Christians: Here's your chance...

[selfinflikted]

This thread is directed at those christians who say that "allowing same-sex marriage will threaten the institution of marriage". Myself and others have practically begged for an explanation on this, and now you have your chance to spill it. Can any of you tell us how allowing same-sex marriages to become legal will damage family structure, institution, or otherwise "unravel the moral fabric of society"?

 

[TheManeki]

I wonder if they can do it without sounding like the people who said that allowing interracial marriage would imperil marriage.

 

[selfinflikted]

I wonder if they can do it without sounding like the people who said that allowing interracial marriage would imperil marriage.

They say the best things come to those who wait. I'm still waiting

 

[uberd00b]

Aww come on guys. Isn't it a bit unfair to expect them to actually have thought about it?

 

[selfinflikted]

Aww come on guys. Isn't it a bit unfair to expect them to actually have thought about it?

Sure. But if they're going to use that excuse to promote their ideas I will expect them to have a reasonable explanation to accompany it. (I use the term "reasonable" very lightly here, as I'm interested in hearing basically any explanation at this point.)

 

[sidhe]

Cue "Ripple of Evil" music...

If same-sex marriage is made legal, that means lesbians will get married. Some of these will be hot lesbians. Straight men around the world will be too busy looking at the now public hot lesbian couples to consider the multitude of breeding women. Slowly, populations will begin to fall. Meanwhile, as many LGBT people are animal rights activists, animal populations will begin to increase. The increased animal populations will lead to more genetic diversity, and rapid evolution. Ultimately mankind will be subjugated by super-intelligent rabbits, which will proudly wear coats made from our skins.

That is why a national DOMA is necessary.

 

[snoochface]

I'm a Christian, and I don't think gay marriage will have any affect whatsoever on my marriage. I think it's a stupid argument.

If Christians want to worry about anything devaluing their marriage, or threatening the institution of marriage, they should begin by looking at Christian infidelity, or Christian divorces.

Too many Christians want to make the world into their comfortable little bubble, and feel threatened by anything that goes against their beliefs. We were told to live in the world, not change the world to fit our standards.

 

[selfinflikted]

I'm a Christian, and I don't think gay marriage will have any affect whatsoever on my marriage. I think it's a stupid argument.

If Christians want to worry about anything devaluing their marriage, or threatening the institution of marriage, they should begin by looking at Christian infidelity, or Christian divorces.

Too many Christians want to make the world into their comfortable little bubble, and feel threatened by anything that goes against their beliefs. We were told to live in the world, not change the world to fit our standards.

What a breath of fresh air! Thanks for that

/reps

 

[selfinflikted]

Cue "Ripple of Evil" music...

If same-sex marriage is made legal, that means lesbians will get married. Some of these will be hot lesbians. Straight men around the world will be too busy looking at the now public hot lesbian couples to consider the multitude of breeding women. Slowly, populations will begin to fall. Meanwhile, as many LGBT people are animal rights activists, animal populations will begin to increase. The increased animal populations will lead to more genetic diversity, and rapid evolution. Ultimately mankind will be subjugated by super-intelligent rabbits, which will proudly wear coats made from our skins.

That is why a national DOMA is necessary.

I lol'd irl. Still though, you never know...

 

[levi501]

because I don't want the latent homosexual side of me to emerge...

 

[selfinflikted]

Wow. This thread has been up for a few hours now, and I can't believe there has only been one serious reply from a christian. I'm completely disappointed, but not at all suprised...

 

[gengwall]

Wow. This thread has been up for a few hours now, and I can't believe there has only been one serious reply from a christian. I'm completely disappointed, but not at all suprised...

I don't believe calling homosexual relationships "marriage" in the civil realm will have any impact on the church's view of such relationships, so I guess I am not the type of Christian you are seeking input from. Good luck.

On catana's similar thread, someone mentioned a study I think, but I didn't look into it.

 

[selfinflikted]

I don't believe calling homosexual relationships "marriage" in the civil realm will have any impact on the church's view of such relationships, so I guess I am not the type of Christian you are seeking input from. Good luck.

On catana's similar thread, someone mentioned a study I think, but I didn't look into it.

Hi gengwall. If I remember correctly, you are not opposed to same-sex civil marriages. I would venture a guess that most gays aren't interested in being married "in god's eyes", nor are they interested in any other biblical aspect of marriage. So yeah, I'm interested in hearing exactly how allowing same-sex marriage in the civil realm will affect the institution of "marriage" per se and how it will impact the "moral fabric" of society.

 

[gengwall]

Hi gengwall. If I remember correctly, you are not opposed to same-sex civil marriages. I would venture a guess that most gays aren't interested in being married "in god's eyes", nor are they interested in any other biblical aspect of marriage. So yeah, I'm interested in hearing exactly how allowing same-sex marriage in the civil realm will affect the institution of "marriage" per se and how it will impact the "moral fabric" of society.

I got you, I just agree with you that it won't. I, too, am curious why some Christians think it will have any impact on marriage from a Christian perspective.

Now, having said that, catana's thread seems to imply that there are gay couples who care very deeply about their relationship "in God's eyes" and are turned off from Christian communities because those communities won't grant them a "God's eyes" marriage validation.

In general, though, most gay couples I know (granted, that isn't very many) care very little for either the church's opinion or the church's blessing and have little interest in trying to change the church's view.

 

[Beanieboy]

If we call Islam a "religion", or "Hinduism" a religion, it will undermine Christianity.

Isn't that clear enough?

If we call Canada a country, it will undermine the USA.

If we call Spanish a language, it will undermine English.

AND THEN IT WILL BE ANARCHY!!

Come quickly, Lord Vishnu.....and soon!

 

[AJ29]

I actually don't think it will make one iota of difference.

If Jesus himself could hang out with prostitutes, make friends with lepers and wash people's grotty, stinky feet, I am sure he would quite happily allow a few (yeah - just a few ) gay people to have big fandangled ceremonies to celebrate their union!

I reckon Jesus was all about loving people. Sure, he might not have liked what some people did, but it never stopped him loving them.

I am sure plenty of Christians would disagree with me... but when we get to heaven, we can ask him face to face

 

[SallyNow]

So far, same-sex civil unions have not torn any moral fabrics. Well, Project Runway got better after same-sex civil unions became legalized in Canada, but I don't think that has anything to do with it...

To me, it often seems that the same Christian groups who promote anti-homosexual agenda are the same ones that ignore the actual problems in North American society, such as our abuse of poverty-stricken countries for cheap labour. Calling all those millions of hard-working, often starved men, women, and children "cheap labour" reduces them to a mere commodity. Yet they are real people, just anyone oneline, just who have happened been born into nations that are in trouble.

Yet those those Christian groups are more likely to start a boycott over a product being advertised in a gay-themed magazine than by where the products are made.

Some examples:
A list of focusonthefamily.org's social issues list:
http://www.family.org/socialissues/
Lots of stuff on interfering with one's consensual, chosen lifestyle, little on boycotting companies that manufacture goods in a non-Christian mannr.

A CWFA.org article about a social issue boycott... you guessed it... about who you want to live with for the rest of your live. It seems to support undermining consensual, positive, productive relationships:
http://www.cwfa.org/articles/6391/CFI/family/index.htm

And this site cracks me up (in a bad way) because it is all about boycotting advertisers that advertise on adult shows... shows that people can turn off if they don't want to watch... but doesn't care about the children who don't even have time for TV because they work in a factory all day. http://www.parentstv.org/

So there you go, three American Christian groups that spend more time talking about homosexuality than talking about stopping human rights abuses.

 

[selfinflikted]

I got you, I just agree with you that it won't. I, too, am curious why some Christians think it will have any impact on marriage from a Christian perspective.

Now, having said that, catana's thread seems to imply that there are gay couples who care very deeply about their relationship "in God's eyes" and are turned off from Christian communities because those communities won't grant them a "God's eyes" marriage validation.

In general, though, most gay couples I know (granted, that isn't very many) care very little for either the church's opinion or the church's blessing and have little interest in trying to change the church's view.

Oh yes, I'm quite sure there are a substantial number of gay christians who wish to be married before god and their church. My intent was not to under-represent them or belittle their plight. But for the purposes of this thread, I'd guess that the number of gays wanting a civil marriage would far outnumber those wanting a traditional, christian marriage.

 

[Bombila]

I don't know, selfinflikted. You may be viewing the subject from the perspective of being quite young. A lot of older same-sex couples have spent more of their lives as agonized Christians, and they do want a church wedding and to have their marriage blessed by their religion.

In Canada, there is no requirement for any church to sanctify a same sex marriage, but many churches gladly do, so here there is really no impediment for gay couples to marry any way they wish.

 

[Maren]

I don't know, selfinflikted. You may be viewing the subject from the perspective of being quite young. A lot of older same-sex couples have spent more of their lives as agonized Christians, and they do want a church wedding and to have their marriage blessed by their religion.

In Canada, there is no requirement for any church to sanctify a same sex marriage, but many churches gladly do, so here there is really no impediment for gay couples to marry any way they wish.

I don't know that selfinflikted's problem is being young. I'm not young and I'm not sure that the majority of gays really care about being able to have a religious wedding, so long as they can have the legal rights of marriage. If you have a source that says otherwise, I'd be interested in seeing it. I'll honestly say I don't really know what the numbers are.

In either case, I think the point (and I think selfinflikted was trying to allude to this) is that it doesn't really matter. Like you said about Canada, the United States has laws and constitutional protections (like freedom of Religion) that protect churches from having to do things like having female clergy or perform gay weddings. Yet, even now their are churches that have no problem performing ceremonies for gays, just that they currently aren't marriages (except in Massachusetts). From what I've seen, most gays would have little problem trying to find a church to marry them.