The Rite (right) of Marriage

The issue of gay marriage in this country is a big one, a political one. Everyone has an opinion and I have definitely tried to figure out mine in this whole mess. Long and hard I have thought about my particular opinion, wavering back and forth as the issue is deliberated by people much smarter than I.


For the most part I have thought that this is a matter that the church should take up. But it already has.


And I would love it if everyone would simply just let people live how they are going to on the matter, but the question keeps rising in the back of my mind... How will this affect the world my children are growing up in?


Let's play the scenario out for a minute.
If Gay Marriage is allowed federally, and people who choose an LGBT lifestyle begin marrying more often, eventually it will become common-place to see more married gay couples. It's inevitable.


Many people use the excuse that it doesn't hurt anybody, even if we don't agree with it.


First off, its an influence on society at large and on children in specific.
Secondly, we treat many other types of sins (in this country) which do not hurt any one else, much differently. If a man is caught urinating in public it is a misdemeanor. If a person is caught exposing himself to someone else, it is a crime of public indecency and in some states an offender faces steep fines and time in jail.


Let's go back to what I said previously and clarify. Gay Marriage (and public display of homosexuality) is an influence on society in general and children specifically. Being a parent, and a Christian in America I am faced with a challenge I actually wish I wasn't faced with. I have to decide how to effect the world around my children in a way which is according to my faith. Now this is nothing new and some people would attest that this is what our country was founded on. I will not debate that. But I would say that when I look at a near-present future where society at large accepts homosexuality as a completely normal manifestation of humanity, void of every stain, "natural", I have to take a step back and say when things are not o.k.


Here is two very different people on the subject...

Brian Brown from the NOM would like to add an amendment into the constitution that explicitly prohibits homosexuals from marrying one another. He would even like to take it a step further than that by outlawing the marriages that have already been validated by the states that have legalized it.


Now Republican Presidential Candidate Sen. Ron Paul, on the other hand, would like to keep the issue out of the Federal arena, or even the State legislature. He believes in putting the power back into the people's hands and trusting the moral guidelines that each person sets for themselves. Basically he's an optimist who believes in the basic human goodness in everyone. A modern-day Pelagius.


Here's my issue with this - Recently in Russia they have been working on an anti-gay propaganda bill which would fine groups and individuals for public actions aimed at propaganda of pederasty, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderism among minors. In other words those gay-rights parades and other such things would be prohibited. The reason as Russians who back the bill see it, is that they want to steer their country in a morally sound way, towards the church and in favor of the family.

Russia has two things currently going for it in this area, 1.) It has a waning population and therefore the government wants to support population growth. 2.) Russia is primarily an Orthodox Christian country and it's citizens therefore think about right and wrong like we think about freedom and enslavement. America's Congress and Senate are always at odds fighting over the rights, freedom and liberty of our citizens. Right and wrong to the American is a question of whether or not someone is free to do the things they wish to do without infringement of others (be it government or person). Food for thought.

I leave you, the reader, with this...

What are we? Christians steering a world as best we can to please the Lord? or self-serving individuals who seek to refine their definition of freedom and pursue our "Liberty"? Are we to manifest the Lord's Will or our own destiny? Are we in the world or of it?


(+I know this is a sensitive topic and I apologize if it offends anyone. It is not my intent. Just a blog, a rant and a sinner trying to work out his salvation and make sense of the world. Please forgive me any offenses.+)