Canadians Who Favor Same-Sex 'Marriage' Denying Authority of God, Says Pastor
by Chad Groening
December 14, 2004
(AgapePress) - The pastor of a Toronto-area evangelical church says last week's decision by the Supreme Court of Canada to give Parliament the go-ahead to approve same-sex "marriage" legislation illustrates the fact that more Canadians need to come to Christ.
Last Thursday (December 9), justices on Canada's high court announced that it would constitutional to allow homosexuals in their country to wed. In response, the Canadian justice minister pledged to bring forward legislation legalizing homosexual marriage promptly when Parliament reconvenes in January. The development brought reaction from both sides of the aisle across North America.
Conservative, Bible-believing Christians may wonder how the movement toward same-sex has advanced to this point. Jeff Christopherson, pastor of the Oakville Sanctuary outside Toronto, says it should be pretty easy for any Christian to understand why Canada has been so willing to embrace the idea of homosexual marriage.
"The problem is we live in a country that doesn't accept the authority of God's Word [and] doesn't accept Jesus Christ as the Way. And so that's the problem -- that's where the battle lies," he says bluntly. "We can stand and preach 'homosexuality is wrong' all day long, [but] somehow we need 'Jesus Christ is right' to be our central message. And then all the other sin that's listed in the Bible becomes sort of a heart response."
Despite last week's development, the Canadian pastor says evangelism must go forward.
"Our job is to take the good news of Jesus Christ and say 'He is the only Way,' that God's Word is the guidebook to a happy life and let's follow that," he says. "So that's what we're doing."
The result, he explains, is that churches are being planted and people are making commitments to Christ. "[A]s our congregations multiply and new people [are] coming to Christ, we're seeing incredible social shifts in the thinking of new believers -- and that's where it starts," Christopherson says.
