Man and Woman

We have to be careful that we do not allow trends in society to warp our devotion to the Word of God in matters of marriage and sexuality. 1st Thessalonians 5 states:
1 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God;
2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality...

Adding to the aims of Scripture does not accomplish the purposes of God.  We have to be careful that our theology does not blend errant philosophies of the world that are opposed to the teachings of Scripture.  In our quest to somehow be loving and tolerant, we have to make sure that we are not accepting behavior and ideas that run contrary to the Bible.  His guidelines are clear and He empowers us to fulfill the Biblical model for human relationships.

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God has given us a template to follow in matters of interpersonal relationships - He has clearly outlined His definition of marriage and gives strong instruction for acceptable sexual practice,
including purity outside marriage and fidelity within. 1st Corinthians 6 provides perspective:
17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?

It was a novel idea at the time, but the Obergefell ruling authorizing so-called "same sex marriage" may have opened the door to another form of faux marriage - polygamy.  Chief Justice Roberts, in his dissent, posed the question, according to National Review:

In his Obergefell dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts noted “how much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage.”

The article, written by John Hirschauer shortly after a California Congresswoman was forced out of office after it was discovered she was in a polyamorous relationship with two other government employees, states:

What’s striking as you read the various arguments for the virtues of polyamorous unions — each one subtly (or not so subtly) suggesting that such unions ought to be recognized as legitimate marriages — is their congruence with the undergirding logic employed by the majority in Obergefell v. Hodges.

Recently, Christian Headlines reported that, "HGTV’s popular series House Hunters broke new ground this week by featuring a polyamorous family – a man and two women in a romantic relationship – searching for a new home."  And, as the article writer Michael Foust points out: "But Rhyne Putman, associate professor of theology and culture at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, said the celebration of polyamorous relationships was inevitable once marriage was redefined."  This echoes the prophetic words of the Chief Justice.

Now, we shift to Utah, where, according to the Salt Lake Tribune:

The Utah Senate on Friday gave final approval 27-0 to a bill that would reduce polygamy among consenting adults to an infraction — an offense below some traffic tickets — essentially decriminalizing the practice.

Gov. Gary Herbert has indicated he will sign the measure. If he does not, there appear to be enough votes in the Legislature to override a veto.

As the article points out, polygamy was common within the Mormon church, but as the article relates:

The church officially began to abandon plural marriage in 1890 as a condition of statehood. The Utah Constitution still says “polygamous or plural marriages are forever prohibited.”

 The article says:

And while polygamy among consenting adults still would officially be a crime in Utah, the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Deidre Henderson, R-Spanish Fork, has said her intent was to lessen the penalties to dissuade law enforcement from pursuing charges against people who are breaking no other laws.

You could say that the Christian Church will no doubt have to deal with a faux form of marriage and relationships that meet the Scriptural guidelines.  In fact, Christianity Today published a piece last fall by Preston Sprinkle and Branson Parler about polyamory.  Owen Strachan of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary rightly took the authors to task; he stated that the authors "laid out some principles that are true, and it technically identified polyamory as against God’s will," but points out:

Here’s the quotation: “We can acknowledge that many of the elements that draw people to polyamory—deep relationships, care for others, hospitality, and community—are good things.”

Half-truth (polyamory is technically wrong) mixed with half-falsehood (we pursue polyamory for good reasons) equals unsound teaching. There are no “good things” that draw us into sinful actions. We have heard this claim now for several years in evangelical circles; we have heard that there are parts of homosexuality, for example, that can be “sanctified” and identified as good. But this is not the case. At no point in the New Testament are we told that “good things” draw us to evil practices.

Strachan warns against that "sanctifiable sin" viewpoint, writing: "I assume, now that this unsound teaching has been applied to homosexuality, transgenderism, and polyamory, that it will soon be applied to pedophilia and any final sexual taboos (though we’re nearly at the end of the cultural precipice)."  He offers this word to pastors:

Biblically faithful pastors must speak about polyamory and all pagan perversion of God’s beautiful design. The sheep are tempted to sin, and to walk away from the faith one day at a time, one small decision at a time. We all are. For this reason, pastors must address homosexuality. Pastors must preach and teach about transgenderism. Pastors must tell people the “don’ts” of Scripture. In point of fact, pastors must preach what the Bible lays out—so they won’t be able to avoid condemnation of sin. Nor should they. No such warnings should come, of course, in isolation from a full and God-exalting unfolding of the glorious complementarian design of man and woman.

Let's consider a few points together.  First of all, the Bible is very plain about God's plan for sexuality and it is very direct about sexual sin.  Contrary to what some well-known Christian speakers have said, the Bible does not "whisper" about these matters, and neither should we.  We have to be bold in declaring God's truth and faithful in living it out.

We have to be on guard and watch for the inroads of corrupt teaching.  The enemy is seeking to steal, kill, and destroy, and we have to make sure that we are grounded in God's Word.  There is an enormous marketplace of errant ideas that contradict Scripture, and by allowing these ideas to be accepted, inroads are made.

And, we are called to speak clearly and lovingly about perversions of Biblical practice.  We can be confident in the truth and determined to be adherent to God's ways.