PRESERVING MARRIAGE

By Mathew D. Staver, Esq.

Liberty Counsel

PO Box 540774

Orlando, Florida32854

800-671-1776

  1. GOD CREATED MARRIAGE.

A.Human Companionship.

  1. Adam was lonely. Gen. 2:18-24.
  2. Man compliments woman and woman compliments man. Gen. 1:26-28.
  1. Procreation.
  2. Produce and multiply to fill the earth. Gen. 1:28; 4:1-2.
  3. Raise children and teach them about the Lord. Deut. 6:1-9.

C.Marriage Is Comparable To A Nuclear Reactor.

  1. If sex is contained inside of marriage, the relationship is bonded together as one, produces the next generation, and prepares children to become responsible caretakers of God’s creation.
  2. If sex is taken outside of marriage, it produces:
  3. Abortion.
  4. Disease and death.
  5. Hurt and destruction of the couple and the children.
  6. Breakup of the unity marriage is designed to create. 1 Cor. 6:15-20.
  1. SATAN HAS PERVERTED MARRIAGE.

A.Weakening The Bonds Of Marriage.

  1. Separating sex from marriage.
  2. 1965 – Supreme Court in Griswald v. Connecticut ruled that a married couple has a constitutional right to obtain contraception.
  3. 1972 – Supreme Court in Eisenstadt v. Baird ruled that if a married couple has such a constitutional right, then an unmarried person also has a constitutional right to obtain contraception. (No matter what one thinks about contraception, one must ask, “Does the United States Constitution really grant an individual the right to obtain contraception even if the state has determined that contraception should be withheld in order to promote family values and marriage?”)
  4. 1973 – Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade relied on is prior 1965 and 1972 contraception decisions to hold that a woman has a constitutional right to kill her unborn child up to the very moment of birth when the child takes its first breath outside of the womb.

(1)The progression was obvious in light of these two prior rulings.

(2)Abortion is “contraception” after conception of the child. It is a mop to clean up the result of taking sex outside of marriage and procreation.

  1. Divorce.
  2. No-fault divorce.

(1)In 1969 Ronald Reagan signed into law the world’s first no-fault divorce statute as governor of California. Liberal social scientists, judges, lawyers and counselors advocated no-fault divorce, saying that fault divorce resulted in messy separations, and that it was unfair to require two people to stay together if they no longer loved each other. Although on the surface this reasoning sounds rational, no-fault divorce weakened marriage. If marriage is easy to exit, then there is less commitment upon entering the marital union, and less societal support after entering to stay together through tough times.

(2)No-fault laws spread to the other states.

(3)Marriage is now an unenforceable contract.

(4)Since marriage is easy to dissolve, people enter marriage with less resolve to make it work.

  1. Divorce affects children.

(1)Increases risk of suicide, depression and physical illness.

(2)Increases likelihood that children will take drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

  1. Divorce affects children long after reaching adulthood.

(1)Children of divorce are less likely to marry.

(2)If married, more likely to have lingering doubt about the marriage lasting – more difficulty committing and trusting.

(3)More likely to divorce.

B.Children Raised In Single-Sex Households On Average Fare Poorly.

1.Children do best when raised with a mom and a dad.

2.Factoring out income and race, the studies show that single-sex parenting does not compare favorably to dual-gender parenting. Although many single moms and dads do a great job of parenting (I was raised only by my mother after she divorced my dad who was an alcoholic), nevertheless, on average, the indisputable conclusion of the studies show that children raised without both a mom and a dad –

  1. Have lower grades.
  2. Have less education.
  3. Earn less income as adults.
  4. Have higher risk of juvenile delinquency – more likely to commit crimes and more likely to be involved in violent crimes. Boys are 2 to 3 times more likely to commit crimes.
  5. Have increased risk of death during first year of life by 70%.
  6. More likely to die from SIDS.
  7. More likely to be hospitalized from a pedestrian accident.
  8. More likely to take drugs, consume alcohol and tobacco.
  9. More likely to suffer from mental (such as depression) and physical illness.
  10. More likely to suffer physical or sexual abuse – either by parent’s boyfriend or girlfriend or by stepparent.
  11. Girls raised without a father are more likely to engage in sex during adolescence and more frequently.
  12. The Book of Malachi 4:6 speaks of reuniting fathers with their children so as to break the curse. The “curse” is the consequence of broken families.

C.Same-Sex Marriage Would Destroy The Culture.

  1. Abolish gender.
  2. Make gender irrelevant to the raising of children.

(1)Gender is relevant to raising children.

(2)Boys – between 18 to 36 months begin to recognize they are different than mom and are more like dad. Boys thus begin bonding with dad and disassociating some bonds with mom. Through this bonding process boys go through a gender identity phase – developing maleness. It is vitally important for proper gender identity development for boys to have a proper male (father) figure.

(3)Girls – maintain bond with mom and learn femaleness from mom while beginning to understand the role of males from dad. Girls must develop a feeling of being safe as a female. Girls become secure in their femaleness by observing proper relationships from mom and dad.

  1. Make gender roles irrelevant to human sexuality.

(1)Homosexual and transsexual agenda seeks to abolish gender by contending that gender is in your mind, not your biology or physiology.

(2)The reason for this is to abolish any restrictions on human sexuality.

(3)A Florida judge in Kantaras v. Kantaras ruled that “gender” is determined primarily in your mind, not by your biology or physiology. Thus, a female who thinks or desires to be “male” should be legally considered as “male.”

(4)At Wesleyan University the application for student housing no longer asks whether the applicant is “M”(ale) or “F”(emale), but instead asks the applicant to list “Gender Identity History: ______.” The applicant, in the fill-in-the-blank section, can describe the birth gender and the new “gender identity.”

  1. Other ramifications.
  2. Make society less safe and stable.

(1)How we raise our children affects the peace and welfare of society.

(2)Knowingly placing children in harms way will damage their lives.

  1. Homosexuality usually arises from some hurt. Hurting people hurt people. Such hurt will be passed on to the next generation.
  2. Religious freedom and free speech will be threatened. Canada, parts of Europe and parts of the United States illustrate the restrictions on speech and religion imposed by the homosexual agenda.

(1)San Francisco passed a Resolution saying speech by pro-family groups which states that homosexuality is wrong or is a choice is hate speech which leads to hate crimes, including murder.

(2)Colorado court ruled that a Christian mother may not expose her own child to any religious teaching or upbringing that could be considered “homophobic.”

  1. Marriage and family will further disintegrate as illustrated by same-sex marriage in The Netherlands and domestic partnerships in the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Denmark and Sweden).
  1. WE ARE CALLED TO RESTORE AND PRESERVE MARRIAGE.
  1. Restoring Marriage.
  2. What Satan intends for evil, God can turn into good. Gen. 50:20.
  3. We know the tactics of Satan:
  4. That which God creates as good, he intends to pervert to evil.
  5. He is never satisfied until he destroys that which God created.
  6. At his apparent height of victory, Satan is at his weakest point.
  7. Satan overgorges – pushing too fast and trying to take too much ground, and when that happens he becomes weak.
  8. God has called us to restore broken lives.
  9. Christ is a Creator of new life and the Author of new beginnings. 2 Cor. 5:17.
  10. As Christ has restored our relationship to the Father, so we are called to restore broken relationships. Eph. 5:25-32.
  11. At a time when marriage is under attack, by God’s grace we will restore marriage.
  12. Preserving Marriage.
  13. The battle to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman is winnable.
  14. The same-sex marriage movement has awakened the sleeping giant of the majority of Americans who believe in marriage as the union of one man and one woman but who have until recently remained silent in this cultural war.
  15. Outside of Massachusetts, every other court battle over same-sex marriage since the mid-1970s has been won.
  16. The battle in Massachusetts is far from finished.
  17. Liberty Counsel still has pending a federal court case and a state court case to stop the issuance of marriage licenses in the state.
  18. Liberty Counsel filed suit to stop San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom from issuing marriage licenses, and also filed suit to stop New Paltz, New York’s Mayor Jason West. Both have been stopped by the courts.
  19. The people of Massachusetts are moving forward to amend the state’s constitution to preserve marriage.
  20. Federal Marriage Amendment effort is moving forward.
  21. U.S. Senate is poised to vote on proposing a constitutional amendment. For complete and updated information, go to Liberty Counsel’s website at or call 1-800-671-1776.
  22. U.S. House is holding hearings on amendment.
  23. Once passed by the House and Senate, 38 states must ratify the proposal to become part of the Constitution. More than 38 states since 1996 have already passed specific legislation, or amended their state constitutions, to state that marriage is the union of one man and one woman, and that expressly bans same-sex marriage.
  24. The battle will be in the House and the Senate, because once the marriage amendment moves to the ratification stage, I believe we can win that battle because the people overwhelmingly support traditional marriage.
  1. CONCLUSION.

A.We Are Caretakers Of God’s Creation.

B.Marriage Is Essential To Society And For Our Children.

C.The Battle To Preserve Marriage Is Winnable.

  1. The children of Israel could have moved from Egypt to the Promised Land in a matter of months, but the first generation of the Exodus did not enter because they lacked faith.
  2. God used the second generation to enter the Promised Land.
  3. God’s will (establishing His people in the Promised Land) was accomplished, but with a different generation.
  4. We have a choice:
  5. Lack faith and allow another generation to accomplish God’s purpose, or
  6. Have faith and move forward in the center of God’s will to accomplish His purpose.

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