One of the major arguments against gay marriage is that it goes against God’s design for marriage. This argument claims that God’s design for marriage is rooted in the biblical traditional marriage of one man and one woman.
Forget the fact that the Bible shows that the many of the most faithful men of the Bible had multiple wives. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, the list goes on.
Those against gay marriage claim that these marriages don’t matter. What really matters is that at creation God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. This was God’s original design for creation.
But was it really?
The answer is no.
God’s original design for marriage was not Adam and Eve. It was Adam and … Oh my God. You won’t believe it.
It was Adam and … the Elephant.
Seriously.
In Genesis 2, God creates Adam from the dirt of the ground and says, “It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper as his partner.”
And that’s where the story gets interesting.
The story doesn’t use the word marriage, but the word “helper” is understood by conservative and liberals to mean a spousal partner. By creating a “helper” for Adam, God was creating a spouse.
God creates a helper for Adam. “God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; for for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.”
You can imagine ancient Hebrew parents telling their ancient Hebrew children this hilarious story.
Mom: Hey son. Have I told you the story about God’s original design for marriage?
Son: No, mom. What is it?
Mom: Well, God created Adam and said that it’s not good for him to be alone, so God created a partner for Adam. First God created chicken and said to Adam, “How about a chicken?” Adam said, “Gross!” Then God created a fish. “No, God,” Adam said. “That isn’t going to work.” Then God created an elephant, then a monkey, then a lion.
You can imagine the ancient Hebrew children rolling on the ground laughing at God’s original design for marriage.
But none of the animals were a suitable helper as Adam’s partner. So God created the woman from Adam’s rib.
God’s Original Design for Marriage
What’s interesting is that God’s original design for marriage wasn’t one man and one woman. If anything, it was one man and one animal.
Which is incredibly funny.
The God of Genesis 2 is one that is playful. It’s a God who doesn’t know everything and makes mistakes. It’s a God who allows the human to choose the best partner. And God doesn’t get offended if Adam tells God’s original plan for marriage wasn’t working. So God tried again and again until God got it right.
The point of the story is not that marriage is between one man and one woman. The point is that it’s not good for humans to be alone.
So next time someone talks about God’s original design for marriage as one man and one woman, you can tell them that they are wrong. God’s original design for marriage was far more interesting and funny than that!
