Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Rethinking my stance on gay marriage (maybe)


I'm looking back at my blog and its been a long time since I've written on the subject of Gay Marriage. A few weeks ago President Obama came out in favor of gay marriage.  Maybe I'll write about the politics of gay marriage, but I wanted to respond to an aspect of gay marriage that my Christian friends have brought up on a few occasions.

Simply put, why would I, Alan, an evangelical Christian, be in favor of gay marriage, with the knowledge that gay marriage "displeases" God and legalize "sin."

So Why Homosexuality?

I find it interesting, there are hundreds of thousands of sins in the Bible. Why in the last 4 years have we singled out Homosexuality as the sin Christians will battle publicly and to the point that we will legislate and make a presidential campaign issue.

A friend of mine told me that my support of gay marriage "displeases" God. Also, that if you've read my blog on Gay Marriage, you know that I believe that Christian have done wrong by alienating ourselves from the LGBT community and rather than reaching out to this community we've done far worse by condemning this community at every turn.

Essentially I was "accused" of sacrificing God's definition of marriage in exchange from building a bridge to the gay community (which is not necessarily wrong).

Does my support of gay marriage "displease" God? I know you want to give me a straight answer. Well…I'm not going to give it to you. Instead, I want to point the fingers back at you.

As Christians, we believe in the sanctity of marriage. So much so, that we are spending millions of dollars defending marriage between a man and a woman and defining it as such legally. If marriage is so sacred that we can not legally allow two individuals of the same sex, who love each other to get married. Then we, as Christians, must fight as vigorously to enact laws that violates God's intention for marriage. I've got three to start with:
  • Pre-marital sex
  • Adultery
  • Divorce
Look, fellow believers, I will rejoin the cause of defending marriage, if we work just as hard to enact laws banning pre-marital sex, adultery and divorce. I'm in fact one who can speak to this for I have committed none of these sins in my life. I had sex with only one person, my wife.  I've never cheated on her and I don't plan on divorcing her ever.

So if you want me to help ban gay marriage, I propose that we make it illegal for two single people to have sex before marriage, because this "displeases" God. Since the man is more likely to be the initiator in pre-marital sex, first time offenders will need to attend abstinence courses and for repeat offenders will need to attend sex rehab clinics.

If you want me to help ban gay marriage, I propose that we make it illegal for married people to commit adultery. Since this is one of the ten commandments, the punishment must be especially harsh. Jail time for men. For women, we'll create an adultery registry and we'll just add them to this national database. Better yet, why not slap a giant red "A" on their clothing. Lest we forget, adultery "displeases" God.

If you want me to help ban gay marriage, I propose that we make divorce illegal. By law, we will nullify all divorces across this national. Biblically though, if you divorced due to adultery then you're free and clear, but then you're under arrest for committing adultery. If you are divorced, your marriage with your first spouse is now restored. If you are remarried, your current marriage is null and void and you must immediately move back in with your first spouse. Any children born in these now nullified marriages will be branded as "B@st@rds."

Excuse me now as I remove my tongue from my cheek. To my Christian friends, I have a question for you. Why is it so easy for us to condemn gays and lesbians for being gays and lesbians to the point that we create laws banning them from getting married, when at the same time refuse to legislate the sins that we Christians are more likely to commit?

Think about it. Christians are more likely to displease God by having pre-marital sex, commit adultery or divorce our spouses than we are of committing a homosexual act. Don't you think that by creating laws banning pre-marital sex, adultery and divorce, we would not do it?

When we stand there supporting proposition 8, how exactly are we not hypocrites?

I'd like to thank everyone for sending me the Bible verses condemning homosexuality. Believe me, I've known them all decades ago. At the same time, you know the verses regarding pre-marital sex, adultery, and divorce.

I'm going to end this blog the same way, I ended all the other ones. Christians end this war against homosexuals now! Stop this legalistic battle, we're fighting and be the salt and light to the world that God has called us to be.

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Epilogue. I've been asked many times, do I believe that homosexuality is a sin? I'm going to answer the question this way. I believe the Bible is God's inspired word and that it is both infallible and inerrant. I believe that the way Christians treat the LGBT community is abhorrent and makes God weep. More to come.