Gay Marriage

It’s with slight trepidation that I write this. I’m almost certain that my main argument and the overall point of this article will raise more than one eyebrow (of the conservative variety), but my feelings on this subject are of sufficient strength that I’m gonna write it anyway.


I’ve been planning this entry for awhile. Making mental notes and tossing the idea around, but up until now I haven’t felt seriously motivated to work on it. I can’t tell whether this is due to laziness on my part or if it God just didn’t want it up yet. That’s a moot point, though.

Gay Marriage is one of those hot buttons. It’s an issue that gets lobbed around like a volleyball, much in the same way that Abortion and The Economy do. I’ve been surprised (but not disappointed) by the lack of overall comment on the matter from the two presidential candidates, as I know it’s a big concern for a lot of people.

But what I can’t figure out is why. Why is this important? Why are we talking about it?

Let’s start with the Bible. It’s there that we find our Religious roots, so why the hell not.

Leviticus 18:22 says, “Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination”.

Okay, cool. That’s fairly straight forward. But that’s Old Testament, and as we all know, Old Testament law doesn’t hold a lot of sway over the modern Christian. If it did we’d be demolishing our houses as a means of combating persistent mildew (Leviticus 14:45) and we wouldn’t be allowed to eat shrimp (www.godhatesshrimp.com). Besides, we all know that Jesus died to forgive us for being imperfect, and to nullify the fact that we simply can’t follow all the Old Testament rules.

So let’s go to the New Testament. There’s lots of verses there, right? Surely some of them must be about homosexuality.

Romans 1:26-27 talks about it as being a bad thing, as does 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Paul wrote those books, and Paul was a good guy. We all like Paul. There are other verses that touch on the matter as well, so clearly it’s of SOME significance.

Alright, so it’s in the Old and New Testaments. Let’s take a look at what Jesus said about it. Jesus is the reason for this whole Christianity thing, after all, so he must have said something about an issue that is obviously so very, very important.

…

Oh wait.


Jesus never talked about homosexuality. Or if he did it’s not in any of the four gospels.

This is where it gets interesting for me. Jesus came to free us from our sin, and from the obligation of Old Testament law, or at least that’s how I understand it. That doesn’t mean that we can do whatever we want – we’re still called follow God’s guidelines for our lives and live as good, decent people, in harmony with God and one another, and-

Okay stop. Harmony. Toss that word around in your brain while we continue.

I once heard (or rather, read) someone say that Christians have an obligation to “stand up against injustice” and cited Abortion and Homosexual Rights as examples.

Now it gets technical, and I’ll try not to divert too much from the main point; what is injustice?

–noun
1. the quality or fact of being unjust; inequity.
2. violation of the rights of others; unjust or unfair action or treatment.
3. an unjust or unfair act; wrong.

Okay, cool. Thank God for Dictionary.com.

Now, Abortion I can understand. That I can see as injustice, or unjust, if you want. It’s a complicated issue, but I understand completely one defining Abortion as injustice. But “homosexual rights”?

I’m sorry, but what kind of self created world do you have to live in where another person’s personal lifestyle, a person who you’ve never met nor have anything to do with, effects you to a degree that you refer to it as an “injustice”?

I should word this carefully, so as not to be misunderstood – I disagree with the homosexual lifestyle. I don’t think it’s right, I don’t think it’s natural, and I don’t think God gives you the thumbs up if that’s how you choose to live.

But that’s just my opinion, and whether or not another person is attracted to the opposite sex is none of my business. It’s also not yours, your pastor’s, nor your church’s.

But we’re not talking about a LIFESTYLE choice, right? We’re talking about marriage. Marriage is a sacred institution, a contract between a man and a woman and God and the state, and marriage means different rules when it comes to taxes, and insurance policies, and bank accounts, and-

Stop again. Shut up. Stop.

I’d like to quote Lewis Black.

“On the list of things we have to worry about, Gay Marriage is on page six right after, ‘are we eating too much garlic as a people?’”


We live in a screwed up world. Two percent of the population controls half of the planet’s wealth. The AIDs epidemic is ravaging the African continent. Vietnam veterans are starving to death on our own streets, and public school teachers can lose their jobs for admitting that they believe in God.

And you’re pissed off because Bill and Ted want to be husbands?

This is my opinion, my main point:

Gay marriage affects three very specific groups of people, and no one else.

1) Gay couples.
2) Ministers who have to choose whether or not they’re comfortable marrying a gay couple.
3) People with too much time on their hands.


If you want something to protest, protest the fact that forty-million Americans can’t afford health care. Protest the fact that an African child dies every five seconds due to starvation. Protest the fact that the church can’t get its priorities straight.

Make a difference. Love someone. Do something that would make Jesus proud, instead of using his name as an excuse to throw a fit every time someone does something that you don’t like. Do something that furthers a culture of harmony in modern society.

I don’t believe we were ever called to tell other people how to live their lives or who they can and can not marry. I believe our calling is far more simplistic, and were we to champion it as opposed to all these other causes and crusades, Christianity would probably be held in a much higher regard within secular society.

“Love one another” (John 13:34-35, 15:12, and 15:17)

That’s something that Jesus DID talk about.




Special thanks to www.godhatesshrimp.com (read the “about” section of this site), Google, and Dictionary.com.

Agree, disagree, anything in between. Fire away. If I’ve misquoted scripture or gotten any facts wrong feel free to correct them. Also, the rules have not changed – keep it civil.


(PS – Someone said this to me once, and I wanted to throw it in here. Would you rather have a heterosexual son who sleeps with a different woman every night, or a homosexual son who sleeps with the same man every night?)