Plastic Steaks Sell (anti-gay) Refrigerators

Plastic food sells refrigerators, but you can’t eat it. I remember the steaks. They looked genuinely good, but again, you can’t eat them.

Some arguments against same-sex marriage look good but fall short of evidence. Take, for example, a recent proposal by Preston Sprinkle[1] that appears to be based on the use of a Hebrew word, kenegdo, a combination of two words. Combining the meaning of both words, Sprinkle interprets kenegdo to mean like yet unlike. He proposes that Genesis 2:18 should read as: I will make a helper like and unlike him. To Sprinkle, unlike must refer to gender.

It fits the context better to interpret kenegdo as face to face with him. The two words then metaphorically picture a being both like Adam and also spatially opposite him. In that position, they would be capable of a face to face relationship. As well, if Adam heard he would receive a partner "unlike him", he would no doubt have been very frightened since he had just reviewed the animals Earth offered at the time. They were unlike him. God was blessing Adam. Eve would also be an effective partner. In the text, God promised an ezer kenegdo, a strong help of a kenegdo. Ezer commonly refers to God’s help, hence a strong help. God promised Adam a strong companion in a face to face relationship with him.

In context, Adam doesn't celebrate gender difference. Instead, he lauds his similarity to Eve, “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!” Of course, he knew about reproduction and gender difference in creatures. He had been with the animals. But he was overjoyed that Eve was like him, powerfully to come to his aid in life's challenges. Marriage would solidify this relationship as a solid force for good. In Genesis 2, God does not build a barrier to same-sex marriage.

Kenegdo does not suggest gender difference as a requirement for marriage. The argument that kenegdo signifies gender difference is a plastic steak in a display refrigerator. It may look good at first, but it doesn't digest well in the end.

[1] Sprinkle, Preston M.. People to Be Loved: Why Homosexuality Is Not Just an Issue (p. 34). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.