What does it mean to be a family? This is a questions that our country seems to have created an unconnected and meaningless response to. Instead of actually examining the qualities and parts needed to declare something a family, our country has merely claimed that it is anything that that lives together under one roof, even if there are truly no components of a family included there. Our country has taken the meaning of what a family is and has turned it into a disgusting joke that should be the outcry of every Christian. Instead, most churches today merely look at our nations description of a family and shrug, or applaud it.
"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."
(Ephesians 5:22 - 6:4 ESV)
This is about as clear of a description of what a family should look like as you will ever be able to find. Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus paints a beautiful picture of what a family looks like and how it should reflect Christ and His love for the church. From this passage, I would argue that in order for there to be a family, there has to be at least two parts. First, a man. Second, a woman. Now, it is not just that there needs to be a man and a woman living together. Rather, as Paul states, there will be a man who has left his father and mother who will be bound fast (through marriage) to his wife. That is a huge distinction here. Not only is marriage something that is for a man and a woman, but it is the only way that there is family. It has to be between a man and a woman or else there can be no foundation by which to build upon.
Husbands are called to love their wives and wives their husbands. These verses in no way call for the perversion of homosexuality. It is impossible for two people who declare themselves to be homosexuals to form a family. God made sure of this through creation. In the garden He created Adam and then when there was no companion for him, God created Eve. Through them all of the rest of creation has come. And with that, a created order that can be seen very clearly. Men (boys) are born with male genitalia and women (girls) are born with female genitalia. God created people this way on purpose. It is through this design that children are created. When a man and a women have sex, God either breathes life into a new creation or does not. However, this is not something that can be done between two men or two women.
God calls children to obey their parents. And if Paul had just left it there, I am sure that some people would even try to use this passage to argue the approval of their perversions. However, Paul does not leave it there. Instead, he quotes one of the ten commandments. "Honor you father and mother." This is a big distinction. Children are designed and created to have both a mother and a father. There are circumstances in life where a child may lose one or both parents. Yet, that does not mean that they are not designed to have both a mother and a father. It does however mean that children are designed to not have two men or two women as their parents.
A family is supposed to reflect the relationship that Christ has with the church, and by distorting families, we are distorting the gospel. It is not about people's feeling or whether or not we are judging them. Rather it is about sin, the gospel, and the glory of Christ. Anything that is done that takes away from that glory, is completely and utterly wrong and sinful.
Two homosexuals cannot live in sin and yet claim to share what God has designed. To quote one of the most quoted verses in scripture, "God is love". Therefore, those who are apart from God cannot love and do not know what love looks like. I pray that the church would rise up, to proclaim the gospel and share the true picture of what a family is supposed to mean.
