So, I'm from California. Born and breed right here, I have the best of everything. From the sun, to the rain, from beaches to deserts to mountains, I have it all. And I love living here. But lately, my beloved California has become the center of much controversy, specifically with the recent Supreme Courts ruling that the ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional.
I felt the need to respond to those of you out there who are calling us, people who believe that gay marriage is wrong, haters and bible-thumpers. Let me just be sure that you understand that I am not choosing to condemn here. I am merely pointing out fact and a few thoughts. I will quote bible. I will tell you exactly what I believe about homosexuality. But please, do not judge or condemn me until you yourselves have read and contemplated our side of this debate. So, here goes:
In Leviticus, on 2 separate occasions, God tells Moses specifically that homosexuality is detestable:
Leviticus 20:13: If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
Leviticus 18:22: Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
For those who believe that the Old Testament no longer is valid, in Romans, it says almost the exact same thing:
Romans 1:27: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
Would you condemn us for a belief that has been passed down for thousands of years? Something so ingrained in us that we have no choice but to fight for what we believe to be right?
This does not mean that I do not stand for tolerance. I have no problem with the gay and lesbian community. Most of them strike me as nice, and I even have a few gay friends. It seems this excuse is used more often then not, but it is the truth.
In all instances, be it murder, thievery, adultery, and yes, even homosexuality, we are called by Jesus to love the sinner and hate the sin. Does this make us haters creating hate-laws? Not if we love the sinner.
Look at this way: Read Leviticus 20:13 again: If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
There is no blood on our hands...I don't see a bunch of bible-thumpers rushing to San Fransisco or Hill Crest and stoning anybody, do you?
Many argue that the Constitution does not have say anything about marriage, as well as citing Separation of Church and State as a by-word for the illegality of the law that California. I will not rant on it here, but please see my blog entry entitled "Separation of What?" and it will explain further why this is not a valid argument.
But allow me to address this issue anyway. The Framers of the Constitution, no matter how they try to tell you, came from a religious background founded on the Bible. History books today will tell you that some were Agnostic, some were Deist and so on and so forth. Let me remind you that even if this were so, psychologists tell us that what we learn in our early life stays with us into our old age. This is to say that in a society where everyone was a church-goer, and reading lessons came from the Bible, it was unlikely that a person did not have some moral and religious knowledge. Homosexuality was never a question to them. It was wrong to them, simply because of the scriptures mentioned above. Why would they put something that everyone knew into a document on how to run a government? That would be like saying don't forget to breath. It was that ingrained into them. That aside, "half of writing history is hiding the truth" (Serenity).
Anyway, my main point is that most of us don't have a problem with the people themselves. Or even their lifestyles, because we love the people. Its when you try to change laws that go against our very nature and belief system, our very foundation of government, that we begin to fight.
Would you condemn us for that?
