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I have a question for every person on this board who thinks that gays in the U.S. should not have the legal rights that are provided by a secular, state-sanctioned marriage:
First of all, I will assume, for the sake of this argument, that homosexuality is a sin. We could argue about the differences between being attracted to the same gender vs. acting on those feelings, but Paul tells us such distinctions are really just excuses, so let's just call a spade a spade, and say it's a sin.
Is being an atheist less sinful than being gay?
No, really. Think about that question. Will God damn a soul "more" for being gay than for being an atheist? Is there some kind of deeper level of hell that gay atheists get, that straight atheists don't suffer quite so much? Is denying the fact that God's gave his only son to us, to live like us, with us, to die a horrific death, and then be resurrected so that we may all be resurrected.... Is denying that fact somehow less offensive to God than getting a woody for someone of your own gender?
If any of you can answer "yes" to that question, then go ahead and rant against marriage rights.
If you answer "no" to that question, then how can you POSSIBLY deny legal rights to one type of sinners just because the particular sin they are guilty of is gross to you?
Atheists get married all the time. As those of us who support gay marriage have been saying, "marriage" has already been redefined. If your straight, godly marriage is not threatened by Brittany's 38-minute marriage or by Liza's 14 marriages or by Newt's or Kerry's affairs, what could two men or two women you've never even met possibly do? How is their marriage any more a "threat" to you than the Bacchean love-fest that "marriage" has been in this culture LONG before gays even considered cracking opening their closets for a peek?
If you answer "no" to the above question, you need to ask yourself why. To protect the "sanctity" of marriage? That "sanctity" has been broken, honey. It was broken before Adam and Eve even left the garden, remember? When Adam tried to blame it all on Eve, he broke the sanctity of marriage, and it hasn't been holy since then.
We come close -- we try to be holy, but we are NEVER going to get it right, this side of paradise. The least we can do is to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our Lord. And let me tell you this: denying secular rights to people just because you don't like their particular sin (because you are so sinless?) is NOT acting justly, loving mercy, or walking humbly with your Lord.
Thus saith our God.
First of all, I will assume, for the sake of this argument, that homosexuality is a sin. We could argue about the differences between being attracted to the same gender vs. acting on those feelings, but Paul tells us such distinctions are really just excuses, so let's just call a spade a spade, and say it's a sin.
Is being an atheist less sinful than being gay?
No, really. Think about that question. Will God damn a soul "more" for being gay than for being an atheist? Is there some kind of deeper level of hell that gay atheists get, that straight atheists don't suffer quite so much? Is denying the fact that God's gave his only son to us, to live like us, with us, to die a horrific death, and then be resurrected so that we may all be resurrected.... Is denying that fact somehow less offensive to God than getting a woody for someone of your own gender?
If any of you can answer "yes" to that question, then go ahead and rant against marriage rights.
If you answer "no" to that question, then how can you POSSIBLY deny legal rights to one type of sinners just because the particular sin they are guilty of is gross to you?
Atheists get married all the time. As those of us who support gay marriage have been saying, "marriage" has already been redefined. If your straight, godly marriage is not threatened by Brittany's 38-minute marriage or by Liza's 14 marriages or by Newt's or Kerry's affairs, what could two men or two women you've never even met possibly do? How is their marriage any more a "threat" to you than the Bacchean love-fest that "marriage" has been in this culture LONG before gays even considered cracking opening their closets for a peek?
If you answer "no" to the above question, you need to ask yourself why. To protect the "sanctity" of marriage? That "sanctity" has been broken, honey. It was broken before Adam and Eve even left the garden, remember? When Adam tried to blame it all on Eve, he broke the sanctity of marriage, and it hasn't been holy since then.
We come close -- we try to be holy, but we are NEVER going to get it right, this side of paradise. The least we can do is to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our Lord. And let me tell you this: denying secular rights to people just because you don't like their particular sin (because you are so sinless?) is NOT acting justly, loving mercy, or walking humbly with your Lord.
Thus saith our God.