OUR BELIEF ON MARRIAGE, SINGLENESS, FAMILY, AND SEXUALITY BIBLICAL REFERENCES
THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION 2011
1 Marriage is viewed as a covenant relationship designed by God to unite a man and a woman for a lifelong commitment toward holiness and freedom.
Malachi 2:14-15: . . . the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth . . . she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant . . . Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
Mark 10:5-9: . . . Jesus replied. “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ . . . Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
1 Corinthians 7:10-11: To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband . . . And a husband must not divorce his wife.
1 Thessalonians 4:3-4: It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honourable
2 Its purpose, as intended by God, includes companionship, sexual union, and the nurturing of children (where able).
Genesis 2:18, 22-24: The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” . . . Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
1 Corinthians 7:3-4: The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.
Genesis 1:28: God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it . . . “
1 Timothy 5:14: So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7: These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
3 Sexual intimacy is deemed appropriate only within the bounds of marriage, characterized by mutual love, faithfulness, and submission.
Hebrews 13:4: Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
1 Corinthians 7:2: But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband.
1 Peter 4:8: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Proverbs 3:3: Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Ephesians 5:21-22, 25: Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord . . . Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her . . .
4 Believers are encouraged to marry within their faith, and the community of faith actively supports marriages, seeking reconciliation in times of trouble.
2 Corinthians 6:14-15: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers . . . what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
1 Corinthians 7:39: A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.
1 Corinthians 7:10-11: To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
Colossians 3:13: Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5, 7-8: Love is patient, love is kind . . . it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs . . . It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
5 Although human sinfulness may lead to divorce, the church offers hope and healing while upholding the biblical ideal of marital faithfulness.
Mark 10:2-5, 9: Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” “What did Moses command you?” he replied. They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied . . . “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
Matthew 19:9: “ I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Psalm 34:18: The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Acts 3:19: Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
6 Singleness is held in equal honour with marriage, and sometimes even preferred. The church blesses, respects, and fully includes those who are single, recognizing unique opportunities for individuals to declare and experience the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 7:8, 32-35: Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do . . . I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife—and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
7 Regardless of marital status, all are called to live sexually pure lives.
1 Corinthians 6:13, 18: . . . The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord . . . Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
8 Family relationships, at every stage of life, are intended by God to be characterized by love and maturing in holiness. Children are acknowledged as a gift from God, and godly parents are entrusted with the responsibility of instructing and nurturing their children in the faith.
Ephesians 6:4: Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Psalm 127:3: Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7: These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
9 We hold that God wonderfully creates each person as either male or female and his goodness gifts each one a physical body that is in alignment with that gender. Rejecting one’s biological sex is a rejection of God’s gifts and the design he chose for his creation when he said of those that would bear his image that they would be male and female.
Genesis 1:26-27: Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Genesis 2:7, 21-22: Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being . . . the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
Psalm 139:13-14, 16: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made . . . Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
10 Compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity must be afforded to every person, even when we disagree on foundational beliefs. We want to speak and live out God's truth in love, and any form of hateful or harassing behaviour is unacceptable.
Colossians 3:12: Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Philippians 2:3-4: . . . in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Romans 12:18: If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
1 Peter 3:15: . . . Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
Galatians 5:13-14: . . . serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.”
Romans 13:10: Love does no harm to a neighbour.
11 Camp Oshkidee's statement of faith acknowledges the Bible as the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God, serving as the ultimate authority on truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind.
2 Peter 1:20-21: Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2 Timothy 3:15-17: . . . you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.