Last Sunday, Pastor Jim Garlow at Skyline Church in La Mesa invited 4 speakers to address the issue of gay marriage. Bishop Gene Robinson and and Dr. John Corvino spoke in support of it, and Dr. Rob Gagnon and Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, spoke against it.
As a society, we are more comfortable with and accepting of, violence, death, war than with sexuality. We are totally conflicted about sex. Sex deals with the affirmation of life. Our values are all upside down!
What is Homosexuality? A sexual relationship between 2 consenting adults (not so scary). What is marriage? A public, legal commitment between 2 adult persons to mutually love, honor, cherish each other. Committed, stable relationships are good for the individuals as well as for society. As Gene Robinson said, homosexual persons do not want to redefine marriage, they only want to be able to participate in it.
History: All the theological arguments used against homosexual marriage were used against interracial marriage. God did not mean for the races to mix - It was “un-natural” and would ruin the natural order of things And the whole world would come to ruin.
An example of this was given at the end of our forum, which I personally found to be very shocking and insulting - It was implied by Dr. Gagnon that if society accepts homosexual marriage, the next thing that will be approved will be incest and polygamy. In fact, incest (see history of English Kings) and polygamy (see old testament) have existed for eons, and exist even now Before homosexual marriage has been approved, So we can’t blame homosexual persons for incest or polygamy.
Re: Argument by Dr. Jennifer Morse that it would redefine "natural" relationships, and cause enormous bureaucratic work to change all paperwork to non-gender specification. The same could be said when slavery was abolished and slaves were redefined as persons - Or women were given voting rights, protection against domestic violence, the right to divorce, custody rights, inheritance rights, credit, etc. Or African Americans given civil rights. "Natural" relationships, rights were indeed re-defined and all outmoded paperwork, updated.
Re: attaching rights to non-biological parents and changing “natural parent” classification To “legal parent” Does this not already happen with foster children, Adoptions, and step parents?
Rob G talked about Jesus intensifying sexual ethics What does this say about his mother, Mary? Mary was certainly the exception to sexual laws of her day. She was a single pregnant teenager who could have easily been stoned to death in her society - (as is still happening today in parts of the world) Suffice it to say, that Jesus would have been Born outside of wedlock, except that Joseph agreed to marry Jesus’ mother and thus became step father to Jesus. Sounds pretty radical in the patriarchal society of that day. (not so much today)
Mysteries: what was relationship between two women Ruth and Naomi - Ruth's words of love to Naomi are today perceived as one of the most beautiful and profound pledges of love and are used in heterosexual wedding ceremonies – King David and Jonathan - Jesus and His “Beloved disciple” - What are we to make of these relationships? Some suggest that Jesus was the groom when he turned water into wine, because it was up to the groom to provide the wine….
What I heard tonight was a lot of legalism - But, Jesus was not a legalist - In fact, Christ was a radical pacifist, That challenged all the accepted mores Of his culture - He turned them upside down - He rejected legalism and violence In favor of love, compassion, mercy, equity. He transcended boundaries of race, ethnicity Gender, class, age, custom, etc.
Somehow the church has lost its bearings - It proclaims Christ Yet breaks and ignores his commandments On every level - most shockingly in the areas of life and death . In the past, if you asked Christian parents, what would be worse if your child came and told you they had joined the military or if your child said they had been sexually active. most parents would angrily say it was worse for a child to be sexually active.
Finally, I do agree with Rob G. That perhaps God is performing a re-alignment of the church A new Reformation -The same as happened during the abolition of slavery, Equal, civil and voting rights for African Americans, women, And other oppressed, marginal groups. The churches split back then also. How is one to determine which side to choose? Jesus said by their fruits you will know them. Love, Equity, Compassion, Justice, Mercy, Just to mention a few
How are we to live?
Love God, self, neighbor and enemy.
Treat others the way we want to be treated.
Everything we do to others, we do onto God/Christ.
We'll be publishing more thoughts about the Skyline event over the next few days (to read them all, click here).
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