1/30/09
Mrs.White
1st period
Should homosexuals be allowed to get married? Yes. They should. Not allowing them to is the first step on the path to segregation. We need to allow everyone to marry, heck; even teenagers can marry with parental permission. And yes, some people say that we’re saving them from hell by not allowing them to marry, but that doesn’t make them any less gay.
My first argument is that denying gays to marry is only taking America back a step, away from human equality. Several American heroes, such as Martin Luther King Jr. fought hard for human equality. No, they weren’t just fighting for Afro-American rights, they were fighting for human rights. Gays are humans too, and denying them the right to marriage is extremely wrong, in the exact same manner that not allowing blacks to ride in the front of the bus is. Segregation is never the right answer, and not letting them marry is exactly that. We as American need to accept gays as people; otherwise we are only second best in the equality game, fronted only by Canada. Heretofore black people couldn’t marry white people, and presently gays cannot marry another gay person, therefore gays barely have it better than Afro-Americans used to.
Furthermore, people such as teenagers can marry. Why not gays? If people who cannot accept responsibility can marry, why can’t gays? People with mental disabilities can marry, and they (with no offence meant to my audience) cannot handle marriage as well as gays can. Two women could live, married, together happily as two men do the same next door, and across the street live the retarded couple and the teenage lovers. But for now the two gay couples have to look across the street longingly, hoping to one day be allowed to marry.
Going on, some people tell me things such as, “We are saving them from eternal damnation by not allowing them to get married.” but not allowing them to marry is not changing the fact that they are gay. There are many translations of the Bible, and a few of them do say that being gay is a sin; however, every translation says that Jesus died for our sins. Saying that being gay is being anti-God is extremely ignorant, for the only way to be anti-God is to be exactly that: anti-God. Sinning is in no way being anti-God and if it is, then every person in existence is anti-God because no person in the world has committed no sins.
In conclusion, arguing that gays should not marry is extremely wrong and only taking us a step back, gays cannot marry but people with less responsibility can, and saying that it’s against the bible is not changing their sexuality. Therefore I believe that gays should be allowed to marry.
God is love,
Ryan Dilks
Hi, I ran across you blog and think you have some really interesting things to say. I hope you don’t mind me commenting
ReplyDeleteIn your post you mention that “God is love” and you are absolutely correct! You also mention that “God loves gay people”, and in this you are also absolutely without a doubt correct in this as well! However, while God is love, and God loves gay people, and He came to earth to die for the sins of men, he did not atone or cover the sins of all men. This is where free will comes in. He atones or covers the sins of the people who choose to repent and follow Him. We choose whether we will spend our life in Christ and also with him in eternity or eternally separated from him by continuing to willfully choose sin over Him. We are told that we can spend eternity with Christ by turning from our sin, picking up our cross and following him as Matthew 10:38 states. It is only in this way that we can be reconciled to Him and spend eternity in His presence, when we are perfected through Him by accepting his atonement. This idea of turning and therefore denying ourselves isn’t any fun. We don’t’ like to deny ourselves or say “no” to the things that we like to do, whether it be sex, lying, stealing, gossiping, etc. The other part, that of taking up our cross, isn’t always fun either as it requires sacrifice, pain, purging and discomfort. But good thing for us, “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!”
Secondly, you mentioned that only some versions of the bible say that homosexuality is sin. This is incorrect. The bible is clear on this subject. While the exact word “homosexuality” or “gay” may not be used, key words such as “sodomy”, “sexual immorality”, “sexual perversion”, “lusts of the flesh” are used often as a lumping together of all sexual sin which is not limited to pre-marital sex between a man and a woman, but also includes, rape, incest, homosexuality and other sex acts. Here are some examples:
New King James
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals,[a] nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God
New International Version
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
New American Standard
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
The Message
Don't you realize that this is not the way to live? Unjust people who don't care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don't qualify as citizens in God's kingdom. A number of you know from experience what I'm talking about, for not so long ago you were on that list. Since then, you've been cleaned up and given a fresh start by Jesus, our Master, our Messiah, and by our God present in us, the Spirit. Just because something is technically legal doesn't mean that it's spiritually appropriate. If I went around doing whatever I thought I could get by with, I'd be a slave to my whims.
So you see a few different versions of the same set of verses which all say the same thing. Some are more “loose” or watered down in their translation from Greek to English, but they all state the God can and wants to save us from sin, and that all who are saved/atoned for, once were willful participants in the sinful activities mentioned. So you may also see that choosing to live a life of sin, whether it be a homosexual lifestyle, or a life of say…. Drunkenness or thievery is choosing to be “anti-God”. So we must turn from sin, pick up our cross, however heavy it may be and follow Him.
Thirdly, you mention that just because Christians vote against gay marriage doesn’t mean that people will stop being gay. This is correct, but that isn’t the purpose of voting. Voting is giving citizens the right to state where they stand on a certain issue. In doing so, they are SUPPOSED to vote according to their values, beliefs and convictions. The results of the polls are only an indicator of where the majority stands on an issue. We are not supposed to vote based o how we think other people might view us, or think of us.
And FINALLY, I encourage you to keep expressing yourself through writing. I enjoy reading what you have to say and you have a strong literary voice.