Gay Marriage

I have spent a lot of time over the past few months contemplating the pros and cons of gay marriage. As a *Conservative*, it seems I am expected to automatically be against it. But it’s simply not that cut and dry for me. As a Christian, it is also expected that I would sign any petition passed my way against it. Again, not that cut and dry … and mostly it is because I am a Christian that I find it difficult to stand so opposed.

Here’s the thing … love is a really good thing. In fact, I would guess it is one of the greatest gifts God created within us … the ability to love another person so much that we would want to tie ourselves together permanently. I can not believe that God would create within people love for someone, and then be cruel enough to force them to live without that love. I could never condemn a homosexual person to a life without love and intimacy simply because the person they have fallen in love with is of the same sex.

Sexual immorality is performing intimate acts with someone you have not built a relationship with which is worthy of intimacy. There should be no physical intimacy where there is not emotional and spiritual intimacy. I do believe that acts of intimacy should be shared between people who have a permanent, monogamous relationship. Falling into bed with every person you date is sexual immorality, whether it is hetero or homosexual.

Marriage as a concept was around long before it became a religious act. In fact, it was originally conceived as a contract between adults, primarily for the sharing and combining of property. Father’s would promise their daughters in marriage to certain men in exchange for land or livestock … love was not often a consideration. The contracts were binding, whether they were blessed by a religious official or not. Modern times have changed the focus of marriage from contract to romance, and somewhere along the line, it became popular to invite God into the mix by having a priest or other religious person officiate the ceremony.

To take this contract agreement and deny same-sex couples the right to share and combine their property simply because a popularly held religious belief holds their relationships as sinful, is unfair. Our country strives, most often to its detriment, to separate church and state. In the area of same-sex marriage, consistency demands that religion have no place in the argument of combined property rights.

That having been said, I do not believe that any religious organization should be forced to recognize, nor give blessing to, a union it believes is sinful. In other words, if you are in a same-sex relationship and wish to be married, but your church does not allow it … go find a church that does. More and more open their doors and hearts daily to couples of every sexual orientation … there is no reason to stay within an organization which can not accept your sexuality.

It is my personal opinion that all judging should be done by God and God alone and not one of us still left on earth knows what His ultimate judgment will be. We are called to love one another, to treat each other as we would hope to be treated. Be the best, most loving person that you can be with the gifts God bestowed upon you, and leave judgment to the One who created us. Let those who love, LOVE.