Christian marriage was designed in heaven for the blessing and good of man, and to portray the proper picture, as we studied in the last chapter. Sinful men have despised God’s ideal for a man and a woman, and they have distorted and corrupted the picture. On what basis can we judge sexual behavior? How can we declare one type of behavior to be moral and another behavior to be immoral? By what yardstick can we measure such things? What authority do we have to label some activity as right or wrong? By what STANDARD can we say that a person is engaging in sinful conduct? One of the darkest days of Israelite history was the period of the judges. At that time "every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). Depraved men were setting the standard and determining what was right. It may seem right in man's eyes, but the key question is this: Is it right in God's eyes? Men greatly err when it comes to recognizing and following a right course of action: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death" (Proverbs 14:12). When man sets the standard then anything goes. Sinful men can justify anything as they reject and willfully ignore God's standards as clearly revealed in God's Word. Men and women of our day are busy doing what is right in their own eyes. They justify their position in the following ways: "We must not discriminate!" "People can't help being the way they are because it is genetic." "Who cares what a person does in private?" "What does it matter what two consenting adults do as long as it doesn't hurt anyone?" "Everyone is entitled to his or her own sexual preference." Etc. Suppose that what these people are saying is true. What if there were no real objective standard outside of man? What if there were no God and no Bible and no Ten Commandments? If this were the case, then we would have to agree that we would have absolutely no basis by which we could condemn certain sexual practices, apart from our own personal preferences (likes and dislikes). Under these conditions man would set the standards, doing that which seems right in his own eyes. Without any divine standard of morality, what would be wrong with homosexuality (sexual relations between two persons of the same sex)? Furthermore, what would be wrong with bestiality (sexual relations between a human being and an animal)? Could not the same arguments be used? "Am I not entitled to my own sexual preference?" "What is wrong with it as long as I am kind to the animal and we don't hurt anyone else?" Indeed, with no divine rule to measure right and wrong, what would be objectionable with adults having sexual relations with animals or even with young children? You may personally have a strong aversion to such practices, but who are you to impose your own personal standards on other people? Indeed, apart from a divine standard of morality anything goes, including stealing and murder. Who is to say murder is wrong? It may be detestable to you, but the murderer is doing what seems right to him, is he not? What is wrong with ridding the world of some undesirable person? Apart from moral absolutes any kind of behavior or activity can be justified. But in the beginning it was not as the evolutionists depict! There was a personal Creator-God who created man male and female. God's purpose for man was that there should be two sexes, male and female. God is strongly opposed to this because it is contrary to the differences and distinctions which He made at the beginning: "The woman shall not wear that which pertained unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God" (Deuteronomy 22:5). In Genesis 2:22 we are told that God brought the woman (Eve) to the man (Adam). Notice carefully what God did not do: God did not bring an animal to Adam for a marriage partner. God did not bring a man to Adam for a marriage partner. (It was Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!) God did not bring two women to Adam. God did not bring ten women to Adam. God brought just one woman to Adam: One woman for one man; this is God's all-wise plan! Based on the above facts, we can arrive at some very simple and yet important conclusions: 1. The marriage partner must not be an animal but a person.2. The marriage partner must be the opposite sex.3. There should be ONE marriage partner, not more than one. Another conclusion, based on the fact that man should cleave to his wife (Genesis 2:24), is as follows: 4. The marriage union is to be permanent (compare Matthew 19:6), until broken by death (compare Romans 7:2-3). These four simple rules are what God established at the beginning. Those who do not like these rules have a problem with the God who set them up. Serious problems develop whenever people deviate from what God established in the beginning. People my advice to you is to obey God commandments. Have a happy future in life.
Paul Rogers
