Session 4: Is Biblical Marriage Superior to Homosexual Marriage?

Welcome to Apologetics and the Gospel. My name is Pastor Jonathan White, and I am the Lead Pastor at CrossPointe Family Church in Hurricane, WV as well as a practicing Emergency Medicine Physician.

Question for Today: Is Biblical Marriage Superior to Homosexual Marriage?

Today’s podcast is meant to answer a question that has become a lightning rod in our culture today. First, and foremost, we need to love everyone. Christ even calls us even to love our enemies (Luke 6:27). The content of this podcast is meant to inspire a diligent search for truth. I understand that topics such as this can bring about different emotions in us. We all have different pre-understandings and experiences which cause us to respond emotionally to certain things. But our emotions are not the truth - God is the truth. His ways are the truth. So may we lay our emotions down right now and examine this question with rationality and discernment.

Historically marriage has normally been an official union between a man and woman under law and under God. It is true that there has been some deviance in this in some cultures, but it has been much more common to have marriage between a man and woman as the norm when we look at all of recorded history. Yet in 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States passed down a ruling called Obergefell v. Hodges that allowed for same sex couples to be married. Since then, there has been much discussion in our culture on the issue of marriage.

Before diving in, let’s make sure we have the same definitions.

Definition of Biblical Marriage

The covenantal union between one biological man and one biological woman under God.

And here are some of the Scriptures that address God’s design for marriage:

Genesis 1:27–28 ESV

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

We see here that God created only two genders - male and female. They are both made in His image and are equal before God. Yet they are complementary and different as well.

We see this taught in Genesis 2:18 as well:

Genesis 2:18 ESV

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Definition of Homosexual Marriage

The union of two persons of the same biological gender.

Now that we have our definitions sorted out, let’s start by addressing this as objectively as possible. As a physician, I care about the facts. As a pastor, I care about the truth. So let’s try to tackle this systematically.

1. Biblical Marriage Alone Allows for Procreation

Marriage has been the foundation of families throughout the ages. Marriage has been a union that seeks to continue the existence of human beings through procreation. Procreation is not the only reason people have gotten married, but it has always been one of the main reasons. Even sociologically speaking, societies as a whole have encouraged heterosexual marriage in an effort to continue in existence.

Because procreation is a primary reason that marriage has been encouraged throughout the centuries, it is important for us to note that only heterosexual couples can procreate. Although it is true that some heterosexual couples are infertile, there is a 100% chance that a homosexual couple will not be able to procreate.

Sadly, even medicine has denied the obvious reality that homosexual couples cannot have children by giving the diagnosis of infertility to homosexual couples.

In the most recent American Family Physician Journal from June 2023, an article entitled Infertility: Evaluation and Management states the following:

Infertility is the inability to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse. Evaluation and treatment are recommended earlier than 12 months when risk factors for infertility exist, if the female partner is 35 years or older, and in the setting of nonheterosexual partnerships.

Am Fam Physician. 2023;107(6):623-630

Note the confusion in this statement in a scientific medical journal. The most glaring and obvious scientific issue is being completely ignored. Homosexual couples are not infertile. Homosexual couples are sexually incompatible when it comes to procreation. This should not be a shocking statement. It is a scientific fact and a truth that all of us must accept.

This issue is even coming before insurance companies who are being pressured into providing infertility care to homosexual couples.

This issue was addressed in an article in USA Today from June 13th of this year entitled, “Still a lot of hurdles: For LGBTQ+ couples, the path to in vitro fertilization is harder.”

Note that no one asks the question in this article why homosexual couples cannot have children. It is because it takes a cell from a biological male and a cell from a biological female in order to make a baby. This is more than just a hurdle - it is an impossibility.

Moving forward we get to…

2. Biblical Marriage Provides More Stability

Biblical marriages are the ideal. And we understand that the divorce rate amongst those who claim Christianity is alarmingly high these days. This is a sad statistic. An argument could be made that many of these marriages were not Biblical marriages - meaning they were not truly before or under God, but that is a discussion for another day.

But taking into account Biblical marriages as compared to homosexual marriages, we see that Biblical marriages are much more likely to have two spouses that are committed exclusively to one another.

In fact, when looking at homosexual married men, a study in the book The Male Couple written by a physician and a Ph.D, looked at 156 males in homosexual relationships that lasted 1-37 years. Only 7 of these couples were in totally exclusive sexual relationships and each of these 7 couples had only been together for 5 or less years. Many, but not all, homosexual relationships view the standards of monogamy as oppressive. And this creates a poor atmosphere for children to thrive. Children thrive on stability, and relationships such as these do not provide that stability.

This is not to say that all homosexual marriages are founded this way. But statistics, especially when it comes to male homosexual marriages are very concerning.

Although the book mentioned above is somewhat dated, statistics today also support a lack of monogamy among homosexual men especially. For example:

Homosexual men have a 106 times higher rate of the sexually transmitted disease called syphilis than heterosexual men (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/syphilis-rates-gay-bisexual-men/ - data from CDC 2017).

Monkey pox has seen much higher transmission rates among homosexual men especially (https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/18/health/monkeypox-lgbtq-safety/index.html - per CDC data 2022).

And looking at HIV/AIDS, homosexual men accounted for 71% of all new cases of HIV in the US in 2020 (https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/data-and-trends/statistics/).

I think it seems clear that there is a definite problem as it relates to stability.

Although homosexual female couples seem to have more long-term stability than their male counterparts, there still are glaring issues of stability at hand. Not having a father around makes a big difference for boys especially.

What about female homosexual marriages?

We see that boys without fathers in their lives have an increased risk of poverty, drug addiction, depression, and behavior problems. And girls have a strong need for a father as well (https://www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic).

There are many other points we could hit but in the interest of time we will end with what God’s Word has to say:

3. Biblical Marriage is God’s Design

We discussed the definition of Biblical marriage at the beginning. He created two distinct genders and made them complementary. He did this for procreation as well as to allow the one gender’s strengths to help the other’s weaknesses. This complementarian relationship provides stability for the family.

Is Homosexual Marriage Approved in Scripture?

Is it Biblical? Am I off base regarding the initial definition which created a distinction between Biblical and homosexual marriages?

Sadly, there are many clergy in our world today that support homosexuality and homosexual marriage. Despite the clarity of the Word of God, they have decided to agree with the culture instead of their Creator.

Just like modern medicine has turned a blind eye to the facts of procreation and gender, many clergy have turned a blind eye to the Word of God.

Here are a few, although not a comprehensive study, of Scriptures regarding homosexuality and marriage:

Romans 1:26–28 ESV

For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

Here we see the Bible teach that homosexuality is unnatural and debased. There is also a measure of judgment declared here.

Leviticus 18:22 ESV

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.

The Scripture clearly calls out homosexuality as sin here.

Jude 7 ESV

just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Here we see that the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah mentioned in Genesis 19 was strictly because of their sexual sin - the main one being homosexuality.

There are many others as well but time would keep us from being able to go into detail.

In closing, it is clear that anyone with intellectual and theological integrity cannot defend that the Bible teaches that homosexual marriage is approved by God. And it is also clear that anyone with intellectual integrity must admit that there is a statistical and practical superiority in Biblical marriage when compared to homosexual marriage.

The real heart of the problem of homosexual marriage is that it hits at the Gospel. Ephesians 5:22-33 compares marriage between a man and a woman to Christ and the church. Attacking Biblical marriage is attacking the Gospel. The Gospel issue is that one cannot be saved unless they humble themselves before God, repent of their sins, and believe in Jesus Christ. And to deny sin is to deny the need for a Savior. This issue is greater than just a sexuality problem. It is a Gospel problem.

As a final word - I have used homosexual marriage throughout this podcast because it common language today. However, I must be clear that marriage is actually founded by God and homosexual marriage is not recognized as true marriage per God’s Word. It should be thought moreso as a legal union or civil union recognized by the government and not a marriage recognized by God.

I pray that this discussion encourages you to do more research into this topic. There is much more we could cover, but our time has run out for today.

I also pray that you objectively research the data and the Scriptures. Leave your emotions behind and search for the truth.

(Slide Closing 1)

This presentation has been put together to strengthen the faith of believers and to challenge the unbelief of others. I pray that you have found this presentation helpful.

Also, please note that this 10-15 minute presentation cannot exhaustively address most issues. My prayer is that it stimulates you to personally research further, and I am assured that you will find the Word of God proven time and time again.

(Slide Closing 2 with outro music)

Feel free to email any ideas you would like to see addressed by emailing me at crosspointewv@gmail.com. There are slides prepared for each of these presentations which can be accessed at our church website at crosspointefamily.church/ATG. God bless and have a blessed week.

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