The War Ends Now: The Prop 8 Debacle - What went wrong with California Gay Marriage

Well today was a big day on the Gay Marriage front. The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8 banning Gay Marriage in the state. Boy, are people angry (and happy).

Just for the record, I’m an evangelical Christian and I support Gay Marriage. I’m also a conservative Republican, and I support Gay Marriage.

So what went wrong? Why is Gay Marriage still banned? How can we change this?

Taking Shortcuts

The problem is that rather than going to the normal method of passing legislation and having it signed by the governor, we have maverick politicians think they can bypass the State and US Constitution.

Gavin Newsome’s Mistake

The first mistake was by Gavin Newsome. Right or wrong, in 2004 Mayor Newsome authorized the issuance of marriage licenses in the city of San Francisco. His intentions were right. He acted upon what he perceived was a civil rights issue. The problem is that he was making a decision that would affect the entire state and the California Supreme Court shut him down and annulled the marriage certificates issued.

The problem is that the mayor of San Francisco can not rewrite the laws of the state. He does not have the constitutional authority to do that. It’s what we call a political stunt.

California Supreme Court’s Mistake

On May 15, 2008, In re Marriage Cases, the California Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision somehow managed to find that marriage is a fundamental right in the California Constitution and held that a statutory ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.

Again, right or wrong, the Supreme Court angered the conservative masses because declared the redefinition of marriage in a document that wasn’t there. In other words, the authors of the California constitution did not include consider the LGBT community as having these fundamental rights. (We can debate this, but I just want to point out why there was such fervor in overturning this decision with prop 8).

The Christians Mistake

This mistake is obviously Proposition 8. Many people who know me, know that I’m a fervent non-believer in the Proposition system. It is not the job of the people to legislate; it’s the job of our state representatives. I elect people to do this job for me. Unfortunately, Prop 8 passed and was upheld the by Supreme Court.

Where Do We Go From Here

It’s easy…we have to change the law and despite what I said about Prop 8, I will support a proposition giving marriage right to the LGBT Community.

NOTE TO THE LGBT COMMUNITY, you can not get what you want by taking shortcuts. You’ve got to change the hearts and minds of Californians. I’ll warn you now, THIS IS NOT GOING TO BE EASY, but it’s the only real way to get what you want, EQUALITY, and make it stick.

I’ve made it a goal of mine, so speak to the Evangelical Christian community in hopes of getting them to reconsider their impressions of the homosexual community and bring you the rights you deserve.

The War Ends Now: All Sins Are (Not) Equal or Gays are not Rapist and Pedophiles.

I want to take a moment and address a point my friend made on my past blog. It has been easy for Christians to lump sexual sins together. In fact, it was called out to me. In my first response, I mentioned pedophile priests and predator youth group leaders.

Faktb said: “So let’s be clear to express our disapproval of pedophile priests, corrupt youth pastors, and yes, homosexuality.”

That’s my problem, I don’t believe you can lump homosexuality with the other sexual sins.

All my Christian life, I was told that sin is sin and God hates them all. That’s true. But you have to admit that some sins are worse and have greater repercussions, especially the sins that can change and alter the life of the victim of that sin. My child lying to me about hiding my car keys has little comparison to rape.

Be that as it may let’s go down the list of sexual sins:

• Rape – Physically forcing a victim to have sex with you. Violating physically another person.
• Sodomy – See Rape.
• Pedophilia – Physically forcing a child to have sex with you. Coercing a child into having sex.
• Molestation – Physically touching a child for the assailant’s sexual pleasure.
• Incest – Physically forcing yourself upon your child. Coercing your son/daughter, niece/nephew, etc. into having sex.
• Child Pornography/Exploitation – Capturing the image of children in lewd and suggestive position for sexual pleasure.
• Homosexuality – Two people of the same gender expressing their feelings in the same way two people of opposite genders do.

Try as you might, but you’re comparing apples and oranges. The first six sins on the list are sins against another human being. They are actions of violence, power, manipulations and the ultimate in selfishness. It is one person forcing their will upon another in a heinous and violent way.

You bring up the example of Sodom and Gamorrah. Sodom was not judged because it was a city of homosexuals. It was judged because the citizens had become so hardened in their sinful life that they decided they would attempt to rape God’s representatives.

The “sin” of Homosexuality on the other hand is not a “sin” of violence, but a sin against God’s design. In the beginning, God made us male and female in order procreate. God wanted humans to grow in numbers and the only way to do that was for male and female to “hook up” in a marriage and produce children. Look at all of the verses in the Bible regarding homosexuality and you’ll see that the “sin” is one of design and not violence.

So my fellow Christian believers please refrain from comparing Homosexuals with rapists and pedophiles.

The War Ends Now: Homosexuals - The Forgotten Mission Field

My friend responded again to my post and I wanted to take a moment to address a few of this point. I'm going split his response into two parts. The first is the Gay mission field. The second part I want to address the affect of Gay Marriage on the morality of the world. Let's tackle the missions field.

Point #1 - It's not just about preserving the family. Think about the next generation who will be taught that homosexuality is moral. There is the danger of losing them (In terms of numbers, the next generation vastly outnumbers the homosexual population).

Response #1 – Since when has homosexuality become the sins that going to ruin the next generation for God. If you’re claiming that we’re in danger of losing untold numbers, I hate to break the news to you, we’ve lost it. Pedophile priests, Youth pastors dating the teens they are supposed to shepherd. Believe me, we’re giving reason enough to drive people away from God. Let’s not single out homosexuals.

Point #2 - Also Romans 1 suggests that homosexuals are set in their ways, since they have willingly suppressed the truth and their knowledge of God. I highly doubt that homosexuals will turn to Christ if same-sex marriage is legalized. If you have any hard evidence otherwise, I'd love to see it.

Response #2 – Have you given up already? If you understand anything about missions, no one is ever set in the ways. Let me direct you to the story of Don Richardson and the peace child. If you honestly believe that the homosexual community has hardened their hearts, then Your God is way too small and is not as powerful as you think. Then Christ’s Love is not compelling enough to draw people to Him.

Point #3 - Your method is loving, no doubt, but what about the other crucial component, i.e., truth? Jesus was both loving and truthful; and we ought to follow His example. As a result we ought to love homosexuals but speak the truth to them about the wrongfulness of homosexuality in a loving way. The loving truth is that same-sex marriage is not appropriate in the eyes of God.

Response #3 – We kind of agree here. There is love and there is truth as well. But there is a difference with Truth and how we proclaim the Truth. Truth is Truth and the Bible is the most tangible document of God’s truth. But the issue we have is how we tell the lost about the truth.

1 Corinthian 13:1-2 – “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”

You can possess the absolute truth, but if you can’t communicate that with love, then your message is rendered useless. Yes, I’m taking the loving method, because I can actually talk individual gay and straight and show them who Christ is.

Now if by love, you tell me that for the sake of their soul and happiness, they need to turn from their “sinful” ways or if by love, you tell the gay community that if they repent then God will accept them. But read the Gospels, he never spoke this way to sinners and the lost. He spoke exclusively with harsh words to the religious who claimed that they represented God (Pharisees). He showed nothing but compassion to the lost and yes, even spoke the truth in love. Let me refer you to the woman at the well.

The War Ends Now - Responding to the Christian Argument against Gay Marriage

I would write more, but I feel that I have a lost to say and I don’t exactly know how to organize my thoughts. Yesterday, while watching Star Trek, I had got a bunch of comments from my Gay Marriage, Miss California and Perez Hilton blog from a particular anonymous fella (I assume it’s a dude). He brought up a few points that I wanted to address. You can find the original comments on my previous blog entry. Oh well, here we go.

Point #1 - If homosexual "marriages" are recognized by federal and state governments, there will be no principled reason to oppose new federal laws forbidding discrimination in hiring based on sexual orientation. Churches, synagogues, mosques, religious schools, and faith-based charities, as well as secular organizations of every kind, would be subject to a new kind of government scrutiny.

Response #1 – This is a completely false statement. Since the beginning of this country, religious institutions have been given the right to “discriminate” in its hiring practices and rightfully so. A Christian church is allowed by law to never hire a muslim, and vice-versa. They are allowed by law to never hire of woman as pastor, regardless of qualification. Religious institutions are allowed to hire and fire based on the organizations religious beliefs. Church can “discriminate” based on any arbitrary reason that it deems as right. If gay marriage passes, the government is not going to be shutting down churches.

Point #2 - The legalization of homosexual "marriage" would invite an ongoing assault on individuals and organizations that uphold traditional marriage or have moral or religious objections to the practice of homosexuality.

Response #2 – Not sure what rock you’ve been living under but as Christians we are already being assaulted. We’re being told that sex before marriage is normal. We’re told that divorce is an easy way to get out of a “bad” relationship and that killing an unborn child is a choice and the consideration of life is meaningless. The thing about Gay Marriage is that, yes it redefines the term family from a governmental and societal standpoint, but that does not mean it is redefined to me. If Gay Marriage is the law of the land, it does nothing to affect my love and commitment to my wife. She’ll still get all my stuff when I die. My daughter is not going to wonder why I married a woman, and she’ll still be free to choose whomever she wishes (with my approval) her spouse.

Point #3 - The legalization of homosexual "marriage" will greatly accelerate these pressures to marginalize the nation's religious communities and the values that define them. In some countries, speaking publicly against homosexuality has been criminalized.

Response #3 – I’m assuming we’re both Christians. We both believe Jesus is God and died for our sins. We both believe the Bible is the Word of God. If this is true, then we believe that God is Omnipotent. If this is true, then no matter how the country defines the American Family, my God is still bigger than that and that God’s people and His church will never be marginalized. If you feel that your ability to live a Christian life is be harder, than your God is smaller than He really is. Regarding the criminalization of speaking publicly against homosexuality…Good thing you live in the United States. By the way, go to Iran, and you’ll watch them round up gays and murder them.One last thing about the fall of the United States…do you honestly believe that when gays get married, they’re going start rounding up Christians and throwing them in jail. You can not blame the state of Christianity in America on the Homosexual community. The fall of the church in America will be our own fault because we chose to influence the world by legislating morality rather than living it in our own communities. We are called to be Christ-like in a lost world and show compassion to a lost people. We were not called to be legislative warriors of morality.

Point #4 - The deconstruction of marriage will affect what children are taught in virtually every subject at public schools.

Response #4 – Since when did we give up the teaching of our children to public schools? I have a responsibility as a parent to raise my children with the beliefs and morals that I believe in. If you’re relying on public schools to do this, then you need to reconsider how you’re raising your children. My children are going to be taught evolution, she’ll be given condoms, taught that fetus is not a life, that Christians have ruined western civilization. Believe me, two people of the same sex wanting to be married is the least of my concerns. I’d rather promote abstinence, prevent abortions and promote the value of religion before going after gay marriage.

Point #5 - You are proposing that we disband a scriptural (biblical) basis for morality.

Response #5 – I would love a government that bases it’s morality on a Biblical foundation. A Christian Theocracy is what we’re looking for. Newsflash: this has already been attempted. It’s called the Old Testament. The Theocracy failed because we tried to impose God-honoring rules on a people who did not fully love God. Biblical morality works on you and me only because we have a relationship with God. But trying to impose these rules on non-believers won’t work and leads to what we have today.

As you know, the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Then we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. As I mentioned in a previous blog, Gay marriage is a victimless sin. It’s the joining of two people of the same sex. It does not hurt me in any way. It does not hurt you. Nor does it hurt anyone outside of the two. You can claim that it hurts God, but again, you can not legislate laws based on the greatest commandment, otherwise we’d have to create laws based on keeping the Sabbath and attending church and taking communion.

I've mentioned this before to others, the Bible clearly states that all people are God's children. All in need of a savior. My goal is to bring all people to Christ, even homosexuals.

You know that when it is all said and done, God is not going to pat you on the back and say thanks for saving the family. He's more interested in the souls you brought to Christ.