North Carolina and the Marriage Ammendment

I live in the state of North Carolina.  On May 08 there is on the ballot a constitutional amendment that says "marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State."  As primary election day gets closer there are more and more television advertising on the air for and against the amendment, all trying to sway voters.

I wrote a blog several months ago entitled, Gay Marriage and the Sovereignty of God I have posted around 75 articles and that one has been read more than any others.  My premise in that article is that the only way people who are for gay marriage will change their minds is for God to change their hearts.  I still believe that today, but at the same time I am for the marriage amendment.  I am for the amendment not because it will change people's minds but because laws in our nation are a reflection of what our nation desires to be.  

Laws are a reflection of the moral character of a nation.  Tax laws, civic laws, criminal laws all are a reflection of what we value and hold true as a people.  For thousands of years, outside of any biblical morality, nations have said that for the good of a nation, marriage is to be defined as between a man and a woman and should be a protected institution.  The amendment seeks to ensure this definition and to protect it from an unelected minority of judges who would seek to enforce their will upon the people.

I know the argument by defining marriage between a man and a woman that would keep homosexuals from getting married.  After all we are in America everyone should be free to marry who they want.  That is not true.  Everyone in America is free to get married if their union fits the definition of marriage and falls under the laws of the land.  I can have a relationship with whoever I want, but I am not free to marry whoever I want.  I cannot marry my sister (not saying I want to) and I can't get married to another woman while maintaining my marital relationship with my present wife (again not saying I want to).  I am free but my freedom has limits.

The other argument I hear most often is that homosexual marriage will not affect my marriage.  That is true in one sense.  Yes my relationship will still be intact and the definition by which we define marriage will remain the same, but the definition in  the society in which I live will have changed.  The relationship that I have will not change but the definition of that relationship will have changed.  Definitions do matter.  If my definition of a mile is different from yours, If I give you directions you will end up in the wrong place.  If we change the definition of marriage, the institution will ultimately change.  Think about it.