A Biblical Answer to Black Lives Matter:
The following is an exact quote taken from the Black Live Matter website:
We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable.
https://blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/
We, here at Meaningful Masculinity, do not apologize for our position on biblical marriage between a man and a woman, as God ordained. Being a devout Biblicist, we recognize the authority of scripture which mandates and sets meaningful parameters around men and women for the glory of God.
This is not revolutionary. The Bible is very clear on how God wills us to partake in this union: “therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24 ESV).[1] At the very beginning of creation, God sets the standard of how and who we are to betroth ourselves to one another. He is setting up a covenantal relationship between one man and one woman, approved and honored by God. Jesus echoes this decree during his ministry: “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:5-6). From a biblical perspective, there is no ambiguity as to what comprises matrimony. This has been the benchmark for marital status for over two thousand years. Without the occasional hiccups (as in all anthropological cases), traditional marriage has held up stable communities since the dawn of civilized societies.
To the faith-based Christian, this is straightforward and easy to comprehend. However, this means very little, if nothing, to those millions of Americans out there that do not believe in God, or his decree for the covenantal relationship between a man and a woman. That being said, despite non-believers, their still is a pernicious danger, to all communities, of redefining marriage between whomever, or whatever “they” want. We believe that opening marriage up to subjective definitions will unleash a floodgate of absurdity and debauchery that will eventually ruin the American family. This is already underway and most Americans, including a large population of Christians, have already conceded the high ground.
First, we need to examine how society views marriage. Gary Chapmans writes: “When we think of marriage, we usually do so in terms of a contract rather than a covenant. In reality, the two words are quite different.”[2] This is important because of civil unions and the evolution of marriage in America. No longer does the average person, including many Christians, view marriage as a covenantal relationship. We know this from the staggering rise in divorce over the last five decades. The divorce rate is now one-in-two and some studies show that this is contagious. Brown University did a study where they analyzed three decades of data and found that “study participants were 75% more likely to become divorced if a friend is divorced and 33% more likely to end their marriage if a friend of a friend is divorced. So, divorce is contagious…and you can catch the divorce bug from your friends—even from a friend of a friend?”[3] For the Christian community it is easy to find an answer for this: “bad associations spoil useful habits” (1 Corinthians 15:33). This is why God calls us to be Holy or “separated” from the norms or cultural practices of secular society; but we digress. Divorce is on the rise and shows not hint of stopping. From this and other statistics, we can easily infer that the covenantal relationship is no longer valued; basically, marriage is viewed as a contract agreement between a secular man and a secular woman, or people of the same sex.
This impacts what people are defined in as partners in marriage. If the population merely views a marriage as a contract, then basically anything goes. Chapman goes on to define contracts; “basically, a contract is an agreement between two or more persons specifying that one will do something if the other will do something.”[4] The definition of person is rather loose, after all, what constitutes a person legally? In 1992, an heiress left millions of dollars to her German Shepard.[5] Michael Jackson gave over two million dollars to his pet monkey! This level of absurdity will now roll over to marriage. If marriage has no parametrical definition, then anyone can marry anyone or anything. Over a decade ago, basketball sensation Dennis Rodman showed up to court in order to marry… himself. America is full of provocateurs who will, without hesitation, bend the laws in order to advance their own celebrity or political agenda. We now see this in the BLM movement toward nuclear families. It is very easy to disrupt something that has not real definition or meaning. If the covenantal relationship of marriage is not defined by a man and a woman, men and women will redefine it along with legal means that meet contractarian standards. This is what we see taking place in society now after the legalization of same-sex marriage. Definitions are being altered, sex and gender are being separated, males role models are being maligned or set aside for the advancement of equity inclusion, and the nuclear family is under attack.
Another detrimental aspect of same-sex marriage is the inevitable polygamy, incest, and beastiality component on the horizon. When legalized marriage is afforded to same-sex unions, why would this right be legally denied to men who (religiously) wish to marry several wives? Moreover, how about men or women who wish to marry their siblings, or individuals that apply for the right to marry their pets? It would be dangerously naïve to believe that such a case will not be brought up. The pornographic channels are festooned with beastiality videos and Hollywood has been secretly writing in incest scenarios into mainstream movies and hit shoes; i.e. Taboo, Game of Thrones, Dexter, etc. In 2016, the Movie of the Year Oscar went to Color of Water where a woman fell in love (and had sex) with a fish. No one found this absurd or perverted. No one dared to point out the awkward storyline of a sexually intimate romance between a women and a creature of the aquatic world. Skip ahead a couple years and Amazon Prime produced their original series Carnival where explicit sex scenes are shot involving pixies (fairy creatures), minotaurs (half-men/half bull creatures), and humans. No outcry from anyone, not even the Christian community, out of fear from being called prudes, or even worse, bigots. As if you can be a bigoted toward something that does not even exist in reality.
For those of you out there who think we are going too far, look up: NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association), clovergender rights, fundamental Mormonism view on marriage, incest, etc… Everything we mentioned is already out there being written into your favorite movies or promulgated on the nightly news. It is not coming, it is here! At least we can applaud BLM for openly advocating their position online. That is a lot more than we can say for most of these sexually deviant platforms.
It is easy to write about religion and religious fundamentalism with regard to same-sex marriage. Like we already stated, the Bible is very precise on this issue (despite certain Christian denominations to the contrary). However, concerning non-believers, it would be unwise to thrust aside the obvious slippery-slope that same-sex marriage has opened for the profane, provocative, or the outright antidisestablishmentarian. People will trample on everything marriage stands for just to watch it crumble. They will do this in the name of progress and they will do this in spite of God.
Black Lives Matter is openly coming against traditional marriage and it is the duty of Christian men (and women) to take a stand against this. Men still matter and we are very much a healthy part of the society in which open debate thrives. Men need to stop being swayed by feminist bully tactics. Moreover, weak men, who submit to feminist and liberal theology out of sexual skullduggery need to gain a backbone and reclaim their theology manhood. It is time again for real men to stand strong for biblical doctrines that dictates how marriage is to be utilized: for the sanctification of the saints (Ephesians 5:22-33) and the glorification of God (Psalm 19).
Bibliography
Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.
Burchette, Jordan. “The 10 Biggest Inheritances Ever Left to Pets.” Everplans. Accessed November 29, 2018. https://www.everplans.com/articles/the-10-biggest-inheritances-ever-left-to-pets.
CHAPMAN, GARY. COVENANT MARRIAGE: BUILDING COMMUNICATION AND INTIMACY. Nashville: B&H PUBLISHING, 2003.
Keefauver, Larry, and Judy Keevauver. Seventy-seven Irrefutable Truths of Marriage. Gainesville, FL: Bridge-Logos Publishers, 2002.
Morin, Rich. “Is Divorce Contagious?” Pew Research Center. February 07, 2014. Accessed November 29, 2018. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/21/is-divorce-contagious/.
Footnotes:
[1] Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is taken from the Holy Bible: English Standard Version.
[2] Gary Chapman, Covenant Marriage: Building Communication and Intimacy (Nashville: B&H Publishing, 2003), 6.
[3] Rich Morin, “Is Divorce Contagious?” Pew Research Center, February 07, 2014, , accessed November 29, 2018, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/21/is-divorce-contagious/.
[4] Gary Chapman, Covenant Marriage, 7.
[5] Jordan Burchette, “The 10 Biggest Inheritances Ever Left to Pets,” Everplans, , accessed November 29, 2018, https://www.everplans.com/articles/the-10-biggest-inheritances-ever-left-to-pets.
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