{"id":340,"date":"2013-06-26T22:30:52","date_gmt":"2013-06-26T22:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=340"},"modified":"2013-07-07T20:26:51","modified_gmt":"2013-07-07T20:26:51","slug":"marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2013\/06\/marriage.html","title":{"rendered":"In Defense of Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am offended by the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling this week.<\/p>\n<p>The great King David of Israel said, &#8220;Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in Heaven&#8230;&#8221; (Psalms 119:89)<\/p>\n<p>God&#8217;s word has told us that &#8220;He created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him male and female&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>God&#8217;s word declares, &#8220;for this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0Not male and male; not female and female but, &#8220;male and female&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>What part of that is ambiguous? We were not created to be in same-sex marriage. Anatomically, emotionally, spiritually&#8230;there are those who will argue a case&#8230;but I have to stand on the eternal word of God.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court of the United States can make any ruling it wants to. They can declare that the moo is made of blue cheese&#8230;it doesn&#8217;t change the truth&#8230;God has said! It&#8217;s not open to interpretation. Just because they say it is OK does not mean God does. Good grief&#8230;what has our culture stooped to?<\/p>\n<p>I know there are those who would argue differently&#8230;the Supreme Court of the United Sates has heard and declared. Compared to the High, Eternal, Holy Court of Heaven they are a puny court &#8211; self important.. They have no eternal weight. Only God&#8217;s word is eternal.<\/p>\n<p>I have dear friends who are gay\/lesbians&#8230;I know they rejoice over the decision today. But God does not. And it makes me sad. I love them and want to remain in relationship with them &#8211; I want to understand&#8230;.but I do not agree&#8230;God does not agree.<\/p>\n<p>God has set a standard.<\/p>\n<p>Frederick Buechner is a writer who has inspired me. I love what he writes. He has struggled with his own issues of family secrets and sexuality. I admire him for the fact that while he struggled, he has NOT compromised God&#8217;s word and decree. \u00a0Oh that there would be others like him!<\/p>\n<p>I fear for our nation that rules against God&#8217;s laws&#8230;we will reap what we have sown&#8230;floods, fires, disease&#8230;not that God causes them but God is removing His hand of protection. We have stepped onto a slippery slope. What is next?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am offended by the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling this week. The great King David of Israel said, &#8220;Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in Heaven&#8230;&#8221; (Psalms 119:89) God&#8217;s word has told us that &#8220;He created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him male and female&#8230;&#8221; God&#8217;s word declares,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In Defense of Marriage - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2013\/06\/marriage.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In Defense of Marriage - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am offended by the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling this week. The great King David of Israel said, &#8220;Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in Heaven&#8230;&#8221; (Psalms 119:89) God&#8217;s word has told us that &#8220;He created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him male and female&#8230;&#8221; God&#8217;s word declares,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2013\/06\/marriage.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-26T22:30:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-07T20:26:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"In Defense of Marriage - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2013\/06\/marriage.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"In Defense of Marriage - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","og_description":"I am offended by the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling this week. The great King David of Israel said, &#8220;Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in Heaven&#8230;&#8221; (Psalms 119:89) God&#8217;s word has told us that &#8220;He created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him male and female&#8230;&#8221; God&#8217;s word declares,&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2013\/06\/marriage.html","og_site_name":"Safe Place with Ruth Graham","article_published_time":"2013-06-26T22:30:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-07-07T20:26:51+00:00","author":"Ruth Graham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2013\/06\/marriage.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2013\/06\/marriage.html","name":"In Defense of Marriage - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-26T22:30:52+00:00","dateModified":"2013-07-07T20:26:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#\/schema\/person\/76d20e190c3b83823997a9f422b86975"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2013\/06\/marriage.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2013\/06\/marriage.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2013\/06\/marriage.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"In Defense of Marriage"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/","name":"Safe Place with Ruth Graham","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Ruth Graham","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#\/schema\/person\/76d20e190c3b83823997a9f422b86975","name":"Ruth Graham","description":"\u201cTransparent\u201d is the word most people use to describe Ruth Graham. No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television shows including: Good Morning, America, The Hour of Power, Focus on the Family, Moody Broadcasting, Fox &amp; Friends, CBN, Life Today and CNN. She has worked in publishing for over 14 years and is the founder of the Ruth Graham &amp; Friends Ministry. Ruth has three grown children and nine grandchildren. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Her life Bible verse is John 1:16.","sameAs":["http:\/\/ruthgrahamministries.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/author\/rgraham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340\/revisions\/343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}