Equal Marriage; Just Plain Wrong.
Today,
both in the United Kingdom and other Countries, we face the challenge in the
name of Equality and Tolerance to allow same sex marriage (the marriage of a
man to another man or the marriage of a woman to another woman) the equal
standing in society that marriage between a man and a woman or a woman and a
man has in the 21st Century.
Yet
those calling for Equality and Tolerance, only believe that their view and
understanding of Equality and Tolerance is the only valid view and supersedes
the understanding of both Equality and Tolerance of those Groups such as
Christians that disagree with their view and understanding, rather than an open
and honest debate and discussion, they have decided to demonize those who’s
views and understanding of Equality and Tolerance differ from theirs, and
criticize and condemn them for not showing or agreeing to both Equality and
Tolerance, this is indeed a lack of Equality and Tolerance, for by calling
those groups who differ from them In-tolerant etc, they themselves have done exactly what they accuse other groups of!
In
recent days, I have followed the
on-going debate in today’s media both in favour and against same sex marriage
and have examined the evidence and have researched the different perspectives
and I believe that our standard and indeed our bench mark for all practices
that we the Church hold, is God’s
Word The Bible. It is quite easy to be
influenced by the opinions and perspectives of others.
Romans
12:1-2 the Message
1-2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday,
ordinary life—you’re sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around
life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is
the best thing you can do for him.
Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even
thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside
out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.
Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of
immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed
maturity in you.
I’m on Facebook, which I think is one of the best sources of both news and information available on-line and I subscribe to various news feeds . I read with interest and a high level of disappointment and article on Lib Dem Voice by Steve Gilbert is Liberal Democrat MP for St Austell and Newquay. “Church Opposition to Gay Marriage is intolerant, out of touch and wrong.”
Mr. Gilbert has quoted that societies in the past such as Ancient China and Ancient Rome allowed Gay Marriage; if we followed the example of these societies today we would still have Slavery and The Death Penalty for various Crimes. So if we follow the Example of Ancient Rome and all that is involved in that in allowing Gay Marriage shouldn’t we also allow Slavery and turn Wembley Arena into a 21st Century version of the Coliseum at
-
To understand why Mr. Gilbert mentioned that practices of Ancient Rome and Ancient China, I decided to examine the evidence and have discovered the following on Wikipedia. (Although Wikipedia is not infallible)
“Various
types of same-sex marriages have existed, [52] ranging
from informal, unsanctioned relationships to highly ritualized unions.[53]
In
the southern Chinese province of Fijian
An
example of egalitarian male domestic partnership from the early Zhou Dynasty period
of China
The
first historical mention of the performance of same-sex marriages occurred
during the early Roman Empire.[57] For
instance, Emperor is reported to
have engaged in a marriage ceremony with one of his male slaves. Emperor Elagabalus "married" a Carian slave named Hierocles.[58] It
should be noted, however, that conubium existed only between a civis
Romanus and a civis
Romana (that is, between a
male Roman citizen and a female Roman citizen), so that a so-called marriage
between two Roman males (or with a slave) would have no legal standing in Roman
law (apart, presumably, from the arbitrary will of the emperor in the two
aforementioned cases).[59] Furthermore,
"matrimonium is an institution involving a mother, mater.
The idea implicit in the word is that a man takes a woman in marriage, in
matrimonium ducere, so that he may have children by her."[60] Still,
the lack of legal validity notwithstanding, there is a consensus among modern
historians that same-sex relationships existed in ancient Rome
So
using the example that same sex marriage was common both in Ancient China and
Ancient Rome and had the same legal standing that marriage between a Man and a
Woman is not valid and indeed erroneous.
I
said earlier that our understanding of issues and our bench mark for all
practices should God’s Word the Bible, for example if The Bible supported the idea
that the Marriage Union between a Man and a Man and a Woman and Woman was equal
to the Marriage Union between a Man and a Woman it would say so, in the Bible
there is only one definition of Marriage and that is between a Man and a Woman
or a Woman and a Man. So if we believe
that the Bible is God’s Inspired Word we Christians shouldn’t support or agree
to a Marriage Ceremony or Union that doesn’t involve a Man marrying a
Woman or a Vice a Versa, lets us examine some scriptures on Marriage.
All Scripture Verses are from the English
Stand Version unless otherwise stated.
Genesis
2:20b-24
But for Adam[g] there was not found a
helper fit for him.21 so the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the
man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with
flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man
he made[h] into a woman and brought
her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out ofMan.
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of
24 Therefore a man
shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall
become one flesh.
Jeremiah 29:6
6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your
daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there,
and do not decrease.
1 Corinthians 7:2B
, each man should have his own wife and each
woman her own husband.
Ephesians 5:31-33
31 “Therefore
a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become
one flesh.” 32 This mystery is
profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let
each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects
her husband.
There
are of course many scriptures referring to the marriage between a Man and a
Woman, which space wouldn’t allow me to add, I’m sure that the above scriptures
will serve as a start to your own personal study.
Further
Reading
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