Several days after the law passed allowing same-sex couples to marry in Minnesota, my 10-year-old daughter noticed a blue and orange Vote No sticker in a passing car window.
“That person voted against the marriage amendment, right, Mom?” she asked. The kids had asked about the Vote No signs during the previous election, so my husband and I had talked about what we believed the Bible said – that marriage is between one man and one woman, no exceptions.
“That’s right.” Ok, I supposed I had better tell them about the new law. This was obviously on their minds and I wanted them to get what I believe to be the whole truth. I told them about the law. And I reminded them that even if a law says something is OK, it doesn’t mean that we can do it if it is against what God says.
My 11-year-old son then piped up with, “Well I don’t see why two boys can’t get married. I mean, it makes good sense to me, if they love each other and all.”
Oh, boy! God, help me not freak out – give me words that are going to mean something to him! So I talked about how I love my female friends, but I am not married to them. I mentioned that marriage isn’t just about love. Then I felt like God gave me something.
“God made men and women slightly different in the way they think and act. So when a man marries a man, one of them has to act more like a woman. That means that one of the men then doesn’t get to be all that God made him to be. And the same is true for women. But if a man and a woman get married to each other then they both get to be exactly who God made them to be. You don’t want to be less than who God created you to be, or cause anyone else to miss out on being who God created them to be. That would not be any fun.”
We chatted a bit more on the subject, until I heard, “OK mom, let’s talk about something else. Who is your favorite Star Wars Lego minifigure.”
Proverbs 22:6 “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”