UPDATE > December, 16, 2022 On December 13, 2022 President Joe Biden signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act. He did this in the presence of invited "guests" such as drag queens, represetatives, and supporters of the LGBTQ agenda which amounts to nothing less than a surrender to the sodomite/lesbian juggernaut which has been rolling over most resistence. This constitues nothing less than another slap in the face of Almighty God! The exception is a minority, including myself, that agrees fully with God's view of marriage consisting of one man and one woman living in the holy covenant of marriage! Tragically, even churches and pastors are now sharply divided on this issue!

UPDATE > November 21, 2022 The following was written a number of years ago. With the SCOTUS ruling in 2015 that same-gender couples can now legally marry in the United States, the question I ask is now more pertinent than ever! Pastors are now performing "weddings" for same-gender couples in their churches. The sodomite/lesbian juggernaut is rolling victoriously throughout the nation and gaining growing support!

No, I'm not from Missouri but there is an issue that has been creating havoc within the ranks of some state legislatures and a large number of church groups for quite some time. It is to the persons who are responsible for this turmoil that I direct the above statement, "Show me and I will believe!"

The persons to whom I refer are sodomites and lesbians and it is this group with its well organized, well financed, and militant agenda that is pressuring our society to approve and accept civil and church sanctioned marriage for same gender couples.

To indicate to these people that I'm not absolutely closed minded on this, and that I'm willing to meet them more than half way on this issue, I request just one small thing -- and when they comply with the request then I will accept and support their proposition that 2 sodomites or 2 lesbians should be granted the right to marry in the church of their choice, with the marriage being performed by an ordained member of the clergy. Or if they prefer, to have the marriage performed by an approved official of civil government such as a judge or justice of the peace.

The request is indeed a very simple one -- all you have to do is show me one statement -- yes, just one -- such as where at the present time it clearly reveals in the Scriptures that God has ordained an institution in the words, "…a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife and the two shall become one flesh."

Only in the case of sodomites and lesbians that God's revelation on this reads as follows:

"…a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave to another man and the two shall become one flesh."

In order to accommodate the lesbians it is necessary that an additional statement would read,

"…a woman shall leave her father and mother and cleave to another woman and the two shall become one flesh."

Now then, please show me where these statements appear in the Scriptures. For 67 years I have on a daily basis been going through this book known as the Holy Bible and I haven't seen them anywhere, from the opening statements in the book of Genesis to the closing statements in the book of The Revelation.

All I have ever seen are numerous references to a special arrangement which God has designed and it is called marriage. But this is confined to a male and female relationship as revealed early in the book of Genesis and later confirmed by Jesus in Matthew 19:4-6. All references to marriage indicate it is a male/female institution and multiple statements employing use of terms such as "husband" and "wife" substantiate this to be true.

Also there is a condition attached to the request -- please don't bring out your parade of "scholars" who present sodomy and lesbianism as morally acceptable. I can get up my own parade of knowledgeable people who say otherwise!

Elsewhere on this web site I have noted that a "scholar" is really nothing more than an individual who has invested a lot of time, work, and money in compiling a bunch of information from a lot of different sources, historical and present, and who organizes and puts it together -- he/she then quotes somebody who quotes somebody who quotes somebody who quotes somebody in an effort to build a case for something or somebody on any possible issue existing under the sun!

The tragedy is that we are more willing to listen to one or more of these persons who are elevated to "authority" status and present a "case" that is in agreement with our own belief system rather than listening to the One Who is the greatest authority on all subjects and at the same time is also the greatest of all theologians -- His name is the Holy Spirit! By the way, what was it that Jesus really meant when He said,

"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you….. But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me….. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. (John 14:26; 15:26; 16:13).

All I request is this -- show me one statement in the Scriptures that presents 2 sodomites or 2 lesbians as being "one flesh" as is the case of a man and woman in the God ordained relationship referred to as marriage -- show me and I will believe!

January 25, 2003, UPDATED October 12, 2023
by Clayton D. Harriger
Elder in Full Connection
W. PA Annual Conference
The United Methodist Church
and former pastor of
Gipsy Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) > November 1999 through November 2019
Gipsy PA