The other day, I read a blog post by a girl who claimed to be a Christian, but then proceeded to defend gay "marriage." (If you're wondering, I put quote marks around marriage because marriage as ordained by God is between one man and one woman, which means that same sex marriage is in fact, not marriage.) You can read the post here: http://fictionandtea.blogspot.com/2015/06/love-wins.html
After reading it, I began to write a comment outlining some of the things I disagreed with, while trying to be polite. Well, I ended up writing a little more than I expected, and when I was finished, my comment was so long that it wasn't able to be published, so I emailed it to the author (Bethan) instead. She hasn't responded yet.
My sister requested that I share my comment on my blog, so that is what I'm doing now. Make sure to read Bethan's post, and also the comments, to fully understand what I said in response. I wrote it kind of with the assumption in the background that she is a Christian, since she said that. However, I do not really think she is.
Without further ado, here is my somewhat scattered response to Bethan's post, "Love Wins."
"Hey, I found your blog through http://bananaandbear.blogspot.
I wanted to comment just a few things that I disagree with you on, but please don't think that I'm trying to be mean or anything like that. I respect your opinion as a fellow human being made in the image of God.
1. God's Word does not have any contradictions in it. It was breathed out by God to chosen men who were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and it therefore has no errors in it, in it's original text. Translations may have some grammatical errors and such, but the original writings have no error whatsoever. Indeed, there are many instances where it seems like there are contradictions, but if you dig deeper into to original meaning etc., there are none.
2. God clearly states in the Bible that it is sinful and punishable by death to be a homosexual. You mentioned that nowadays, it would be socially unacceptable to burn someone at the stakes for that, and that's true, but it is because Jesus has already paid the price. He paid the price for our sin by His death on the cross. If we repent of our sin and turn from it, we have life, but those who will not turn from their sin will be cast into the lake of fire. I don't mean to be snooty or anything. But that's what will happen to those that don't put their trust in Jesus and turn from their sin. Continuing to live as a gay without even a desire to kill that sin is basically telling God that He can't tell you what to do (I'm saying you generally, not you personally).
3. "Loving freely," as you put it, is not actually loving freely, because it is going against what God has ordained, so it is really imprisonment, whether it feels like it or not. It is so freeing to live in the light of Christ, no matter how hindering it seems to the world's eyes. The world's vision is clouded because they don't have the light of Christ - they are living in darkness.
4. I am totally against discrimination [as the word is used today]. It is not looked on favorably by God at all. However, I do think it is very important that we address this issue with gays. Not get in their faces and force them by violence to give up their sinful practices. Our job is to love them the way Christ loves, and then by that, lead them to Christ, by His grace. It is never an option to discriminate against them because of their different beliefs. As for the blacks and whites marrying thing you were talking about, I do not believe that is wrong. What's wrong is when someone has any sort of romantic inclinations toward someone of the same sex.
5. In the Bible, women are NOT seen as inferior. A lot of people make that mistake. As my old pastor said, Christianity is the only religion where women and men ARE equal. People get tripped up because men and women have different roles. Equally important roles! When Paul says in Ephesians 5:22, "22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything," he's not saying that a man can make his wife do whatever he wants because he rules over her. No, he is to love, care for and guide her in the same way that Christ loves the church. In fact, right after that, Paul says, "25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing[a] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies." The husband is not to rule over the wife like a slave master or something like that. He is to care for her, love her, so that he is continually improving her, and cleansing her. In turn, the wife is to submit to him as to Christ. The husband should love the wife in a way that makes the wife love to love him! The same goes for the wife - that she should love him in a way that makes him love to love her!
6. People are not "born gay." It is a choice to go against God's law, whether or not it feels like it. God created us male and female, with the "instinct," if you will, to be attracted to the opposite gender. That is God's perfect design. When one tries to go against that, they are breaking God's law. In addition, when you support this in any way, you are breaking His law. Going back to His perfect design, men and women are not the same! He created us different, with different strengths and abilities! It was His plan that men be attracted to women and vice versa. It is right and good for that to happen! It's true that we cannot control our race, gender, or things we were born with. We are born either male or female, and we cannot change or control that. But we can control our thoughts. Being gay is a brain thing, not a genetic, out-of-your-control thing.
7. Yes, as Christians we do strive to love unconditionally, but that does not mean that we let people wallow in their sin! That is not loving them! Loving is hard to do sometimes, and it takes guts. When you claim to love someone by letting them "believe what they believe," and not bothering them about it, what you are actually doing is letting Satan get a firmer hold on their soul. You are bringing them closer to eternity in hell. That is a scary thought. True love would be to bring their sin to their attention so that they may turn from it and turn to God. Jesus loved us unconditionally by dying for our sins - when we hated him! He didn't say we had to do anything to earn His love, He did it willingly. He didn't love us by just letting us wander wherever we wanted. That wouldn't be love!
I'm sorry, I didn't really mean to go this long. I just wanted to point out a few things I noticed that I [heartily] disagree on. The things I said weren't really in any particular order. And again, please don't take this as offensive or mean. I want you to know where I stand, just like you want people to know where you stand.
~Maggie "
I wrote that late at night, with minimal or no editing, and that's why it's kind of all over the place.
I would also like to add that if you are truly a Christian, it means that you have repented, and are now striving, by God's grace, to turn away from sin and the ways of the world, and to more and more conform to the image of Christ. The Bible clearly states that homosexuality is a sin. Therefore, to agree with it or support it in any way is to turn away from God, which is, obviously, not Christlike. Now, that is not to say that Christians don't sin. Ha, far from it! But as Christians, we have a new life in Christ, and ought to be constantly working to kill sin. In this present world, there will always be sin, and there's nothing we can do about that, but Jesus will carry us through when we do sin.
You are welcome to comment with your own thoughts on this subject, or anything I missed. Just remember to keep your comments respectful and polite. Thank you!
