I just have a few questions to pose. I know Aunt Jeanne (& maybe Lo; I'm not sure if she reads this...) is the only one on here with the power to vote yes or no on Prop 8, but it's still something we, as Christians and as Americans, need to come to grips with.
I came up with these questions as I sat in Doni's church after watching a video they showed about voting on November 4th for the man we think would best lead our country. It was mainly about preserving the freedoms and rights of heterosexual couples who are active in the military and can give birth without complications.
Apparently, our country is so great because of these three simple things that unite America - life, liberty, and family. (For the record, I don't remember the right to have a family in the First Amendment, but be assured, I will be checking soon. I guess I thought the right to procreation was sort of a biological given, like the right to breathe or use the bathroom.) Anyway... The first point was about being pro-life, the second was about the right to go to war, and the last point was about not letting any of those homosexuals join the heteros under the banner of "married couples." The last image was an American flag waving in the wind, but instead of the white and red stripes it was the spectrum. And I just started crying. It was super pathetic. Except that, you know what? It wasn't. Then the pastor gets up and reiterates the points made on the screen (all this time, no candidate's names were mentioned, only implied, but, I mean...) and he starts talking about the sanctity of marriage "between a man and wife." And I really started to lose it. I was shaking and everything.
There was such an inherent inequality in that statement, not only between homosexuals and heterosexuals, but between men and women. I mean, c'mon! The correct way to pose that sentence would have been "between a man and woman" or "between a husband and wife," but to reduce a woman's gender to her married title while her mate retains his original identity is not the most progressive thing to say. We are equals afterall. And that's what got me - the inequality. I understand the Christian stand point, believe me. I held it for a while (until I started thinking about what was being held...). Marriage is a sacred covenant, and we all know how serious G-d is about his covenants, between a man and a woman. It says so in the Bible. And that's what we stand on; that's our factual ammunition right there, the stuff we use to shoot down evil. It's so simple in abstract terms, isn't it?
The thing is, well, I'll just type out these questions I wrote on the back of my sermon notes.
(Oh, for the most part, I'm talking about the last thing that video touched on - family, the right to have it)
What is more important - the retention of the traditional American way of life (which is NOT the Lamb's way of life, by the way, although the two often get confused) or the preservation of the freedoms and rights of others, as American citizens?
As a Christian, should I concern myself with others' salvation to the point of oppression of their rights?
Can I oppose it on a spiritual level, but support it on a political/social level or am I being hypocritical?
Am I so far from understanding G-d that I think I'm doing right by loving and supporting instead of "fighting against sin"?
After all, who am I to judge what is sin? Even though homosexuality is clearly stated as sinful, does that mean I can treat them as second-class citizens? Not allowing them the same rights as married couples? (And I'm not even talking about just "marriage," but as the law stands, if one partner is in critical condition in the hospital, his/her partner cannot see them because they're not bound by blood or law. That can't be right.)
As a believer, I am called to spread the word of G-d, to minister - how far into personal lives can I reach without intruding on rights?
I am a fallen person with fallen perspectives - who says I, as a Christian, know what is right and just in the eyes of my Lord.
How can the church condone the oppression of our brothers and sisters? How is it that we can so readily jump to help the oppressed church of Iraq or China, yet exclude fellow believers because their sin seems so much bigger than our own petty thefts and lies and adulteries?
I'm still young with a lot of growing to do, but here's what I've decided as of today -
1 - all sin is equal sin. If a non-Christian can enter into that covenant of marriage, why not extend it to everyone? It's not as if s/he isn't "living in sin" as well.
2 - America has the church separated from the state for a reason. When your moral beliefs begin to oppress the rights of others and start degrading them to second-class citizen status, there's something seriously wrong.
I came up with these questions as I sat in Doni's church after watching a video they showed about voting on November 4th for the man we think would best lead our country. It was mainly about preserving the freedoms and rights of heterosexual couples who are active in the military and can give birth without complications.
Apparently, our country is so great because of these three simple things that unite America - life, liberty, and family. (For the record, I don't remember the right to have a family in the First Amendment, but be assured, I will be checking soon. I guess I thought the right to procreation was sort of a biological given, like the right to breathe or use the bathroom.) Anyway... The first point was about being pro-life, the second was about the right to go to war, and the last point was about not letting any of those homosexuals join the heteros under the banner of "married couples." The last image was an American flag waving in the wind, but instead of the white and red stripes it was the spectrum. And I just started crying. It was super pathetic. Except that, you know what? It wasn't. Then the pastor gets up and reiterates the points made on the screen (all this time, no candidate's names were mentioned, only implied, but, I mean...) and he starts talking about the sanctity of marriage "between a man and wife." And I really started to lose it. I was shaking and everything.
There was such an inherent inequality in that statement, not only between homosexuals and heterosexuals, but between men and women. I mean, c'mon! The correct way to pose that sentence would have been "between a man and woman" or "between a husband and wife," but to reduce a woman's gender to her married title while her mate retains his original identity is not the most progressive thing to say. We are equals afterall. And that's what got me - the inequality. I understand the Christian stand point, believe me. I held it for a while (until I started thinking about what was being held...). Marriage is a sacred covenant, and we all know how serious G-d is about his covenants, between a man and a woman. It says so in the Bible. And that's what we stand on; that's our factual ammunition right there, the stuff we use to shoot down evil. It's so simple in abstract terms, isn't it?
The thing is, well, I'll just type out these questions I wrote on the back of my sermon notes.
(Oh, for the most part, I'm talking about the last thing that video touched on - family, the right to have it)
What is more important - the retention of the traditional American way of life (which is NOT the Lamb's way of life, by the way, although the two often get confused) or the preservation of the freedoms and rights of others, as American citizens?
As a Christian, should I concern myself with others' salvation to the point of oppression of their rights?
Can I oppose it on a spiritual level, but support it on a political/social level or am I being hypocritical?
Am I so far from understanding G-d that I think I'm doing right by loving and supporting instead of "fighting against sin"?
After all, who am I to judge what is sin? Even though homosexuality is clearly stated as sinful, does that mean I can treat them as second-class citizens? Not allowing them the same rights as married couples? (And I'm not even talking about just "marriage," but as the law stands, if one partner is in critical condition in the hospital, his/her partner cannot see them because they're not bound by blood or law. That can't be right.)
As a believer, I am called to spread the word of G-d, to minister - how far into personal lives can I reach without intruding on rights?
I am a fallen person with fallen perspectives - who says I, as a Christian, know what is right and just in the eyes of my Lord.
How can the church condone the oppression of our brothers and sisters? How is it that we can so readily jump to help the oppressed church of Iraq or China, yet exclude fellow believers because their sin seems so much bigger than our own petty thefts and lies and adulteries?
I'm still young with a lot of growing to do, but here's what I've decided as of today -
1 - all sin is equal sin. If a non-Christian can enter into that covenant of marriage, why not extend it to everyone? It's not as if s/he isn't "living in sin" as well.
2 - America has the church separated from the state for a reason. When your moral beliefs begin to oppress the rights of others and start degrading them to second-class citizen status, there's something seriously wrong.
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