Well, I'm in between a rock and a hard place. North Carolina amendment 1 is up for vote tomorrow. You either have to be for it or against it; I guess like Rush says, even if you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
Here's my problem. And, I guess it's the problem with a lot of the LGBT hubbub we run into. It is SO, SO, SO binary.
I normally like binary. There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't. being an engineer I am, of course, in category 0. Not in this case though. Feelings, interpretations and explications are not binary. If they were, then there wouldn't be so many different denominations and so many people would not get so rich writing about how gays are wrong/right, gay marriage is wrong/right, love the sinner, love the sin, whatever!! Fill in the string with YOUR favorite aphorism.
Engineers do not have a binary version of the Bible. Yeah, some of the redneck SOBs (Sweet Old Boys, of course) preach infallibility of the "King James Bible." These same guys do not realize that there really isn't a true King James Bible, it is the Authorized Version (actually the Authorised Version) and that there are well over 200 blatant errors well documented throughout Christendom and respected by anyone who actually thinks.
Don't get me wrong. God's word is complete, inerrant and infallible as far as I am concerned. This is a logically defensible binary conclusion for me. Don't debate it off of this post - been through it so many times I am tired of writing about it. But, what the complete, inerrant and infallible Word tells me is really open to interpretation.
My rule 1: scripture interprets scripture. So when I pull out a verse that says if a man has sex with a donkey they should both be put to death I need to read a few verses before and after and cross-referencing from there to get a good idea of what I am talking about.
Rule, or observation, 2: My Bible does not have the terms gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual, queer, dyke, pimp (well, maybe indirectly) - you get the idea. When I read my Bible, I try really hard to decide what the words say to me and how they affect how I should live (thank you Chuck Colson - How Now Shall We Live?). How should you live? I haven't found that in my Bible yet, that is up to you to find.
Rule 3: Wuv, twue wuv, is what bwings us together. In history, when Buttercup was lined up with Humperdinck, it was in a church. It was not in a city hall. It was not in front of Congress or a court. It was a church and they were being treated by that church in accordance with that church's practices and doctrine. (Hate to use the word doctrine, opens up a can of worms. Only way to get rid of a can of worms is to get a bigger can). Marriage has always been a religious thing, up until sometime in the 1800s, and probably the late 1800s. The government, in its infinite wisdom and knowledge that they can tell us how to live better than we can tell ourselves, and, of course, finding a nice new way to make more money, started doing this marriage license and registration thing. Think of it. The first thing they did is start taxing married couples more than singles, right?
Rule 4: My church's belief and interpretation about homosexuality and marriage is NOT your church's (unless we go to the same church, and maybe not even then) and vice versa. As Steven Curtis Chapman said:
I believe there's a God who knows my name
And a son who died to take the blame
I believe Jesus is comin' back
Promises are promises and facts are facts
And then, as the EPA says, your mileage may vary as will your driving habits.
So, after all is said and done, I am not what is known as "gay embracing." Neither do I consider myself what is called homophobic, although a lot of people probably would. For the record: my Bible tells me that homosexual behavior is a sin. My Bible also tells me that being fat is a sin. Finally my Bible tells me that sin is sin, pick one, any one, it's just as good/bad as any other. So, I'm fat. That's enough, I'm a sinner. Tell the government to shut up about obesity, please, while I tell them to shut up about gay marriage. It's not up to them. It's up to we the people. Or it still was the last time I read the Constitution.
No comments:
Post a Comment