Clearing Webs

http://www.biblegateway.com/topical/topical_searchresults.php?resultsapp=25&source=1&search=homosexual&searchtype=all

These are all the reasons a Christian should NOT support gay marriage. I believe it is a sin & a complete insult to the way God created marriage. Please, I'd like to hear your defense of gay marriage as a Christian.

Dear, Sweet Daughter –
I agree to an extent with your concern about capital punishment. I’ve long held – even before DNA testing – that wrongly convicted people are being executed for crimes they did not commit, and therefore there should be a much stronger standard of evidence before a sentence of capital punishment could be imposed. Instead of “beyond reasonable doubt,” it should be “beyond a shadow of a doubt.” But that doesn’t mean there aren’t criminals who are deserving of death for their crimes. And in this society, we certainly know that a criminal has time after his conviction to contemplate his crimes, repent, and turn to Christ.
I don’t understand, however, how you can position opposition to abortion as inconsistent with accepting capital punishment for correctly convicted murderers.
Our opinions separate a bit more on the homosexual marriage issue. First, a ban on homosexual marriage is not outlawing a loving relationship. It is instead avoiding institutionalizing and glorifying a sinful lifestyle. Marriage does that for a relationship – institutionalizes and glorifies that relationship, so I don’t see how a Christian can support the institutionalize and glorification of what is a sin. If the problem is that you do not believe that a homosexual relationship is sinful, then we haven’t been reading the same Bible, or you’ve also got to throw out idolatry, adultery, theft, greed, slander, and a multitude of other “alternative lifestyles.”
We are indeed told not to judge; we should approach each individual with an open, accepting attitude toward them, but we are also not to embrace their sin. Jesus didn’t tell the adulteress who was about to be stoned “Have a nice day, I enjoyed talking with you.” He said “Go, and sin no more” after those who had judged her were turned away by The Messiah’s words.
So we come to another area of agreement – we judge too harshly. We see their sin and feel shame about our own. We see the results of sinful behavior and react in sinful anger rather than righteous anger. We fail to reach out, to witness, to share, and are faced by our own sinful nature. We aren’t able to overcome our greed. Our sinful pride causes fear of being “taken” by someone who claims to be needy. But we’re not supposed to fear, to sin – we’re Christians. We should be stronger. We fail. Please don’t judge us too harshly.

gcw

so, how do you feel about the National Deficit? This is something I've never thought of before. I found that I voted on the "morality" issues sometimes, but now I'm just sick of hearing the same old things. I am thankful for these primaries that I have gotten to hear different things. Things that are exciting.
Your dad is a wise man, I like how gently he approaches your opinion. I agree with him.
As I watch my neighborhood house very different people groups, and see the homeless visit our church several times a week, I wonder. Is welfare and charity working? What if, just what if the system was completely different? Cuz it's not working and we CANNOT afford it anymore. Where's the Dave Ramsey envelopes for our Federal Reserve?

Why can we not afford a welfare system but afford a senseless war? By the time it's over it's estimated to cost TRILLIONs of dollars.

All kinds of sins occur in a marriage between a man and wife, yet we continue to institutionalize it. Why should we deprive devoted partners the right to support each other because we look down upon their particular sin?

Lynn, have you read A New Kind of Christian by Brian McLaren or any of his other books? You might like him.

I'd love to write more but I really better go to work!

That's certainly a valid point. If Christians want to see a change in the way society treats marriage, they could start by improving their own.... Reducing the divorce rate within the church would help, too.

However, Christians don't get married expecting never to sin. And God does not expect that, either. Part of His design for marriage involves the mutual edification of the couple through their individual relationships with God. And when there is sin in the Christian marriage, their commitment to God gives them not only the tools to deal with it, but also the hope for redemption that comes through His grace to them as believers. The problem is, this is not a hope that can be applied to a homosexual marriage, and it has nothing to do with looking down on one particular sin over the other. It's about not sending a mixed message to the unbeliever when we try to lead them to Christ.

This blog post was not a defense of the homosexual act, as much as it was a desire to separate the sin from the sinner in an effort to soften hearts and win souls. This is a good practice to be in, but even though we know all sins are equally damning in God's eyes, there must be an understanding that not all sins can be handled in the same way.

There's no question that many homosexual relationships are loving, caring, and supportive. But this doesn’t change the truth that the basic nature of that relationship cannot ever be pleasing to God. So what does it say to that couple if Christians encourage the homosexual marriage, get them to church, and then tell them they're sinning by doing what we encouraged? What should they do then? Divorce? At that point we've created an almost impossible catch-22 situation. Where's the hope in that?

Zeal for the lost is a quality that many Christians lack. But if our compassion ever causes us to water down God's truth, our message is lost and we've drawn them to nothing. There's no hope in a shaky message, and God has assured us that parts of the Gospel will be distasteful to the unbeliever. There is a great deal of freedom in that thought. We are to love the sinner and speak the truth. God draws the heart.

Just a note - I'm not ignoring y'all. It's just been one thing after another and I want to write a more extended entry to try and better explain my opinion. Hard to give it due time with what I call the "Knee Nipper Syndrome".

I appreciate those of you who have actually spoken to the subject. If I'm wrong I sure won't realize it without hearing from loving folks out there. And vice versa. :) Thoughtful, loving discussion will take us far.

Ah, Soapbox Girl, you have a really good point. It would definitely send a mixed message if Christians were encouraging homosexual marriage. Perhaps, then, if we want to show homosexuals that we hate the sin but love the sinner we should support the idea of civil unions, but not sacred ones. This way we're not depriving them of the same rights we enjoy, but at the same time we're not mixing up God's message. In fact, we're living out all the truths that God intended us to live out--the truth of compassion and charity and loving kindness to all human beings, even sinners, even our enemies, just as much as the truth about homosexuality. What do you think?

Soapbox Girl - I'm impressed! You should write a book. I live in a very liberal state and work with many homosexuals. This is a very interesting subject to me. I'll watch anxiously for this blog owner's post on her opinion.