Without a doubt this will be the most controversial topic I have ever blogged about to date but this ought to be talked about because it is one of the topics that many of our politicians are debating about it. It strikes at the core of the values of the two opposing sides of the debate, the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender (GLBT) community and their advocates/allies, and the Religious Liberty community, which includes people of all faith and worldviews who do not endorse GLBT marriage. The GLBT side values equality, tolerance, privacy and the acceptance of all people. The Religious Liberty community values principle, truth, morality, and the traditional family. But both sides value one thing: free speech.
Now I know full well that at any time, anyone reading this can be an advocate/ally of GLBT marriage or may even be GLBT yourself. And so I must say: On behalf of those on the Religious Liberty side who have or do not understand the grace (underserved favor) and forgiveness of God, you deserve apologies and restitution for the horrific and inexcusable things and "hate crimes" which have been done to many of you throughout the ages, but especially in these days when you have "come out of the closet" or may not be GLBT but just not fit the male or female stereotype. All of the "hate cimes," the "anti-gay" protests and counter-protests at "gay pride" rallies and even at military funerals, and the GLBT bullying, are all anti-God, anti-Bible and anti-Christ. These things go against God's image of perfect love and Jesus' compassion that was modelled in the Gospels. The anti-gay sites on the Internet and on social networks are plain wrong. It's shocking, sickening and heartbreaking how GLBT bullying has become such an epidemic and how so many victims have been driven to bullycide through it. My guess is that one big reason that this targeted GLBT bullying has grown so bad today is that even in schools, students are "coming out of the closet" and living as openly GLBT. In my growing up years and before that, there was a definite code of silence about GLBT issues, just as there was about so many other things that we talk about today. So such bullying was not known and if it happened, there was no awareness about it.
We have definitely come a long way from the time when society frowned on homosexuality and on homosexuals. Today, they and anyone with sexual orientation differences are a protected minority group. I will boldly say that today it is less of a stigma to "come out of the closet" about being GLBT than it is to "come out of the closet" about invisible disabilities like many mental illnesses, autism, epilepsy and about other misunderstood medical or neurological conditions. I'm sure that this is because GLBT groups and individuals have tirelessly lobbied those in power, gaining influence; many celebrities have also added their voices to the effort. Today, it is "homophobia" that society frowns on but I fear that this word as well as the trem "hate speech" are used to crush any civil and rational debate on this topic.
We can blame many of our problems encouraging gay marriage as an alternative, to the failure of so many heterosexual marriages and families, along with a high divorce rate, domestic violence, child abuse and rebellious children. But heterosexual unions aren't to bame for these social evils; growing up without learning empathy and self-control are.The Religious Liberty side views all of this with grief and dismay and finds it easy to overreact and to view GLBT marriage as the threat to religious freedom. And GLBT people likewise see the other side as a threat to their cause. This means war!
The media have a lot of power in shaping our opinions. And so much of the media tell os half-truths or give us the news as based on their biases. So we hear much about what the GLBT community suffer at the hands of those who are identified with the Religious Liberty community. And let me make one things clear: There are many, many people who do not identify themselves either with GLBT people are with Religious Liberty people, so the majority of people are largely silent on this matter; it is not their priority either way. And there are many denominations which do openly support or tolerate GLBT lifestyles. This is my observation.
Today it's politically correct to cry foul whenever anyone dares to challenge alternate acts or lifestyles, whether they are GLBT, co-habitation (living together without being married), premarital sex, abortions or anything else that has become accepted in society but which goes against the core values of those in the Religious Liberty community. It's usually the unstable, emotionally immature but also stable, mature but opinionated people, who let discussions on controversial topics deteriorate into name-calling, shouting matches, bullying, personal attacks and even worse. Such individuals, who often make the headlines, give many in the religious Liberty community, who truly care about people, a bad name. Worse, they hurt God's Cause on earth. Sad.
The Religious Liberty community hold the Bible to be God's inspired Word to us. In it God says that He made us male and female so He instituted marriage so we can reflect His image. This is at the core of the Religious Libery's side of this debate. Yes, it's true that lots of evils have come out of male/female marriage but this isn't the fault of such marriages but of the people's failure to learn empathy or self-control. Yes, I know that this may not be a good enough reason for those who value other matters but this is God's reason.
It is not that God and the Religious Liberty people who understand God's love and grace, don't value tolerance, acceptance, privacy or equality. It's just that this community values truth and morality as most loving and in the best interests of all. And in all the talk about acceptance and tolerance, there is often no tolerance for or acceptance of Religious Liberty people who "come out of the closet" in both a loving and truthful way, about their beliefs. They are vilified as "homophobes" and "hatemongers" and worse. Tolerance and acceptance should be extended to both sides. And what is "homophobia"? It is the fear of anything GLBT. Talking about GLBT issues or challenging them as a lifestyle are not homphobia if this is done in a caring and loving way.
In both the Old and New Testament, God is silent on sexual orientation itself and on homosexual thoughts or feelings. He only grows vocal about acting on these just as He condemns hating or not accepting any peple, which includes GLBT people. God's words against GLBT lifestyles doesn't mean that God is homophobic or encourages homophobia. It's only through male/female unions that we can naturally procreate future generations and keep the human race going. This has been God's plan from the beginning and this has not changed. In gay marriage, unnatual forms of reproduction must be done to procreate.
Be assured that God, in the Bible, does NOT single out homosexuality as the only misuse of sexuality. He comes out against many other misuses of sexuality, including prostitution, incest, rape, premarital sex, adultery, bestiality, and more. And He comes out against divorce in male/female marriages over and over and as often about adultery. But what would be His position on legalized gay marriage? I think that He realizes that GLBT issues are an established fact in this culture that while it is NOT His ideal, that He has other priorities, such as our coming to know and love Him and to love others. It seems to me that He would tolerate legalized gay marriage more than He would much of the other social ills of this day. What about homosexuals adopting children? I think it is much better to grow up in a loving, stable home of a GLBT couple than with cold, unloving, abusive heterosexual parents. But God's ideal is for children to grow up in a loving, stable male/female union.
Are GLBT relations the business of society? I agree that it is NOT our business what our neighbors do in the privacy of their bedrooms and that as long as the people involved are not hurting or bothering us, we should leave them alone. But God also made GLBT people (and all of us) and what they (and we) do is His business. So no one can tell Him, "What I do in the privacy of my bedroom or anywhere else is any of Your business."
What about those who are sick and tired of the GLBT lifestyle, are trying to escape it and what about those who are trying to help and assist them in this most difficult process? Again, if we want to see tolerance and acceptance toward those in the GLBT community, we should have tolerance and acceptance toward this community, also a minority. What we need is tolerance and acceptance toward all people. When we controversial topics spawn hate and intolerance toward opposing sides we do not have this.
Scriptural verses that are uses in the GLBT/Religious Liberty debate:
Genesis 1:27--The purpose of marriage-Image of God in us as male and female as shown in marriage.
Genesis 2: 18-25-- " "
Genesis 1: 28 God's plan for natual procreation in marriage
Leviticus 18:22 God's words about homosexuality as a lifestyle (NOT a sexual orentation)
Matthew 19: 4 Jesus' words about God's plan for us as reflecting HIs image as male and famale in marriage
Mark 10: 16 " "
Romans 1: 26-27 God's words about homosexuality as a lifestyle (NOT a sexual orentation)
1 Corinthians 6: 9-11 " "
http://christiansnswers.net/
This is a website that is run by a pastor who lived a formerly homosexual lifestyle and found his way out of it. This site contains stories by men and women who lived formerly GLBT lifestyles and have found their way out. This pastor answers questions with faithfulness to Scripture and truth but also with sensitivity and compassion, as one who has been there.
http://courageerc.net/
This is a social networking site of members who are or have lived GLBT lifestyles and who want to escape. The site is run by Catholics who provide articles and posts which are marked by compassion and love as well as being true to Scriptural principles.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
About Valentine's Day and Love
The color red. Chocolate candy. Flowers. Hearts. Greeting cards. High expectations. Lots of big-time profits for many businesses selling these products. Dentists anticipating tooth damage from the effects of consumption of Valentine's Day sweets. I know that many people celebrate this day with gusto. Others do not. "This is the day for lovers." Today, I have been seeing one post after another of red images and sayings. And how do we so often show our love on this particular day? Buying sweets! We are in a mode where our traditions for one day mean additional business for dentists everywhere as well as florists and retail outlets.
But do we know the historical person who is behind this holiday? Do we know what this person was really all about? You may have heard about the historical missionary, St. Valentine, who served under severe religious persecution and was killed for his Christian faith. He served people in need. Indeed, he loved and showed it by the things he did. But what kind of love do we typically focus on during Valentine's Day?
The love that we focus on during this particular day is romantic love or "eros." Love between two people who are sexually attracted to each other and especially if they are married. Many of us celebrate our friends on this day. Friendship love is called "Phileos." In many households, parents see this day as being "for the children" and buy our candy and tokens for our children. But the love that St. Valentine lived as he served as a missionary is not any of these kinds of love. It is an unselfish, sacrificial, unconditional love known as "agape" love. This is the kind of love that moved God to send His Son to Earth to give His life for us humans, to reconcile us to Him. It is the love that moved Jesus to enter Earth, become the perfect God-Man, live a sinless life and die a horrific death in our place, and to rise again. God, therefore, is the Source of this love and also the Source of all other loves. Therefore, Valentine's Day is ultimately about God. St. Valentine, who was the historical figure behind this day, was only able to live and give this kind of unselfish, sacrificial love because he had a relationship with God through Christ and he drew his strength from God to love this way. Now I'm very sure that St. Valentine knew the other loves, for without these other loves we cannot advance to being able to trust God and love in this Godly way.
There is nothing wrong with these other, human loves. Parent/child love or "storge" love, is essential to any child's development and well-being and preferably if the love comes from both mom and dad. Sudies show that abuse and neglect, if bad enough and sustained enough, affect and alter the actual structure of a person's brain. And without the comfort, support and love of friends, real friends, loneliness often has devastating effects. I can tell you that from experience! So many suicides are motivated by loneliness, the awful feeling that one is really alone and not among friends, real friends. Romantic love? This is one love that is not essential to life for all people, but without it, we would not be motivated to mate, marry and bear children! We would have been extinct long ago! And this was, after all, God's idea and His way to reproduce and keep the human race going.
But there is a difference between these love and agape love, God's love. These other loves can fail or end. And they often do. This is the root of so many of our social ills. the failure to love well. Friendships, even real, deep friendships, can and do fail, sour or for some reason don't last. Years ago, I saw on a TV court case a lawsuit between two "ex-friends" who had been very close friends for decades, until one of the friends borrowed money and did not pay it back. Money and gossip often ruin even the best of friendships and other close or family relationships. I have seen this firsthand and it is sad. Monetary inheritances and squabbles over them often ruin family relationships. As we all know, romantic love fails over and over, even ending in betrayal and outright emnity, even murder. I don't think I need to go into the many high-profile marriages that have ended in murder. So many of our popular songs lament the sad fact that romantic love so often fails. An estimated 50 percent of all marriages are said to end in divorce. Parent/child love may be the most enduring love and oftten lasts through great odds. But it, too, often fails when lacks the resources or the maturity for the role or breaks down when the parent or the child does things that are detestable or even criminal.
But God's love is the love that never ends and never fails. It is first a commitment to do good for another person whatever the person's merit, response, or one's feelings. This love is a choice. It is not often sung about in popular music, which focuses, mostly, on romantic love. If you listen to so many of the words, you get the message that lovemaking is the ultimate form of love and that we can't live without it. There is nothing wrong with romantic love and the Bible even has a small Book in the Old Testament that is devoted to it, the Song of Solomon. This book celebrates the love between a bride and a groom. In the rest of the Bible, however, the the love the Bible talks about is agape love, God's love for us and the love that He wants us to practice.
There is another historical fact about St. Valentine. Experts on his life tell us that he was the "patron saint" of epilepsy, among other things. He is said to have served the sick and those with medical conditions. During ancient times, the diagnosis of epilepsy didn't exist and there was no concept of neurological conditions but there was much awareness and fear about demon possession. Therefore, it was easy to confuse seizures with the demonic activity. (And yes, I do believe in a personal Devil and in demons). It is unclear why St. Valentine took such an interest in epilepsy and it has been speculated on that he had epilepsy himself. Yes, other missionaries also served people with epilepsy but St. Valentine seemed to have outdone them in that area. Today, we have far more scientific knowledge and resources to deal with epilepsy and a host of other medical conditions and diseases. Therefore, like St. Valentine, we need to all do our part to add our voices to the effort to increase awareness about misunderstood and stigmatized medical conditions like epilepsy.
When I was growing up, I remember that Valentine's Day was a day when my popular peers got many Valentine's Day cards and other tokens and others of us didn't get nearly as many. I recall one instance where, in a middle school setting, some popular girls got many Valentine Day cars and tokens and made no secret of this. I glanced at it all and sighed, "I wonder how many Valentines I will get." A girl said, "Lisa! You ARE greedy!" Should Valentine's Day, or any other time which celebrates relationships, be about competition and who gets the most of things? I'm glad that, at least in the case of my daughter's school setting more recently, celebrating Valentine's Day has been handled differently in her elementary school setting. Things have been set up so that each child receives about the same amount of Valentine's Day cars and tokens; no one is left out or excluded. And isn't this what love is all about, including everyone?
There is nothing wrong with celebrating Valentine's Day (or any other holiday or special day) in the traditional, expected way for that particular day. There is also nothing wrong with choosing not to celebrate this day (or other special days) in the conventional and traditional way. And I wish each and every one of you a Happy Valentine's Day. But do not forget that the real Source of love is God, not Cupid.
http://www.stvalentines.net
This is a fun website with basic information about St. Valentine and fun acts about how this day is celebrated in many other countries. After you access this site, you need to click "St. Valentines. Net" to get into this website.
But do we know the historical person who is behind this holiday? Do we know what this person was really all about? You may have heard about the historical missionary, St. Valentine, who served under severe religious persecution and was killed for his Christian faith. He served people in need. Indeed, he loved and showed it by the things he did. But what kind of love do we typically focus on during Valentine's Day?
The love that we focus on during this particular day is romantic love or "eros." Love between two people who are sexually attracted to each other and especially if they are married. Many of us celebrate our friends on this day. Friendship love is called "Phileos." In many households, parents see this day as being "for the children" and buy our candy and tokens for our children. But the love that St. Valentine lived as he served as a missionary is not any of these kinds of love. It is an unselfish, sacrificial, unconditional love known as "agape" love. This is the kind of love that moved God to send His Son to Earth to give His life for us humans, to reconcile us to Him. It is the love that moved Jesus to enter Earth, become the perfect God-Man, live a sinless life and die a horrific death in our place, and to rise again. God, therefore, is the Source of this love and also the Source of all other loves. Therefore, Valentine's Day is ultimately about God. St. Valentine, who was the historical figure behind this day, was only able to live and give this kind of unselfish, sacrificial love because he had a relationship with God through Christ and he drew his strength from God to love this way. Now I'm very sure that St. Valentine knew the other loves, for without these other loves we cannot advance to being able to trust God and love in this Godly way.
There is nothing wrong with these other, human loves. Parent/child love or "storge" love, is essential to any child's development and well-being and preferably if the love comes from both mom and dad. Sudies show that abuse and neglect, if bad enough and sustained enough, affect and alter the actual structure of a person's brain. And without the comfort, support and love of friends, real friends, loneliness often has devastating effects. I can tell you that from experience! So many suicides are motivated by loneliness, the awful feeling that one is really alone and not among friends, real friends. Romantic love? This is one love that is not essential to life for all people, but without it, we would not be motivated to mate, marry and bear children! We would have been extinct long ago! And this was, after all, God's idea and His way to reproduce and keep the human race going.
But there is a difference between these love and agape love, God's love. These other loves can fail or end. And they often do. This is the root of so many of our social ills. the failure to love well. Friendships, even real, deep friendships, can and do fail, sour or for some reason don't last. Years ago, I saw on a TV court case a lawsuit between two "ex-friends" who had been very close friends for decades, until one of the friends borrowed money and did not pay it back. Money and gossip often ruin even the best of friendships and other close or family relationships. I have seen this firsthand and it is sad. Monetary inheritances and squabbles over them often ruin family relationships. As we all know, romantic love fails over and over, even ending in betrayal and outright emnity, even murder. I don't think I need to go into the many high-profile marriages that have ended in murder. So many of our popular songs lament the sad fact that romantic love so often fails. An estimated 50 percent of all marriages are said to end in divorce. Parent/child love may be the most enduring love and oftten lasts through great odds. But it, too, often fails when lacks the resources or the maturity for the role or breaks down when the parent or the child does things that are detestable or even criminal.
But God's love is the love that never ends and never fails. It is first a commitment to do good for another person whatever the person's merit, response, or one's feelings. This love is a choice. It is not often sung about in popular music, which focuses, mostly, on romantic love. If you listen to so many of the words, you get the message that lovemaking is the ultimate form of love and that we can't live without it. There is nothing wrong with romantic love and the Bible even has a small Book in the Old Testament that is devoted to it, the Song of Solomon. This book celebrates the love between a bride and a groom. In the rest of the Bible, however, the the love the Bible talks about is agape love, God's love for us and the love that He wants us to practice.
There is another historical fact about St. Valentine. Experts on his life tell us that he was the "patron saint" of epilepsy, among other things. He is said to have served the sick and those with medical conditions. During ancient times, the diagnosis of epilepsy didn't exist and there was no concept of neurological conditions but there was much awareness and fear about demon possession. Therefore, it was easy to confuse seizures with the demonic activity. (And yes, I do believe in a personal Devil and in demons). It is unclear why St. Valentine took such an interest in epilepsy and it has been speculated on that he had epilepsy himself. Yes, other missionaries also served people with epilepsy but St. Valentine seemed to have outdone them in that area. Today, we have far more scientific knowledge and resources to deal with epilepsy and a host of other medical conditions and diseases. Therefore, like St. Valentine, we need to all do our part to add our voices to the effort to increase awareness about misunderstood and stigmatized medical conditions like epilepsy.
When I was growing up, I remember that Valentine's Day was a day when my popular peers got many Valentine's Day cards and other tokens and others of us didn't get nearly as many. I recall one instance where, in a middle school setting, some popular girls got many Valentine Day cars and tokens and made no secret of this. I glanced at it all and sighed, "I wonder how many Valentines I will get." A girl said, "Lisa! You ARE greedy!" Should Valentine's Day, or any other time which celebrates relationships, be about competition and who gets the most of things? I'm glad that, at least in the case of my daughter's school setting more recently, celebrating Valentine's Day has been handled differently in her elementary school setting. Things have been set up so that each child receives about the same amount of Valentine's Day cars and tokens; no one is left out or excluded. And isn't this what love is all about, including everyone?
There is nothing wrong with celebrating Valentine's Day (or any other holiday or special day) in the traditional, expected way for that particular day. There is also nothing wrong with choosing not to celebrate this day (or other special days) in the conventional and traditional way. And I wish each and every one of you a Happy Valentine's Day. But do not forget that the real Source of love is God, not Cupid.
http://www.stvalentines.net
This is a fun website with basic information about St. Valentine and fun acts about how this day is celebrated in many other countries. After you access this site, you need to click "St. Valentines. Net" to get into this website.
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