An Unhealthy Arrangement

The Bible speaks of calling good evil and evil good, and we see that manifested through the moral relativism that is all around us, where there is a striking lack of moral clarity and decisions are made not on basic, Biblical truth, but on manufactured philosophies that don't contribute to stable lives or a stable society. In Judges 17, we read about a man who decided to violate God's law, build a shrine, make his son his priest, and then recruit yet another priest. Micah ultimately discovered his self-styled religion wouldn't save him. That chapter says:
5 The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
6 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

This is a story that shows an example of doing what is right in one's own eyes and violating the principles of Scripture.  The embrace of the LGBT agenda, to the extent that gay people can now enter into something falsely called, "marriage," and even adopt children or, through a surrogacy process, produce a child that they disingenuously call their own, has resulted in a minefield of moral decadence.

ChristianNews.net reports this story out of Georgia:

A homosexual “married” couple from Walton County will spend the rest of their lives in prison without the possibility of parole after being convicted of sexually abusing their two adopted children. The children were adopted from the now-defunct adoption agency All God’s Children, Inc., which was run by Emily Bailey, according to government filings for the charity.

The article says: "William and Zachary Zulock were found guilty on multiple charges related to the abuse, according to the Alcovy Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office, which covers Walton and Newton counties."  It goes on to report:

A search of the Zulocks’ home revealed disturbing evidence. The couple had adopted two young boys, and during interviews, both men confessed to sexually abusing the children. Investigators also reviewed two weeks’ worth of footage from the home’s interior surveillance cameras, which showed multiple instances of abuse. Additionally, the defendants’ cell phones contained graphic material and conversations related to the abuse.

Zachary Zulock’s phone also contained messages exchanged with Luis Vizcarro-Sanchez, who was later arrested for pandering a person under 18. Vizcarro-Sanchez pleaded guilty to the charge and to stealing computers from his employer, a Kroger in Loganville. He was sentenced to 16 years, with 15 years to be served in prison.

The total sentence for the Zulocks: 100 years, according to the article's headline.

And, keep in mind, this adoption arrangement was facilitated by the now-defunct adoption agency.  Failure to place the necessary guardrails on what type of couple could adopt resulted in devastation for the children.  Just a few years ago, a large Christian adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services, announced it would begin to place children in homes led by gay couples.  But, Alan Schlemon of Stand to Reason cautioned against such an arrangement over a decade ago, writing:

The real question is whether a child who needs to be adopted is best served by a heterosexual couple or a homosexual couple – all things being equal. The question focuses on the needs of the child, not the wants of homosexuals who are politically motivated to normalize same-sex marriage and parenting.

He stated: "The answer is straightforward: decades of published research in psychology, social science, and medicine demonstrate that children do best when raised by a mother and father (especially the biological parents) in a long-term marriage..."  He goes on to say: "That’s because a mother and a father each provide a unique and important contribution to their role as parents. Children who are raised – for example – in fatherless families suffer, on average, in every measure of well-being. They have higher levels of physical and mental illness, educational difficulties, poverty, substance abuse, criminal behavior, loneliness, and physical and sexual abuse..."

At Randy Alcorn's Eternal Perspective Ministries website, Julia Mayo wrote:

There are certainly loving and caring and non-abusive same-sex couples. As is true of all heterosexuals also, being wrong in one way doesn’t necessitate being wrong in every way. Still, we need to acknowledge the inherently negative consequences for the child growing up with two married mothers or fathers. The lesser of two evils is still an evil.

Consequences she notes include:

• Distorted view of marriage
• Disregard for the word of God
• Gender confusion
• The pain when recognition of sin comes.

She goes on to relate:

No childhood is perfect, but as the body of Christ on earth, it’s our responsibility to work to give as many children as possible gospel-oriented childhoods where they will be supported and loved where they can experience the strong hope of Jesus. If we’re not willing to do this personally, it feels awfully hypocritical to prevent or discourage others from stepping up and providing a stable household to children in need. But when that happens we cannot overlook the consequences, for both parent and child, that come from a family who does not fear God, but rather does what’s right in their own eyes.

Now, my including this report about the homosexual couple in Georgia being imprisoned doesn't mean to imply that all LGBT individuals abuse children. After all, those who are heterosexual do that, as well.  But, I believe that Biblically and biologically speaking, those are involved in homosexuality are involved in sexual deviancy; as Romans 1 teaches us, they are taking part in behavior that is abhorrent to God.  So, whether or not they are physically abusing children, homosexuals are exposing vulnerable children to behavior that could warp their worldview.  And, by the way, I believe that couples who cohabit should not adopt children, either. 

Fact is, our culture is strengthened when children are raised in a healthy environment.  And, let me interject that single parents face a challenging task in raising kids, and the Church can be sensitized to help them in that pursuit.  And, there are more Christian homes that are needed to adopt and/or provide foster care for children.  If Christians who are pro-life are encouraging women to choose to give life to their babies and perhaps make them available for adoption, it seems to make sense to me that the Church should be facilitating an adoption-friendly environment.  When you depart from God's standards, it opens the door to all sorts of chaos and moral relevancy; we justify what does not comport with His teachings.