Some years ago, I made a study, utilizing two different Bible Concordances, in which I counted about 110 different verses in the Bible, wherein there is a prohibition , or a condemnation, of sexual relations outside of the bonds of marriage, including adultery and fornication, along with those verses specifically addressed to having sexual relations, with those of one's own sex. Clearly these passages are saying that sexual relations outside of the bonds of marriage are wrong in the sight of God and contrary to His Will.

In Holy Scripture, whenever there is an admonition, or something is commanded , by only a single verse, or even by just a few passages, we may well question and wonder whether that is validly God's Will for us. However, when the admonition, or commandment is supported by the full weight of Holy Scripture, in numerous places in the Bible, we are compelled, at least to consider, that we are hearing God's Holy Will for us.

Of course, basic to the study, indeed the heart of it , are those familiar verses in Chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Genesis : " And God created humanity in his image, male and female He created them, And God blessed them and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it ----' " , And: "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and become attached (or "joined ", or "united" ) to his woman/ wife and they shall become one flesh." This verse, as we all well know, is the verse that Jesus quoted in Mark Chapter 10, wherein He in His teaching was upholding the sacredness of marriage. In these verses of Holy Scripture, there is clearly no open door that God has given for sexual activity outside of marriage. God did not place two males, or two females, in that Garden of Eden and call on them to simply enjoy their fulfillment in becoming "one flesh" with their partner.

Perhaps the most interesting of such passages noted in the study, is in Acts Chapter 15, wherein the Apostles in a meeting, sometimes referred to as the First General Council of the Church, gathered to debate and decide on, whether Gentiles could be baptized and admitted into the Christian communities. In that passage, the Apostles declared clearly, that the Gentiles , in order to be accepted into the Christian congregations, were required to refrain from "unchastity", which can well be translated, "sexual relations outside of the bonds of marriage."

At this point, some, arguing with my premise could say, referring to Acts 15, "Well, what about the eating of food sacrificed to idols, and food which has been strangled, and the eating of food with the blood in it, which also were proscribed by the Apostles in that same passage.

To me the distinction between the two situations in those requirements laid down by the Apostles in the Book of Acts, are clear. In the years following that meeting described in Acts 15, the Apostles (1), and the Church Fathers in the Early Church (2), along with the leaders of God's Church, down through the ages, for 2,000 years (3),, in their teaching and preaching have omitted any concern whatsoever about food sacrificed to idols, about eating what is strangled , or about blood in the meat we eat . They all, virtually unanimously, have regarded these matters, food sacrificed to idols, or blood in our meat, as having no bearing on Christian living. And of course these are our illustrious forbearers from whom we, in our Ordination vows, declare that "we in this Church have received the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ."

On the other hand, those same leaders of God'sChurch down through the ages, in their teaching, and in their interpretations of Holy Scripture, have emphatically, and almost unanimously declared that all Christians are called by God to abstain from sexual relations outside of the bonds of marriage. And this is the same conviction that is strongly upheld today by probably, 95% of Christians in God's world, and is what Holy Scripture has to say on the subject, namely that all Christians are called by God to abstain from sexual relations outside of the bonds of marriage.

Of course there are those today who protest this teaching because homosexual persons are not granted the right to marry. However my answer is that there are clearly no passages in Holy Scripture that remotely support same sex marriage. Furthermore, same sex relations are clearly contrary to what Holy Scripture says, and the introduction of same sex marriage would change the nature of marriage ( which is the bringing together of male and female for unity and procreation ) , and so change the nature of marriage beyond all recognition.

---The Rt. Rev Maurice M. Benitez is the retired Bishop of Texas. This article first appeared in the February 5 issue of The Living Church