To the editor:

For the sake of making the intent of my letter, “What is God’s plan for marriage, clear, I did not write to express hatred toward members of the LGBTQ community. I wrote to direct attention to God’s will for our lives as being more important than our desires for our lives.

No one is perfect, as the Bible clearly states. There are many desires listed in the Bible that God asks us not to act on: stealing, lying, coveting what is not ours, murder, name-calling, jealousy, gossiping, and so on. God defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. Now a bill has been passed that approves of marriage between persons of the same sex.

Is it hateful of me to ask what God desires of us? Soon it will be Christmas Day — the time we remember God’s gift to us of His Son, whose name was to be “Jesus”, meaning “Savior.” Jesus did not desire to suffer and die. In His prayer to His Father, asking that “bitter cup” be removed, He said, “Your will be done.” Jesus did His Father’s will and died in our place, loving us more than life, dying as a criminal to set us free. My asking what our heavenly Father’s will is for marriage, was asked that readers might focus on responding to God’s love for all people, and His desire that all might be saved.

Trudy Madetzke

Marshall