Random Rambling: Gay Marraige

I’ve been thinking about writing this for a while now, as I’ve been trying to work out exactly what I think about this issue. I also work at a company that now produces a line of gay wedding invitations. I don’t want to offend people or get people mad at each other, but I wanted to make sure people know where I stand.

I believe that homosexual_ity_ is wrong. I believe this to be a clear teaching from the Bible, which is what I use as my authority on moral issues.

That statement does not mean that I hate homosexual_s_. I don’t. But I do think that what they do is wrong. I sincerely hope and pray that God will show them the error of their ways and that they will repent.

So, a while ago now, the courts in Massachusetts decided that the state couldn’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation when giving out marriage licenses. As immoral as I may feel gay marriage is, their interpretation is likely exactly where the law leads.

In fact, the law allows many things that I consider immoral. Adultery, premarital sex, strip joints, and abortion are all allowed by the law, yet I consider them all to be wrong. Adding gay marriage to the list seems like a reasonable thing to do in this culture.

Yet, the entire purpose of law in the first place was to enforce society’s morals. It’s wrong to steal because God said so and society thinks so. Therefore, our laws enforce this and punish those who steal.

But at one time, many of the things I mentioned as “legal but wrong” before were considered wrong by society, and laws enforced them. Society as a whole seems to be moving away from God, and the laws are changing to reflect this. Things that used to be unthinkable (such as moving in with your boy/girlfriend) are now commonplace. So what’s next? Stealing software/music/movies is getting more and more common and accepted. Is stopping “discrimination” against those who steal coming soon? How about discrimination against polygamy? Will we soon need marriage between n partners?

I really don’t know the answers there. But in my mind, it’s very difficult to separate marriage from God. God invented marriage (between one man and one woman), and one of its purposes is to glorify Him. I don’t really understand what it’d mean to be married and yet not know God. The concept is just foreign to me. If banning gay marriage comes up for a vote, I’d be betraying my conscience to do anything except voting to ban it. The word “marriage” means a lot to me.

So maybe we need to separate the church and state here. Have church create the concept of “marriage”, and the state create the concept of a financial-based union (which is basically what a corporation is). But that really won’t work in this society, as we already have an installed user base, and people want to be able to be “married” without going to a church.

So I don’t know the answer at all, really. But it saddens me that we live in a world where this needs to be an issue.

Thank you for reading this, and do feel free to comment and disagree (or agree) with me. I understand that there are probably a lot of people who think quite differently than I do. But please try to explain why you believe what you do, and try to keep it a civilized discussion.