Gay Marriage

This has been a huge topic of discussion out here given the California Supreme Court ruling last week. I almost typed about it then, but for some reason didn't feel compelled. But now I do. Let me first state that I probably have an opinion about this that a good chunk of you won't agree with. And I didn't develop this stance after moving to liberal California. I started developing this stance in college in the hippy town of Fayetteville where I for the first time in my life encountered openly gay individuals.

My stance is this - I'm anti-gay marriage, but pro civil unions. Many of you have I'm sure gotten the sense of my annoyance with the Christian church in regards to gay marriage. I grew up hearing the rhetoric that homosexuality is evil, then I got the message of love the sinner hate the sin. But I never saw that in action. I was being told that by people who had never encountered a homosexual in their life. My basic feeling is it's so easy to preach how horrible homosexuality is and how we should never allow gay marriage or civil unions when you're dealing with it at arms length. Meet someone who's gay, befriend them, truly get to know them as a child of God, then come talk to me about your stance on the issue.

I'm not ashamed to say that I was one of the minority who voted against the marriage amendment in Arkansas. And frankly, I never will vote for any amendment to define the act of marriage as only between a man and a woman. But aren't you anti-gay marriage, you might be asking yourself? Yes, but my vote is still reflective of my belief. I believe marriage is a Godly institution. When/if I get married, what solidifies it in my mind is the Biblical sanctity of joining two souls (a man and a woman) to become one. What doesn't solidify it is the piece of paper I have to fill out to have my marriage recognized by the state. That is simply completed for purely contractual purposes - I can file my taxes jointly, I can be on my spouse's insurance, my spouse will inherit my stuff when I die if a don't have a will, so on and so forth. I believe that homosexuals should not be denied this right. By denying it, we are discriminating against them on the basis of their sexuality and this is just unacceptable. By allowing them to enter into civil unions, we are not condoning the practice. We are simply allowing them basic rights that everyone should be able to enjoy (for lack of a better word). I do not believe, however, that they should be allowed the classification of marriage and the church should absolutely not perform gay marriage ceremonies as this goes against Biblical teachings.

I have more detailed thoughts about this, but you get the general idea. The bottom line is I believe Christians have approached the topic of homosexuality in completely the wrong manner. It is my hope that God changes the hearts of fellow Christians to think about homosexuality in a new light. Maybe it's time we actually practiced what we preached and truly loved the sinner, while still disapproving of the sin.