Rethinking Marriage

ADF Communication Specialist Jared Dobbs has this post at The Federalist examining both the misinterpretation and the actual motivation of Christian artists, and why some Christians may object to same-sex marriage.

He writes, “Because marriage is marked by complementarity and oriented toward creating children, Christians don’t think same-sex unions can constitute marriages. Treating same-sex unions as marriages thus communicates profound untruths that are unsettling to many Christians. If the man is absent from a marriage, it communicates that God’s love and faithfulness is not essential to human flourishing; if the woman is absent, then our need to honor and commit to Christ is seen as optional. Divorce being a covenant failure, same-sex marriage is a failure to grasp the covenant itself.”  In fact, we have set out the ways that expanding marriage has harmed women in Obergefell: A Game-Changer for Women, causing changes in marriage equality for women, and altering women’s relationships with men, and with their children.

Dobbs posits, “Marriage also reflects important truths about children and their upbringing. The Bible’s understanding of marriage reflects the truth that each child has one mother and one father, and it teaches that there is great value in each child knowing and being raised by those two people in one family unit. Same-sex marriage, on the other hand, tells the world that there is no inherent value in connecting children to their two biological parents. It says that any two people will do.”  In fact, in Rethinking Mom and Dad, my research strongly suggested that this connection – or its disconnect – does indeed affect children.

Finally, Dobbs suggests, “Thus, conscientious Christians who decline to affirm or participate in same-sex weddings are acting out of a conviction basic to their faith. To them, marriage is an essential means by which God communicates truths about himself, humanity, and the relationship between the two. Telling Christians, like Barronelle Stutzman, to affirm or participate in same-sex marriages effectively tells them to contradict what they believe to be foundational truths about the world.” 

FamilyRestoration previously posted on the claims filed against Barronelle.  Family restoration requires a consistent marriage definition that protects women’s equality and children’s best interests, and the beliefs of folks like Barronelle.