The recent letter from R. Smith ("The flawed arguments against same-sex marriage," Feb. 6) is false and disingenuous. The logic is fallacious because the examples do not define the object, in this case the Biblical definition of marriage. The bad examples and failures do not change marriage as between one man and one woman. And they do not justify changing marriage to include same-sex couples.
God had a lot to say about marriage. Most specifically, in the beginning, God created humans as male and female. Adam looked at Eve and acknowledged that she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and declared that a man would leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they would be one flesh. Jesus confirmed these words and stated that the only reason why Moses allowed divorce was because of the hardness of our hearts. In other words, the principle of one man and one woman is the Biblical definition of marriage and anything else results from our hard, sinful hearts.
The argument is disingenuous because we all know that all relationships, heterosexual or homosexual, suffer the same problem — humans, sinful and imperfect, are involved. All relationships are, to one extent or another, both wonderful and flawed. However, this also fails to justify changing the definition of marriage.
The author quotes the American Anthropological Association as "modern experts" to redefine the family as opposed to "that of any 2,000-year-old book." The battle of authority is between some self-appointed group of self-proclaimed experts who regularly change their minds over the authority of God. The Bible may have been written 2,000 years ago, but it has stood the test of time. Before anyone dismisses it offhand, they should educate themselves in the evidence for its authenticity.
Perhaps we can treat individuals fairly, but not by redefining marriage.
Thomas Knott, Baltimore