Avery Foley
Well over half of voters cast their vote as “yes” this Friday as Ireland became the first nation to legalize gay “marriage” by popular vote. Many people were shocked that the traditionally Catholic nation would vote so overwhelming “yes” to something that the Catholic church does not approve of. But, really, it is no surprise considering how secular the West has become and how the Catholic church has neglected God’s Word as the ultimate authority, beginning in Genesis.
The head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, created quite a stir when he said last fall that God used the big bang and evolution to create and that “when we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so . . . God is not a divine being or a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life.” Now, Pope Francis’ comments really highlight that man’s opinions—not God’s Word—is the ultimate authority. He has completely rejected God’s Word in Genesis so he should not be surprised that many of the members of his global church have followed this to its logical conclusion by rejecting God’s definition of marriage as well. You see, if God did not create as he said in Genesis but, rather, everything evolved, than marriage also evolved. And if marriage is simply the by-product of evolution, than it can continue to evolve to include same-sex couples. If you reject God’s Word in Genesis, then it is no surprise that you will reject other doctrines, like biblical marriage, that come from Genesis as well.
But this is clearly not what God’s Word teaches. Genesis is plain that God did not use evolution to create. Rather, God made everything to reproduce “according to its kind” (Genesis 1) in six, literal 24-hour days. To say that God used evolution is to completely and utterly ignore His Word and reinterpret it to mean whatever you want it to mean.
Genesis also describes the origin of marriage, “And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:22-24). Jesus reaffirmed this in the New Testament, “at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?” (Matthew 19:4-5). Marriage was directly created by God. Therefore marriage is not subject to evolution. Since God created it, God—and God alone—has the right to decide what is and what is not a marriage. And according to God’s Word, marriage is to be between one man and one woman for life. Anything else does not fall under the biblical definition of marriage.
As Christians, we need to start with God’s Word, not man’s ideas. Right now, it is highly unpopular and even dangerous to boldly stand on what God’s Word says about marriage. But we must remember that man’s ideas come and go but “but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8). God’s Word is the only reliable, infallible, unchanging foundation on which to build our lives.
