First, we affirm that the unalienable rights of life, liberty and property, and hence the power to pursue happiness, are given by the Creator to all people equally, as individual people, regardless of religion, sexual identity or other criteria. This affirmation is rooted uniquely in the assumptions of Genesis 1-2, and reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

We also affirm that the Creator defines human sexuality in the context of the marriage of one man and one woman in mutual fidelity, serving as the basis for a healthy society and the well being of children. In human history, no society rooted in the approval of homosexuality, in any capacity, has ever produced unalienable rights for the larger social order.

Nonetheless, same-sex marriage is being advanced, without historical precedent, as an unalienable right, even when heterosexual marriage has never been regarded this way. Therefore, we believe same-sex marriage advocates need to answer four questions:

1. Are unalienable rights being redefined?
2. If so, why?
3. If so, what is the new basis for these rights?
4. What are the consequences? For example, would the “right” to same-sex marriage thus prevail over the religious, political and economic liberty to dissent from it?

Second, “sexual orientation” is malleable, and there is no scientific basis for a supposed genetic or social determinism to homosexuality. Therefore, we believe same-sex marriage advocates need to answer two further questions:

1. What is the evidence that homosexuality is a fixed and “immutable trait,” thus qualifying as a civil rights classification?
2. What prevents any other group from claiming a subjective identity as a civil rights class?

And finally, we affirm the words of Jesus: “Come to me, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

For those who struggle with homosexual temptation, or any other temptation, Jesus invites us to come to him, and on his terms. We too, as ministers of the Gospel and leaders in the church, have the exact same need, daily, to seek God's grace to overcome any range of temptations that may come our way - as is common with all people.

Jesus affirms marriage as defined in the biblical order of creation, and he fulfilled the Law of Moses that says no to homosexual acts. Therefore, those who wish to be reconciled with the biblical understanding of Jesus are invited to affirm marriage as one man and one woman, and to forsake all other definitions of human sexuality.

All people are created as image-bearers of God, seeking peace, order, stability and hope, to live, to love, to laugh and to learn. The question is whether we seek these qualities on our Creator's terms, or on our own broken terms.