IFCA International Statement on Biblical vs. Same-Sex Marriage

I call the IFCA …… “my denomination.” Of course it’s not a denomination really……but I like to call it that just to get a reaction from friends. I will say……I’m thankful for my denomination’s statement on this - it is clear and to the point.

For the record …… I was also thankful for the good statement by our GARBC brothers on this. I’m sure other dear groups of like faith and practice will be publishing like-minded statements. Hey…..if our Puritan heritage could give up their pensions with the British crown …… we should be willing to give up our tax exempt status “if” or …… “when” it comes to that.

A quick reminder here …. the courts of heaven are on our side …. which is far greater in importance and even coverage than the “other” court.

Straight Ahead friends………

jt

I like the statements of the IFCA and GARBC. We need to love the people caught up in this sin and seek to point them to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Someone out there may have addressed this already, but I haven’t run across it so far. What will churches do when people in a same-sex marriage come to faith in Christ and want to join their church? Will they encourage/demand that they divorce?

This is not just a “what if.” This is something that we pray will happen - that dear souls for whom Christ died will come to saving faith in Him. What should they then do concerning their marital status? What if one partner becomes a believer and the other doesn’t? What if both become believers? Sexual relations within the bonds of traditional marriage are, of course, right, whether both are believers or not. What should happen when Christ comes into that relationship? This is a very real situation that will present itself.

In the eyes of God, the homosexual “marriage” was never a marriage. So the church must demand that they break off cohabitation immediately. From the church’s perspective, this resembles an annulment more than a divorce. However…I suppose that to make it right before the state, the believing party(ies) must seek a divorce or annulment or whatever is necessary to break off the marriage in the eyes of the state.

Paul’s encouragement to believers not to end a marriage just because only one party has become a believer does not apply here, because it is simply not a marriage. Paul can give the encouragement he does because having one believer and one unbeliever in a marriage does not violate the intrinsic nature of marriage as such.