Gay Marriage

[JRosemary]

[Stanley Anderson]

[Guest]

[Guest]

[Stanley Anderson]

[Guest]

[jo]

Interesting, Rose .. so what is the legal position if two married first cousins move to NYC.. are they not married anymore?

[Leslie]

[JRosemary]

[alecto]

[john]

[AllanS]

If Bill can marry his friend Fred because he loves him, why can't Bill also marry his brother Fred, father Fred, or grandmother Freida? If gender is no longer an issue, why is familial relationship an issue? Indeed, why is species an issue? Why can't I marry my dog? Marry a tree? A rock? A corpse? A figment of my imagination?

Truly. Why can't I lawfully do these things? Is it "Nothing but prejudiced self-satisfied phobic people 'out there' interfering in my private life", or is it something more objective than that? Would my marrying a tree actually challenge some universal truth? Would it be like walking off a cliff and hoping to float?

If marriage means whatever you want it to mean, there's no point even talking about it. But if marriage is "the faithful fruitful lifelong union of a man and a woman who are not siblings", then we have a definition that is actually meaningful. Not only that, it's a definition that's in accord with the way things ought to be.

We cry with joy at virginal weddings; hope for the best at second weddings; struggle with our 'phobias' at gay weddings; and scowl at divorces.

[john]

Honestly, Allan, if you really want to marry a dog or a corpse (or a dog's corpse), I won't stop you.

[AllanS]

Honestly, John, if you really think that answers the question, I can't help you.

[girlfreddy]

To go back to the original question, in my view gay marriage is OK. Gay people getting married will not affect my faith, lifestyle, moral commitments or daily walk with God. It will have no affect on who I love, help, seek aid from or be friends with. Gay marriage will not weaken my drive for faithfulness, hope, steadfastness or purity. Even if either of my children married into a same-sex relationship, nothing would change for me.

I believe the Bible to be black and white with well-defined right and wrong. I believe that the Holy Spirit breathed God's Word into the hearts of the men who contributed to it. And I believe that the Bible is relevant to my life. I do not believe that the Bible is there for me to point fingers at others and tell them what is in it and how they are not following it.

I have heard it said that the Bible is God's love letter to us from heaven. It is His to me. For my own life I try to follow it. I fail constantly and do my best to get up, dust myself off and try yet again. But I cannot and will not use it to attempt to justify any kind of judgmental attitude towards those who may not believe in it completely. It is not my place to point at anyone other than myself. The Bible is directed at God, His place in my life and how I may serve Him. And serving Him without love, compassion and acceptance towards all is completely contrary to 1 Cor. 13. This is not a mushy-gushy love (I hope anyway) but a love that is battled for every hour of every day against all that will defeat it, including the pride and judgmental attitudes that live within me.

Gay marriage is nothing compared to the money spent on multi-million dollar worship centers and other such trivial things while our neighbor goes hungry and homeless. It is small potatoes in the big scheme of things. I think is was JRosemary who stated (in another thread) that Jews are concerned about food and Christians about sex. Neither one is really worth the worry. Focusing on food or sex just doesn't get us closer to one another or God. Focusing on Him will get us somewhere.

Just my 2 cents worth though. Ignore it if you will. My rant of the day.