the bedrooms of others and suggest only that each person submit themselves fully to Christ and let Him lead as He will. If Christ is leading, we have nothing to fear. When we jump ahead, we err, and usually fall flat on our faces. Christian churches should not condone marriage outside of the Biblical guidelines we have been given as corporate organizations. This should include a re-examination of what it truly means to commit for eternity, how to submit one’s will to Christ, and what it means to give another 100% of yourself without thought of reward. However churches should not condemn gay partners for attempting to live a monogamous, committed, lifestyle as best they know how. Judgment should be left to God, and leadership to Christ. How individuals commit to each other is their own business. What the church sanctions is another.
The Government makes laws around families to protect property rights. It is impossible to legislate intimacy, or love. In point of fact, there are no laws required to limit how much we love our spouse, only to limit how “badly” we can treat them. Laws are a construct of sin. They are required to keep our self-interest in check, under threat of punishment. The government should not have a moral basis for marital law, only an equity based one. Insuring fairness, and equality under the law, must be the ONLY goals of governmental legislation related to families. Protect children and adults from abusive situations, insure equitable distribution of funds in situations of separation. These are fine ideals. But prevention of consenting adults to live as they choose transcends the goals of protection and equality and attempts to enforce a moral code based on one’s own ideology. This is a step too far for a government that is built on the ideas of separation of church and state. And the compelling of conscience under threat of law, is against the character and teachings of Christ. Christians should fight against such legislation even if it seems to agree with their ideology. It is in fact, against the entire nature of God to force compliance to His will. God invites, He does not compel.
Gay couples could “marry” in civil courts, non-church affiliated organizations, or even in privacy between themselves and God. The same thinking would apply to those groups of adults who choose to embrace a multiple partner scenario, it is morally no different. Attempting to marry a child or animal or inanimate object is forbidden by government laws as in each case, the intended object of marriage is incapable of making an informed consent. It is also out of the biblical guidelines of marriage as established in Eden and throughout our Bibles. Not allowing gay marital ceremonies in the church is only a reflection that we hold to the original ideals of marriage as set forth in the garden until Christ returns and can resolve any unanswered questions.
This does not mean that churches should ban gay members, or oppose adoption of children into gay families, or dishonor the commitments that gay families may choose to make to each other outside of our doors. Rather ALL should be welcomed to the hospital for the hurting that is our church. ALL should learn the solution of submitting the will and desires to Christ in order for the healing to begin. And ALL should refrain from judging anyone else along this journey we undertake. In truth, we ALL struggle with sexual sin, whether it be lust, uncommitted sex without love, adultery, jealousy, envy, greed, or even violence. To exclude gay members because they too suffer from the effects of a world steeped in sin, is hypocrisy. There is no effort to excuse or rationalize any form of sin and pain, only to escape it. The only solution for that is Christ. And that solution does not require the judgment or condemnation of others.
Christians who refuse to embrace their brothers because of a particular sin have not discovered love, forgiveness, or the solution to their own sins. When we love as He loved, we do not reject those in need, rather we embrace them, pray for them, and ask for their prayers in return. Divorced members, are no more failures, than any other who has fallen short of the ideals God has set forth. We have all missed that mark. There is no more a reason to judge others based on the failure of their marriages than there is to judge anyone for any reason. Marriages fail because we fail. Marriages fail because of sin, not just a single individual’s sin, but all sin. And what is more, marriages can succeed beyond our wildest imaginations when we put Christ back into the center of them where He belongs. It is Christ who wishes for our companionship from the garden until now. This is why He fights so hard to see His erring children return home. But there is more to learn about love from our first example, we will continue our lesson in the next section …
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