Christians should clean up their own act before condemning gay marriage, said actor Kirk Cameron, who was visiting Alabama to lead marriage seminars.
"When people get too focused on redefining marriage, you're distracted from the bigger problem - fornicators and adulterers," Cameron said.
"If the people sitting in the pews are fornicators and adulterers, the church will destroy marriages much more quickly than those outside the church. When God's people mock marriage, God doesn't take that lightly."
Cameron declined to criticize gay marriage and same-sex unions, saying that's not a priority.
"I think the greatest threat to marriage is not other people's definition of marriage," Cameron said in an interview with AL.com. "The church isn't taking God's definition of marriage seriously. It's not other people sabotaging marriage that's the problem."
Cameron led the "Love Worth Fighting For" marriage seminar at First Baptist Church in Fairhope on May 3 and at First Baptist Church in Gardendale on May 16. The seminar also features singer Warren Barfield, who wrote the music for the movie "Fireproof," which starred Cameron as a firefighter. Cameron was a Golden Globe nominee for best actor for his role as Mike Seaver on the TV sitcom "Growing Pains" from 1985-92. Cameron and his wife, Chelsea, met as on-screen sweethearts during "Growing Pains."
They are the founders of Camp Firefly, where terminally and seriously ill children and their families are provided an all-expense paid retreat (www.CampFirefly.com). Together, Kirk and Chelsea live in California with their six children.
"Marriage is still important to people," Cameron said. "They know that marriage is worth fighting for. They want it to be strong."
The seminar grew out of the "Fireproof" movie. "We took the 'Fireproof' movie, the top grossing independent movie of 2008, and turned it into a three and a half hour live experience," Cameron said. "It's a home run date night for you and your spouse. Couples come and watch clips from Fireproof, sing together, pray together, laugh together, learn together."
A lack of faithfulness and commitment to marriage has been epidemic in Christian churches, he said.
"Marriage is meant to be for life," Cameron said. "When we do things God's way, there's a blessing. The path of obedience is the path of blessing. Love is worth fighting for. You need to learn how to fight together for your marriage. Sometimes the battle is so bloody that you walk out. You have to learn how to fight the right way. We'll teach you how to fix your wife and your husband, make sure your marriage gets better not bitter. Where joy is found, that's where hope and healing is found. You get in partnership with God. The enemy is not your spouse. The enemy is in your own heart - it's selfishness."
Couples focused on self-interest play the blame game, he said.
"For people who say the problem is not me, it's my spouse, you've just proven the point," Cameron said. "God reopens the path to light and hope and healing. God is faithful to honor those who will put him first."
The seminar is not just for married couples, Cameron said. "It's for couples who are married, separated, engaged, and even those who have never been married. It's really about relationships."
Christians who focus on the behavior of non-Christians need to refocus, Cameron said.
"The church determines the moral temperature of the culture," he said. "On our watch we've let morality decay, the commitment to love and marriage fall apart. We've given in to an anti-biblical Christian worldview. We're simply failing to do our job as the church. Other people are moving into the leadership positions and steering the car right off the cliff. They're not the problem. It's those in the church who have taken their hands off the wheel and given up our place in the driver's seat."
The church has to reform itself in order to reform society, Cameron said.
"We need to be faithful in our own house," he said. "Jesus didn't go shouting at the Romans. He went into the temple. We have the same problem today that people had back then. We've had pastors drop like flies, guys I know. When that happens, it drags the name of Christ through the mud. When hypocrisy grows within the church, it's like pouring fertilizer on the weeds in your garden."
Christians need to get busy influencing the culture and society for God, Cameron said.
"I think there's great hope," he said. "There are those who want to get it right, to turn from our wicked ways, to get marriage right, to get family right. Instead of complaining about a culture, we need to say, 'Show me how to create a culture.'"
For more information on Kirk Cameron's ministry, visit http://www.loveworthfightingfor.com/.