I
really like good religion. It is one of the best things society
has going for it! When nobody cares, religion often comes to the
aid or rescue of those in need. With progressive politicians and
secular academia’s (without a religious base) abandonment of the
defense of marriage, who else but the church is left to fight for
the great institution of marriage?
There
are several wrongs that need to be addressed right off the bat.
First, the church shouldn’t be distracted with something outside
of the church’s primary mission. As kindly as I can say this,
they are the wrong people with the weaker argument to have to
defend marriage! They step forward because secularism has failed
to protect marriage; the church has been the last line of defense.
How
insufficient is the religious rebuttal against gay marriage? Who
wants to listen to and what credibility do religious institutions
have that continue to harbor pedophiles and that can’t keep
themselves out of the headlines for sexual deviancy? Churches have
blown their moral authority and history is likely to show that
religion will go down as the “weak lawyer” that lost the case
of gay marriage for the rest of society.
The
second wrong to address will likely offend many that will
eventually like what I will later say. It involves pseudo-science,
warfare against science, misinformation, and plain ole bigotry.
It’s
an undisputable fact that some humans are born with both male
& female sexual anatomy (hermaphrodite).
God made them this way. With the visual evidence of hermaphrodite
anatomy within humanity, how can anyone reasonably object to the
concept that some people’s brain might be wired with same sex
attraction?
Homosexual
activity has been scientifically documented in many species of
animals. You might not like this fact, but it is natural. You
would have to say that God made them this way, unless you want to
utter a ridiculous argument that animals have free will and have
rebelled against God.
The
Biblical Case Against Homosexuality
What’s
this got to do with gay marriage? While you won’t find the words
gay marriage in the Bible, the Bible clearly prohibits
homosexuality. The following verses contain Christianity’s
written policy towards gay people; I’ll let the Bible speak for
itself (King James Version):
Leviticus
18:22
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with
womankind: it is abomination.
Leviticus
20:13
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth
with a woman, both of them have committed an
abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall
be upon them.
Romans
1:26
For this cause God gave them up unto vile
affections: for even their women did change the natural use into
that which is against nature:
27And
likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman,
burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that
which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of
their error which was meet.
28And even
as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave
them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient;
29Being
filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness,
covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit,
malignity; whisperers,
30Backbiters,
haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil
things, disobedient to parents,
31Without
understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful:
32Who
knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in
them that do them.
Now
imagine if your employee handbook said the above is the company
policy. To stay employed, you must not dissent from church policy
no matter how vile it may be. The Old Testament says homosexuals
shall “surely be put to death” while the New Testament says
that they are “worthy of death”. Intelligent, rational and empathetic clergy are automatically
in a compromising position. The Bible is their book that reveals
what their God wants. In short, the Bible is inhumane,
unconscionable, and bigoted towards gay people and goes as far to
say that God actually gave them unto vile affection (the cause of
homosexuality). Romans 1:26 states that for vindictive reasons the
god of the Bible himself is to blame for distributing gayness.
Off
topic questions that Christians need to ask themselves
Now
I promise to get back on topic, but as many professing Christians
don’t read and are unaware of the contents of the scriptures;
I’m asking those now to review the Biblical case against
homosexuality and thus gay marriage. I’ve got several questions
for you.
·
Do
you believe that gay people should be put to death?
·
Do
you believe that God should give people something vile and still
be viewed as loving and worthy of worship?
·
Since
people are born with and later realize innate
homosexual desires…should God condemn what he creates?
·
Imagine
if you were gay. How would you feel if “god and god loving
people following his book” treated you with such contempt?
I
am personally acquainted with an educated Lutheran pastor that
just couldn’t subscribe to such vileness and was fired. He is a
good man that paid a price for his stance. People with a
conscious, intellect and a good heart know what they must do! The
flip side of this is for the Christian church to realize that the
vile seeds sown from the Bible have produced a movement with the
means and motive to destroy Christianity! I’d estimate that 45+
% of atheism that wants to rid the world of Christianity are
primarily motivated over the Biblical stance of homosexuality.
I’d say that at least one third of all atheists are gay. Compare
this with the general population and you will have started to gain
perspective.
Christianity
is probably unaware of the scope of the last paragraph; it should
be an eye opener and front-page news for them. People appreciate
what I like to call “common good Christianity”. If
homosexuality were not a Biblical topic, I seriously doubt that
skeptics would be so vehemently opposed to religious mythology
today! Don’t let anyone fool you; homosexuality is THE main
atheist issue, yet Christian leaders cannot comprehend why people
are so enraged against the church. Now you know!
I
see the church having a problem that they do not know how to fix.
The Pentateuch and the writings of Paul
are indispensable to Christianity, to repudiate them is to
repudiate the faith altogether. If Christianity doesn’t fix the
problem atheism likely will! Do you see how important this issue
is?
There
are so many unrecognized inner connected strands that I wish
people could see. It appears to me that revolutionaries found an
exploitable issue (homosexuality) and backed a willing player
(atheism) to wage warfare upon their target, cultural
Christianity. This, I believe is the untold story behind the rise
of “new atheism.”
This
ex-minister likes good religion and common good Christianity and
thinks the world is a better place because of them. However,
sexual matters such as their stance on homosexuality are
repulsive! It’s bad religion. The clock is ticking and the LGBT
community will not be silenced, nor should they be patient with
church hierarchy inactivity.
It’s
a complex issue to those of us that don’t want to destroy
religion; it’s cut and dried easy for those that do! I don’t
think the Christian church’s heart aligns with the bigotry of
their book, yet they are intrinsically bound. It’s the note upon
which revolutionaries strike up the band. What I’ve expressed is
as much for the Christian church as it is for those seeking to
destroy it. For the later, someone needs to reach out and help me
further Ex-Minister’s unique brand of skepticism to curtail
religious disparagement.
Marriage is a
civil institution, not a religious one
As
earlier stated, homosexuality and marriage are differing issues.
It should be apparent why the church shouldn’t be involved in
the gay marriage issue due to their bigoted homosexual vantage
point. Marriage is a secular matter, not a religious issue! It is
the state that sanctions marriage. The official performing the
marriage ceremony says…”by the power invested in my by the
state of “Maryland”, I now pronounce you man and wife”.
Despite
the popularity of churches as the chosen venue,
or the prevalence of clergymen officiating and their subsequent
prayers or blessings upon the marriage it should never be
forgotten that it was the state that granted the authority.
I
am amazed that so many “freethinkers” that keep reminding the
rest of us of their intellectual acumen have been so easily
bamboozled and disengaged by buying into the notion that marriage
is a religious institution. Some of the most boisterous barker’s
for church – state separation are atheists that can’t discern
the difference between the location of a marriage ceremony taking
place in a church and the civil/secular institution sanctioned by
the state.
Gay
marriage advocates want to ascribe marriage as a religious ordeal
and then turn around and chide the state over separation of
church/state matters as their strategy in hope to parley
gay marriage acceptance.
Marriage has been
absolutely defined by the United Nations
The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the General
Assembly of the United Nations has definitively defined the
definition of marriage in 1948. Article 16 reads:
1)
Men
and women of full age, without any limitation due to race,
nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a
family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during
marriage and at its dissolution.
2)
Marriage
shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the
intending spouses.
3)
The
family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is
entitled to protection by society and the State.
Authority?
You can’t get any better than the United Nations as the entity
to fortify the definition of marriage. Once again, it is not the
church that defines or grants authority for marriage; it is the
state! Spouses in point 2 eliminate any “loophole”; marriage
can only be between men and women! I might add that the UN has a
golden opportunity to win over some of its skeptics and relieve
anxiety by honoring point #3.
This is America:
A Democracy Decides
Since
marriage is a civil/secular institution, any alteration to it
should have had to come through the scrutiny of the democratic
process.
California
got it right. Rather than legislatively foist gay marriage upon
the people, an initiative Proposition
8 was placed upon the ballot where voters were given the
choice…that’s democracy folks! Its Un-American that select bureaucrats
have a tangle with democracy and have chosen to block the will of
its citizens. Since no US state through voter
referendums has ever approved of gay marriage, courts and
legislatures have decided to take matters into their own hands to
legalize gay marriage in Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, New York, Washington, D.C., Iowa, Oregon’s
Coquille and Washington state’s Suquamish Indian Tribes.
Political
Babylon: The Absurdity of Confounding Language
It
astounds me how stupid politicians can be at times. Lets say that Warren
Buffett walks into a room with his Latvian wife by his side
and they are ushered to the podium for an anniversary toast. A few
moments after the toast a stranger enters that room where he knows
no one. Someone informs the stranger that he just missed the
anniversary toast of the couple on the podium. All he sees is a
woman in between the two men.
Language
is so helpful, pragmatic and lucid that he wouldn’t need to ask
a question if someone were to point to Mr. Buffett and ask the
stranger who his spouse or wife on stage was. The traditional
definition of marriage is crystal clear.
If
bureaucrats are allowed to get away with confounding our language
(political Babylon) by redefining marriage, the above scenario
might require two questions and embarrass everyone on that podium.
That’s awkward and preventable. In essence, the fulcrum
of the controversy asks whether a man and woman that are married
should allow obliteration of their term that sufficiently
encapsulates their union. It’s an absurd and belligerent
assumption foisted upon the family…yes they do mind! That is why
it doesn’t win on the ballot.
Ramifications
of re-defining marriage…make them pay!
Mamby-pamby
politicians
should be made to bear the brunt of their redefining ploy. How?
First vote them out of office. Second, every interview or exchange
in which they mention their spouse…they should be asked if their
spouse is their husband or their wife? Did they marry a man or a
woman? Their new definition begs the question. I can’t imagine
that they would like this, but they would probably be driven to
understand the ramifications of their assault on the dictionary
and society.
An
Ex-Minister’s Solution
The
secular case against gay marriage is easy to understand once you
rightfully isolate it from the religious landscape. Gay marriage
is an impossibility, a misnomer, because marriage can only be
between a man and a woman. Language has a function and a purpose
to delineate terms so that meaning can be attained, no need to
confound this. Marriage has likely been around for over 4,000
years…this would make it much older than the church. While I
can’t ascertain precisely when it started the traditional
understanding of marriage was diplomatically affirmed by the
United Nations 63 years ago. Should anyone want to change the
tradition, which has served society well, it must go through the
rigors of the democratic process. That’s the way democracies
work, we have more important matters in society that should take
precedence over this contrived issue.
The
bulk of this essay had to do with religious aspects muddied just
as much by secular misunderstanding as it has been by religious
bigotry. With these things being sorted out the right thing to do
with homosexual couples that want to join together in union is to
unequivocally permit same sex union, civil partnership or union
(whatever you want to call it…just don’t call it marriage).
