I tend to quietly follow the politics of our country and take passionate stances when issues resonate deeply within my soul. Politics have intrigued me for years and the machinations of humans never cease to amaze me. You know way back when (1989) I received my bachelors in Political Science so I do have a smidgen of knowledge about the happenings of this union of ours.
Politicians come and go and with them, so do their beliefs. Just as politicians come and go, so do ideologies of the times. Within recent times, people of different races were prohibited from marrying. Some people even backed that belief up by using the Bible. Of course, time marched on, people latched on to new beliefs and realized that the world did not implode if people of different skin colors married and had children.
Of course throughout the course of human history, people have used the Bible to defend all types of issues. Now given my liberal nature, I have no problem with people holding different values than my own, but I do have problems when people use the Bible and God as a reason to espouse hatred. I take great issue with Christians who quote the Bible and use the Bibles words as weapons used to hurt. Seriously, there are parts of the Bible that state an unmarried woman who has premarital sex should be stoned to death. Or better yet, how about the sin of wearing multiple fiber clothing. If people are going to say they follow the Bible as God's inerrant word, then they better be prepared to follow every last dictate in in the Good Book.
As a happy ELCA Lutheran, I am proud to be a member of a church family that embraces God's word in the Bible and that realizes how important it is to relate those ancient words to modern life. Of course no one should be stoned to death for have sex out of wed lock and children should not be put to death for cursing their parent, but somehow these leniency's seem appropriate to those who claim to be following the word of the Bible. Hmmmm, makes one wonder how they pick and choose which aspects to follow and which ones to defend as obviously having evolved with the progression of time.
All of this leads me to the topic of same sex marriage. Seriously people, why do conservatives object? I've heard all the crazy arguments that liken it to beastiality and other disgusting ideas. Those who propose those ridiculous arguments are grasping at straws to save their narrow views. I am thrilled that we have a President with courage enough to publicly state that it's a human right to allow marriage between two consenting same-sex adults. BRAVO, President Obama and Vice President Biden!
Save the arguments people. I believe that God doesn't make mistakes and when someone is gay, that's who they are and they are entitled to the same happiness and rights as heterosexuals. As an ELCA Lutheran, our church accepts and embraces same sex unions and allows an openly gay, monogamous man or woman to be a pastor. Now that is exemplifying God's love!~
Time continues to march on and as with everything else in life, once hotly debated topics that were viewed as abominations offending God (interracial marriage) have fortunately changed. It's my desire and hope that someday every consenting adult in this country will have the right to choose which human they marry and have it recognized legally.
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7 comments:
Could not agree more!
Believing homosexuality to be wrong is not the same as hating homosexuals.
God did not give us just the Bible to guide our lives. He sent His only Son who founded the Catholic Church and gave the Pope infallibility.
No, God does not make mistakes, but He did give people free will which means they can choose sin.
If murderers, for example, claim they were born that way, should we let them murder?
Angela :-)
Ah, the 'ol argument and comparison to pedophiles and murderers. There is one HUGE difference between people who are following their internal biology and loving someone of the same gender and someone who chooses to harm someone else.....and that's that murderers are harming another of God's people. Gay people are not harming someone. If two consensting adults choose to love one another and they just happen to be of the same sex, so what?
And as a cradle Catholic it took me a number of years to realize that I never did believe in the infallibility of another human being even if that human was given the title of Pope.
Isn't the real message of Jesus Christ about love, acceptance and forgiveness? I happen to see nothing wrong in two of God's creations loving...which is what Jesus taught us to do...someone of the same sex.
God is love. Nice post. Like your look!
Well said G,
As a cradle Baptist-ugh and a Christian, it sickens me the hate that people sanction under God.
When I wasn't sleeping through several hours of Baptist church as a kid, I did learn that most of the biblical references about homosexualtiy are from the Levitical law in the Old Testament, a set of laws for the Jewish people that served several purposes, but one main purpose was to reveal to them that they could never fully keep the law, therefore they needed Jesus's love and redemption.
When our country has a 50% divorce rate, which is the same among Christians and non-Christians, how can we tell someone else that they can't get married. We obviously don't have it figured out all too well. I personally feel no threat to my family or marriage if someone had equal rights to me.
I realize that this is an issue that is very heated in the Christian circles, but in the end, if you believe its wrong, don't do it, but the Bible does say that we are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God, and that incudes everybody, not just white middle-class Americans attending church.
It frustrates me so much that so many Christians will expend so much energy and resources on something that shouldn't even be an issue in the name of God, while countless people are going hungry, living without clean water and being marginalized by society.
Where is the true heart of God? Its repeated over and over in the Bible to look after those in need, but no where is it mentioned to grab a sign and start spreading hate.
Tifanni, you are one of the best writers I know. You are eloquent, passionate, and wise.
Natalie, I love your thoughts about hatred, too. Sign carrying bigots are the worst.
Oh I was just in this argument last week and was swearing I would stay out of this one. Cradle catholic here too. If you believe something is wrong then don't do it. It's not our job or our right to tell others what is and is not ok in their life when they are not hurting anyone. I do not know the bible inside and out. I do not even know many of the basic stories. I do know the morals that come based on the bible and teach many of those morals in my own way in my own home.
If someone is born a murdered and I do believe it is possible to be biologically disposed that does not make it ok. Simply because murdering is hurting another person. End of story. There is no argument there.
Being born with the biological disposition of loving the same sex is not hurting someone. Clearly we can get into the argument of pedophiles preying on the same sex child which IS NOT THE SAME THING. Pedophiles, again, like murderers, are hurting someone. There is no argument there either.
If you believe that being gay is wrong then don't do it. But why do you have to say to the world that it is not ok and nobody should do it. Isn't the final judgement left to God? Isn't the basis of Christianity that God loves ALL and that Christians should act in Godly ways to promote the morality of Jesus in the bible? Isn't it very explicit in the Bible that we shall not judge another of God's children?
I just can't help to be involved in this kind of argument. I do not understand the use of being "Christian" as a reason to be judgmental of others. I agree that simply not agreeing with same sex marriage is not HATE but it is judgement. Who am I to decide what someone else should do in their home and for their children?
I feel like I could go around and around in circles on this. So I just want to close with "What Tifanni said"...
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