9 Ways Redefining Marriage Impacts Your World

Jun 26, 2015 | 0 comments

This list courtesy of Focus on the Family.

With the Supreme Court ruling to redefine marriage, we will continue to see religious freedom taking a back seat to sexual freedom in many facets of society:

  1. Harms Children: Redefining marriage denies children of same-sex couples either a mother or a father. Decades of social science research has shown children do best when they’re raised in a home with their married mom and dad. Government policies should reflect the benefits of both a mom and a dad.
  2. Forced Closures: Faith-based adoption agencies are being forced to close their doors when faced with laws and mandates requiring them to violate their religious beliefs by placing children in homes with same-sex parents. This pressure will increase in the coming days.
  3. Legal/Public Challenges: Christian business owners – photographers, bakers, inn keepers, florists and others – who politely decline to use their talents and businesses to participate in same-sex ceremonies experience harassment, legal challenges and crippling fines.
  4. Parental Rights: Parents who want a say in what their young children are being taught in school about homosexuality have found legalized same-sex marriage is a “trump card,” which overrides their parental rights, leaving them no say in the matter.
  5. Tax-Exempt Status: Pastors and churches will face pressure to perform and celebrate same-sex marriages or face government retribution, such as the loss of tax-exempt status, or possibly be prosecuted for discrimination.
  6. Accrediting/Licensing: Private religious school accreditation, professional licenses and even employment criteria will increasingly require affirmation of homosexuality and same-sex marriage as a condition for approval.
  7. Counseling: There will be a continued push to ban counseling for teenagers who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions, and who desire therapy to address this.
  8. Grant Exclusions: Faith-based charities that adhere to God’s design for sexuality, marriage and family will be excluded from government grants that help serve the poor and needy at home and abroad.
  9. Endangered Freedoms: Freedom of speech will become endangered as the government passes regulatory and even criminal laws punishing Christian views of marriage, deeming it as “hate speech” in any type of media, including radio, print, television, and the Web. This is already the case in Canada and the U.K.

Those who adhere to a biblical view of sexuality, marriage and family will need to increase their efforts to share this truth with love, as opponents of God’s design push to silence and penalize supporters of one-man, one-woman marriage.

So, how should you respond? Here are some answers.