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Gay Marriages - A Christian Point of View
Earlier today I had the "pleasure" to sit through yet another long winded discussion of the same sex marriage issue that is boiling throughout Canada. I heard a gay man "throw down the gauntlet" and say that heterosexuals are just afraid that gays will show them how to "do marriage right" and lower the 50%+ divorce rate in this country.... and a nice polite Christian woman say with a gentle voice that while she doesn't care what other people do with their own lives, she is sick to death of "those people", now her voice was raised, and filled with what sounded suspiciously like honest hate, "forcing their point of view on others." She may be surprised by the number of gay people in this country that agree with her.
The big question today was whether or not this issue warrants an election being called to settle it. Are they joking? An election? Sometimes my stupid quotient frightens me. There are so many things I just don't get. An election? For this?
Why are gay marriages "wrong"? Because it is unhealthy? (Shall we compare them to, say... tobacco use?) Do gay marriages harm the environment, air quality, water purity? Does it harm others in the community? Must someone else live without creature comforts or the necessities of life as a direct result of gay marriages being legal? Will jobs be lost? Will auto accidents rise? Will the economy crumble? Blackmail run rampant? Wife beating skyrocket? Litter flood the streets? Cats stop giving birth? Will somebody tell me, please!, what will happen if gay marriages are legal? Will I be forced to live in a world without kittens?
Or is it clearly and without contest simply a religious choice? A belief? Just an opinion, when all is said and done.
I have lived many years in this country meandering along in blissful ignorance thinking I had a right to chose my own religious path. Within certain legal boundaries of course, and giving respect to the human right of equality and dignity for all.
For example, (and I know this is extreme and ridiculous, but darn if it doesn't make the point) I don't believe I would get away with many infant sacrifices no matter how important they were to my own religious salvation. I can't help but wonder how far I would get in trying to convince others that human sacrifice was okay because it was necessary to my everlasting joy in heaven? Would the courts support me because this was my firm and righteous belief? Perhaps I could be allowed the use of terminally ill infants only? Could babies slated for abortion be brought to full term, perhaps for a fee paid by me, and handed over to be used in my glorious and bloody path to salvation? Where's the harm? They'd be dead anyway.
Now lets take this a step further shall we... I believe it so, therefore, you must be required to participate! Laws must support my beliefs. Oh joy of joy... now, not only will I be saved myself, I can help so many others live a good and proper life. Kill a child, live forever! Oh yes... let's do call an election.
Do you hate me yet? Do you want these religious beliefs brought into your home? Shall these religious beliefs form the laws in our country that you must live by? I think not you say! I think NOT!
And yet.... is that not exactly what gay people are forced to experience each and every day? Are they not forced to live their lives based on the laws created in this country, not based on human rights, equality, dignity, or safety, but on the religious beliefs of others?
Our laws on what define marriage are based quite simply on the Judeo Christian belief system that says homosexuality is wrong. Whoa, whoa, whoa some of you are screaming. I heard you! Do you not see me whoa? I have done enough in depth research to know that the passages in the Bible that make the declarations about homosexuality are in doubt in many learned circles as to their correct translation. I am not dealing with that issue here today... so in the interest of fairness I will restate ....Our laws on what define marriage are based quite simply on the Judeo Christian belief system, wherein many believe the Bible to say that homosexuality is wrong.
Some others are now yelling, "We Christians are a majority in this country, so we do say what the laws are. We rule, we chose, you lose."
Fine. Let's go with that. Let's say that if most people are Christian in any given country, Christians should be allowed to write secular laws based on their own religious beliefs. So what are Christians taught?
(I have used the New International Version of the Bible in the passages below)
The Apostle Paul writing to various Christian congregations says...
Romans 2:1
"You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself..."
Romans 14:10
"You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat."
1 Corinthians 4:5
"Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes."
1 Corinthians 5:12
"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church?"
Now let's get it straight from the source, what did Jesus himself say?
John 12:47
"As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it."
Matthew 7:1
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged."
Matthew 7:2
"For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
And my own personal favorite, but then I like Luke...
Luke 6:37
"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."
Legal gay marriages? If I am a Christian apparently I do not have the God Given Right to judge that matter and say whether it is right or wrong, for anyone other than myself. I was not given the right to have created secular laws based on religious Christian beliefs. I have not been given the right to now defend the laws that forced my Christian preference as to what defines a marriage unto others.
I can only come to the conclusion that Jesus would prefer me to stop judging the behavior of others, and start paying just a wee bit more attention to judging my own.
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Gay Marriage in Ontario - Being Gay in Ontario - Same Sex Marriage in Canada - A Christian View of Same Sex Marriage
