(Below is a pair of dialogues between two individuals of diametrically opposite extremes with regards to their perspective on government role in marriage and America's tolerance towards those of other faith opposed to Christianity. My take is not strictly a conservative perspective, but also very heavily libertarian in context. If you know me well from the nearly seven or eight months I have periodically posted articles here, you will see that my positions are almost obsessively-compulsive in their extreme consistencies. That being said, enjoy reading the two very entertaining dialogues akin to the era of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister of Great Britain when she schooled Neil Kinnock so completely and on a regular basis during the Prime Minister's Question Time.
(The one, the only "El Rushbo"!)
Rush Limbaugh's Post: I don't care what somebody's sexual orientation is. I don't care what their race is. I do not group people that way, nor do I want to take advantage of people by making them groups or victims. I want everybody to be as self-reliant as they can be, be as educated as they can be, 'cause that's how we're gonna have a great country.
#1. Darwin Gutierrez: Wow. Can't believe this actually came out of a republican's mouth!
My Reply: Believe it, Darwin, because a poll fairly recently administered recorded that 52% of Republicans favor some form of same-sex union. I myself believe the government should completely renounce itself from all authority over the issue of marriage, which is what Oklahoma is doing, and rightfully so. If a set sectarian religion wishes to abstain from recognizing same-sex marriage due to its religious beliefs amid its interpretations, that is their right as part of the First Amendment portion pertaining to "the free exercise of one's religion." There are religious sectarians however who do and will recognize same-sex marriage, so if said couples truly wish to be recognized in holy matrimony under God, they may find any church they so wish to perform the ceremony.
However, for the Left, this really is a completely foreign concept! They don't like it when the people enjoy liberty! It might mean that by cutting government out of marriage entirely that the Marriage Tax would therefore be forcibly dissolved! What would Obama and the Democrats do without squeezing every last penny they may from the people's wallets? Oh the marvels of political upside one may derive when a real solution involving human freedom and liberty is posited as a solution!
______________________________________________________________________________________
#2 Melissa Jones Callis: NO, Rush. Absolutely NOT. The way this country became great was that GOD was the LEADER of the country. People prayed to, and worshiped, HIM. Not Allah, not Mohammed, not Buddha. Jehovah, the one true God, is the One who can make this country flourish.
My Reply: Melissa, America was indeed founded upon the principles God set forth. In fact, the nation was founded for the reasons of God, glory, and gold, or what a high school history teacher will teach to the class upon the first day of instruction. Along with this concept was the manner in which you choose to worship, and that is guaranteed within the First Amendment's clause for "right to the free exercise of religion." As such, every person is beautiful under the Judeo-Christian God, even those sinners. God flooded the world due to the gross presence of sin in the world, and the world had already fallen to its Death upon Eve opting to fall into temptation by eating the forbidden fruit. At that point, according to which denomination or sectarian you adhere, all humanity was sentenced to die due to all being born of Sin. Adam and Eve manifested Sin because of the serpent, and it would take a messianic figure to save humanity for future generations.
What I want to know with regards to Christian dogma from you, Melissa, is who gets to decide which people are to be forgiven for Sin if he or she has given his or her life to Christ? Is it you? It is true that The Bible stated that is "an abomination" for one man to lay with another, presumably having sexual intercourse, and I believe having researched this issue thoroughly, there is no true consensus with regards to this issue biblically. For your benefit and to convince you that I am not lying, I will place before you the link to 25 references with regards to the issue of homosexuality. There are numerous interpretations::
(Edit from February 4, 2014: Below will be each verse from The Bible commenting on the subject of homosexuality.)
Leviticus 18:22 ESV / 294 helpful votes
You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ESV / 274 helpful votes
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. 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.
Romans 1:26-28 ESV / 242 helpful votes
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Romans 13:8-10 ESV / 223 helpful votes
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Isaiah 56:3-5 ESV / 202 helpful votes
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
Matthew 19:11-12 ESV / 189 helpful votes
But he said to them, “Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”
1 Timothy 1:10 ESV / 125 helpful votes
The sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars,
perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine,
Leviticus 20:13 ESV / 103 helpful votes
If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
Mark 10:6-9 ESV / 88 helpful votes
But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
1 Corinthians 7:2 ESV / 87 helpful votes
But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
James 4:12 ESV / 71 helpful votes
There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
1 Corinthians 7:7-9 ESV / 63 helpful votes
I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
Romans 1:32 ESV / 62 helpful votes
Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Hebrews 13:1-25 ESV / 61 helpful votes
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
John 8:7-11 ESV / 56 helpful votes
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
1 Timothy 5:8 ESV / 52 helpful votes
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Timothy 1:10-11 ESV / 51 helpful votes
The sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
Galatians 5:14 ESV / 50 helpful votes
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Galatians 3:28 ESV / 50 helpful votes
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 22:39 ESV / 48 helpful votes
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Genesis 19:1-38 ESV / 47 helpful votes
The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed himself with his face to the earth and said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night in the town square.” But he pressed them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house. And he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them.”
Matthew 7:12 ESV / 46 helpful votes
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
1 Kings 14:24 ESV / 46 helpful votes
And there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations that the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
Jude 1:7 ESV / 43 helpful votes
Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Judges 19:22 ESV / 22 helpful votes
As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, worthless fellows, surrounded the house, beating on the door. And they
said to the old man, the master of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may know him.”
************************************************************************
My favorite verse to one and all is John 8:7-11, which is perhaps the important line of the entire with regards to how one treats his or her fellow man if that individual is found to be in violation of a codified law, or in this case, Sin:
My favorite verse to one and all is John 8:7-11, which is perhaps the important line of the entire with regards to how one treats his or her fellow man if that individual is found to be in violation of a codified law, or in this case, Sin:
"Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone at her."
- Jesus Christ, The One True Savior and Lawgiver of Mankind
Sin is sin; God considers the murder of another to be akin to murderous thoughts in the mind. If you have never sinned, Melissa, or if anyone else is perfect, please behoove one and all by letting others know of your perfection. If all sin is the same in the eyes of God, does that not make homosexuality the same? And furthermore, as homosexuality is a sin and Jesus stated that one should not judge others as each individual is his or herself a sinner, what right does the layperson, you, have to socially ostracize and castigate individuals when that is true? The Bible is filled with those 25 verses which in some manner regarding the biblical laws regarding homosexuality, which indeed suggests it to be punishable by death, and what Jesus said about sin in general, which essentially states to not judge those who are in every relevant manner equal to you.
If you cannot accept what Jesus stated to be true and you assume all other figures to be correct instead, would that not entail that you are listening to false prophets since the majority of these verses imply some form of severe, draconian punishment as these other mouthpieces of The Word of God are only finite and fallible? I suppose if this is true, you really are not a good Christian. Jesus forgives and will save everyone who accepts Him into their lives. And, as a person who would deny others the legal right to not be judged based upon one's lifestyle in the bedroom and amid the amorous activities, but also because they do not worship as do the majority of Americans, you are judging them based again upon what Jesus stated for followers to not do. All people have prejudices, and that is natural. To act upon them is something else entirely. Government has no place in any form of regulating religion, how one worships, and furthermore, the rite of marriage.
No comments:
Post a Comment