Resolution on Same-sex Marriage

  • WHEREAS, we are witnessing a social revolution and experiment in marriage which, if successful, will have ongoing and detrimental repercussions on the definition and concept of marriage for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren; and
  • WHEREAS, our society is increasingly post modern in thought in its rejection of primary sources of objective truth and normative behavior; and
  • WHEREAS, existing and established laws regarding marriage are being challenged and usurped in states such as Vermont, Massachusetts, and California for the purpose of recognizing the legality of same-sex marriages and providing all rights and benefits accorded to traditional marriages; and
  • WHEREAS, proponents of same-sex marriage intend to force the issue upon the national stage through aggressive legal activism and by having same-sex couples inundate a state that is willing to solemnize that union and then return home demanding that their state give full recognition of that union as is their obligation under The Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution; and
  • WHEREAS, segments within our educational system seek to promote through humanistic textbooks the acceptance of homosexual relationships, and an element of the entertainment industry seeks to normalize homosexual behavior and bias through drama, satire, and subliminal communication; and
  • WHEREAS, today’s culture is confusing individual preferences with constitutional rights and redefining tolerance as an undiscriminating acceptance of another’s view or behavior; and
  • WHEREAS, many church bodies have capitulated to the culture, willfully ignoring their own denomination’s history and abandoning an orthodox Christian position on the matter of same-sex marriage in their willingness to ordain openly gay ministers and solemnize same-sex unions; and
  • WHEREAS, the Bible is clear in its presentation of marriage as a sacred, universal, lifelong, and monogamous union between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24, 25; Matthew 19:4-6; Hebrews 13:4); and
  • WHEREAS, we may live to witness the judicial and societal normalization of same-sex marriage, which is roundly condemned in Scripture as depraved in character and destructive in nature both to the individual and to that society that condones it (Leviticus 18:22; Proverbs 14:34; Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10);
 
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that we, the messengers of the churches in fellowship with the GARBC, meeting for our Annual Conference in St. Charles, Illinois, June 28-July 2, 2004,
 
  1. Continue to recognize the Holy Scriptures as our sole and final rule and authority in matters of faith and practice;
  2. Affirm that legal and Biblical marriage can take place only between one man and one woman;
  3. Call upon our pastors to teach and better equip our congregations to engage the surrounding and sinking culture from a Biblical world view perspective on these matters;
  4. Press upon our pastors and churches the necessity of protecting and exercising our Biblical duty and religious liberty in solemnizing only those marriages permitted by Scripture;
  5. Promote the health and benefits of traditional marriage by modeling before men God-saturated, Christ-centered, and Bible-directed homes and relationships;
  6. Condemn those who seek to intrude upon the parents’ domain and responsibility in shaping the moral values of their children;
  7. Encourage our churches to pursue and promote legitimate efforts, both legal and political, that seek to help stem the advance of the homosexual agenda within our communities and country;
  8. Remember that while Scripture teaches us to have compassion for those who err, it does not intend for us to legitimize error or to be undiscerning in moral matters;
  9. Seek to aid the efforts of those who actively minister to homosexuals who are suffering from the ravaging effects, physical and emotional, of this destructive lifestyle;
  10. Call upon Regular Baptists to speak the truth in love about homosexuality, and to convey our love for those caught up in a homosexual lifestyle by relating the liberating and life-changing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).