Ive been wanting to write on this for a while. I feel strongly that, even though my side of the issue is possibly an unpopular point of view among Christians, that such has no barring on whether it is the right, or the christian thing to do.
In the year 2004, the State of Oregon proposed a ballot measure, that was created in order to stop same-sex unions in Oregon. Many measures like it had popped up all over the United States. While not a christian at this point, I felt that the measure was wrong. I couldn't help but think that it was not our place to decide whether or not others should be allowed to enter into a same sex union. What confused me a lot on the issue, was the reaction I received when I brought up around some of my friends that had been christian all their lives. I thought for certain that they would be against it, but they weren't. I usually received responses like “god defines marriage as between a man and a woman”. However, that sentence didn't seem to satisfy the issue.
Seven years later, I am a Christian, I've been saved, and yet my views on the matter haven't changed. I still find the thought of regulating who a person can marry as a disgusting thought. I have noticed however, that there is a sheer lack of responses often mentioned against measure 36, that are based on the bible itself. Here is mine.
To start into my belief on the matter, I would like to first talk a bit about C.S. Lewis's, “The Problem of Pain”. This book had been recommended to me by a college professor, after I had asked him a question that was preventing me from believing in god. The question was essentially “How can there be a loving god in a world with so much pain.
After reading the book, I noticed one main common theme. If we asked god to prevent us from taking actions that would harm us or others in some way, would we be asking for more love? The answer was repeated throughout the book. No, we would be asking for less love. God so loved us, that he gave us the ability to choose. We don’t have to follow him, but if we decide to, he is there with open arms.
God so loved us, that he gave us the freedom of choice.
This brings me to my main point. God loves us so much that he gives us the right to choose whether or not to follow him. He sent his only son to die on the cross so that we would have the ability to choose to have a relationship with him, and to inherit eternal life. However, now-a-days we seem to have taken it upon ourselves to force others to live what we would define as a good christian life.
Please don't miss understand what i'm saying. I am not debating whether or not same-sex marriage is wrong for a christian life of following god. The scripture seems clear enough to me.
What I am debating, is whether or not we as Christians have the right to, or even if we had the right to, if by preventing others from have same sex unions, we are acting in a way that Jesus would be proud of us. I don't think so, and think that he is saddened by the actions that the people who call themselves his disciples, have decided to take upon others.
In John 13:34-35 “34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” God commanded us to love one another, as he had loved us. That was his last command to his disciples before he was arrested and crucified.
And yet, the christian mainstream community has taken it upon themselves to not love others, but to attempt to force others to follow a christian life style. This is not love! As a friend of mine once reminded me “You don't have to love the sin, to love the sinner”. Tony Campolo, evangelical pastor, public speaker and author was quoted for saying the following.
“You don't have to legitimate someones lifestyle, to love that person, to be a brother or a sister to that person, and to stand up for that person.”
If your still curious, speak with me, or check out the movie "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers". It was on netflix last I checked.
Also if you have a different opinion, and find my logic flawed in some way, post a response or come talk to me. I really do want to know.
