Australia votes Yes for same-sex “marriage”

[GingerBeer]

Hello GB.

Even at 5% they get far too much attention.

It doesn't bother me. I think sex gets too much air time on the media.

 

[rambot]

I don't want to pull this thread further off topic so this will be my last post on the matter:
There is a lot of excuse making around welcoming people based solely on the contrived human invention of borders and nation states. God doesn't care about where people come from, nor does he allow excuses when it comes to helping others. A refugee comes from another country with NOTHING. Whether they are escaping persecution becomes irrelevant; they have NOTHING. Christians are NOT called on to ignore that.

We are called to a radical and dangerous love.

 

[MissRowy]

Before you all jump to conclusions. Just because we got a yes vote doesn't mean its automatically going to happen. The PM has to pass it in government. What everyone in Australia did was a survey, it wasn't a vote because it wasn't run by the Australian Electoral Commission it was run by the Bureau of Statistics.

 

[klutedavid]

Before you all jump to conclusions. Just because we got a yes vote doesn't mean its automatically going to happen. The PM has to pass it in government. What everyone in Australia did was a survey, it wasn't a vote because it wasn't run by the Australian Electoral Commission it was run by the Bureau of Statistics.

Hello MissRowy.

It will travel through parliament into legislation, in a blink of the eye.

The number of ministers in Parliament who support gay marriage, is over 80% from memory, it's a done deal.

 

[klutedavid]

Is it the same darkness over australia that caused this "destructive force against the family" as what has led to the graceless, dispassionate, treatment of potential refugees?

Sodom was punished because, in part, they were not welcoming of strangers....

Hello rambot.

I think Australia takes in far too many refugees.

 

[MissRowy]

Yes I agree klutedavid. However there will be some who don't quite understand how our political system works here.
And I agree with the refugees too. We are too darn nice

 

[creslaw]

There are business owners in Australia who have a religious objection to ssm who will now have to decide whether to violate their faith or to face the possibility of prosecution. It is a very sad day.

 

[buzuxi02]

I didn't vote on this plebiscite.

I'm done with this country.

I had no motivation to even try, its been obvious to me that this country wants to live by the law of the land, not the Law of God.

I'm the same way. I've walked away from "my" country (using the term my loosely of course). I have no real connection with it call me a sojourner, semi-nomad whatever. Have passport at hand and some savings perhaps ex-pat will be what im called someday

 

[rambot]

Hello rambot.

I think Australia takes in far too many refugees.

Well, you've made just as convincing an argument as I've seen thus far!

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

If one does not wish to be involved in any way in a same sex marriage, then don't.

Good luck with that. In the United States already several persons have been sued out of business for trying to do that very thing.

[Staff edit].

 

[GingerBeer]

I don't want to pull this thread further off topic so this will be my last post on the matter:
There is a lot of excuse making around welcoming people based solely on the contrived human invention of borders and nation states. God doesn't care about where people come from, nor does he allow excuses when it comes to helping others. A refugee comes from another country with NOTHING. Whether they are escaping persecution becomes irrelevant; they have NOTHING. Christians are NOT called on to ignore that.

We are called to a radical and dangerous love.

Many refugees do not come with "nothing" evidently they have enough money to pay $10,000 and more for a boat ride from Indonesia to Australia.

 

[I'm_Sorry]

I'm the same way. I've walked away from "my" country (using the term my loosely of course). I have no real connection with it call me a sojourner, semi-nomad whatever. Have passport at hand and some savings perhaps ex-pat will be what im called someday

Our home and our government is God, our Holy Father in our Holy Lord Christ Jesus.

We are sojourners in this world, strangers, here for a brief time.

Our Lord is preparing a place for us as we speak, in our Father's house through Christ Jesus our awesome Lord and saviour.

 

[Flash Gordon]

It only proves that our government system is of the Babylon kingdom which is fallen anyway, the problem is for churches that are yoked together with government. The promise of God is that you will be the head and not the tail, this promise cannot be obtain while being yoked with unbelievers.

 

[Paidiske]

There is no Established church in Australia.

 

[webslave]

As an Australian, I completely expected a "yes" majority.
While I personally think marriage is between a man and woman, I voted 'yes' simply because Jesus wanted equality from the outset. Call me an infidel all you want, but fairness, kindness and 'a fair go' are key tenets of Jesus, and for good reason. I'm not for persecuting others because our religion disagrees with their lifestyle. That belongs in places like Uganda and Saudi Arabia, not a Western developed democracy like Australia.

In the Marriage Act 1961, the definition of marriage is simply "a union between a man and woman to the exclusion of all others voluntarily entered into for life". It does not refer to religion, and is a simple secular definition, apart from the "man and woman" section that was dumped in by John Howard for political purposes.

Despite this, I fully support Senator Paterson's bill that allows priests and private enterprise to not allow service to gay people on religious grounds, because those people should not be forced to serve gay people with a gun to their head, as it conflicts with their religious beliefs. Religious freedoms need to be protected.

At the end of the day, the people have spoken, and Australia is not a theocracy, give section 116 of our constitution a good read and you'll see why.

"The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth."

 

[ViaCrucis]

[Staff edit].

You have every right as a private individual to have a problem wit homosexual persons. What you don't have the right is to enforce your personal values onto everyone else. As a public issue, that is, one that concerns the whole of society, the just thing is to promote equality under the law, and discriminating against certain persons is inherently unjust.

You are allowed to think gay people getting married is wrong. But a secular society is under no compulsion to adhere to your personal moral qualms. That's also why people who are opposed to interracial marriages are allowed to have a problem with it as an individual and to believe it is an abomination to God--but that has no bearing on the rules established in a secular society that is beholden to uphold its laws equally to all persons.

If you believe gay people shouldn't get married, then simple--don't get gay married.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[FireDragon76]

[Staff edit].

Jesus never married, in fact he suggested it might be better to never marry for the sake of the Kingdom of God. He also suggested perhaps the dead should bury themselves, downplaying the adherence to deep-rooted social customs.

"Family values" was the terrain of the pharisees more than Jesus, it seems.

 

[Episaw]

It’s indeed a sad day for Australia in that 61 percent of Australians have now voted to allow same-sex “marriage”. As 69.5 percent of the population voted in this non-compulsory plebiscite it means that the vast majority of Australians have failed to support the institution of the family.

This information is incorrect. Of all the Australians that could vote they only got 48.7% of the vote. The 61% did not take into account those that chose not to vote.

It is Ireland all over again where they only got 23% support from the people that could have voted.

 

[Episaw]

It's sad the civil rights of gay and lesbian Australians were left up to a popular vote.

No, they weren't as John Howard changed about 85 laws to bring homosexuals into line with everyone else.

Many homosexuals said they could not see what all the fuss was about as they had everything they wanted already.

 

[Episaw]

Millions die each year because of the collective greed of modern society. I think who marries who is one of the last things we need to worry about, especially so from a faith perspective.

How often do we read posts like this? Because A is more important than B then we don't have to worry about B.

Hmmm, so if giving to the poor is more important than not falling into sin, we don't have to worry about people if they fall into sin.