I would like to make a comment on the topic of gay marriage.
We cannot legally be forced to marry anyone, so why can we be legally forced not to?
If being gay is wrong in the eyes of the church, then what about Jesus not judging?
Whatever happened to having your own life and decisions? If someone is in love, let him or her be. If you don’t approve, keep it to yourself.
This is very similar to interracial dating, which is now very accepted. With time people won’t care. If it isn’t your life, you shouldn’t care anyway.
I fear Ms. Moriarty attended public school in IL and there learned what she believes to be critical thinking. Let's dissect her argument to see if it has any merit at all...and perhaps help her and others understand the true answers to her queries.
Should we be legally forced not to marry certain people? In fact, we already are. You can't marry your father or mother, brother or your sister, etc. Incest is illegal. You can't marry your 9 yr old nephew or your 11 yr old neighbor girl. State law sets a minimum age for marriage. You can't marry your dog or your cow. Bestiality is illegal. And you can't marry three men or three women. Polygamy is illegal. And at least for now, a man cannot marry another man, a woman cannot marry another woman, because the very definition of the word "marry" is to join a man and a woman.
What about Jesus not judging? This is the argument of a person who has never flipped open her Bible. Let's start in Matthew and see how many pages I have to turn to find Jesus judging...
- 3rd page (following his birth and childhood) - 4:17 - Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Apparently Jesus found something objectionable and began to preach the need to turn away from doing evil.
- 4th page - Jesus pronounces judgment not only on murderers and adulterers, but on one who is angry, who insults, or calls another a fool; on one who lusts in his heart or divorces for any cause other than infidelity; one one who takes an oath.
- 5th page - Jesus pronounces judgment on one who exacts vengeance, or lacks compassion or generosity, or loves only his own family, or seeks his own glory, or prays with empty words, or who doesn't forgive, or who treasures earthly wealth.
Starting to get it? Jesus did not teach that He would not judge or that we should not judge at all, but rather that we should make a righteous judgment.
To be even more clear, Jesus said (in Matthew 15) that the things that proceed from our hearts - murder, adultery, sexual immorality (a word that encompasses sex before marriage, homosexuality, etc.), theft, false witness, and slander - defile us. Jesus made that judgment and so it would be irresponsible for Christians/the church to omit that teaching today. Our message is not that we judge, but that God will judge all sin, including homosexuality.If someone is in love, let him or her be. Sounds good, but is it right? If your best friend was involved with an abusive man, would you just let her be in love? If your 6th grade son was in love and sexually active with his teacher, would that be okay? If your adult daughter falls in love with a married man who has three little children and a pregnant wife, would that not merit judgment? If your husband falls in love with his business colleague, would you just let that go? No, no, no, no - you wouldn't, because these behaviors are destructive - to the people involved, to families, to businesses, to society. And so is homosexuality.
If you don't approve, keep it to yourself. Interesting...Ms Moriarity doesn't approve of the Christian position, and rather than keeping it to herself, she wrote a letter to the editor. So she and all the homosexual activists can speak, but Christians cannot?
If it isn't your life, you shouldn't care anyway. That's not true even among secular folks - who care how many pets someone has, who pass laws about yard upkeep and garbage disposal, who pull children out of abusive homes, who enforce drunk driving laws, who intervene in human rights violations in other countries, etc. Of course it matters how another person lives his life - because it impacts, in message and in behavior, the entire community and nation.
I'd love to hear more from Ms Moriarity after she gives this some real critical thought - and after she reads the gospel of Matthew.
