Gay Marriage: Where do you stand?

[acecadet24]

I don't know if this will spark lively debate but where do you stand on gay marriage? Personally, I'm conflicted with faith and gay friends. For example, I am a christian so I am oppose to gay marriage but I have quite a number of gay friends. It seems like for me it is a balance between being a friend of someone with a different lifestyle and following the teachings of the Bible. I have always heard the phrase "hate the sin, not the sinner." What do you say?

[msmoneybags48]

Gay people need love too.  But God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.  I do not agree with gay marriage, but I have people I am related to that are gay.  I have a female cousin who lives in Chicago, and she disclosed to me that she was gay; she was broke in by their babysitter at 7 years old.  I treat her no different than anyone else.  She has been with the same woman for over 20 years.  I have a niece who is gay, a nephew who became gay by no choice of his (he was molested from ages 5 through 7; his molester was sentenced to 16 years in prison and killed by another inmate.  He struggled with his sexuality for years, got a girlfriend, bought her a necklace, and she dumped him.  He is now full blown gay).  I do not believe you are born gay; it is something in your circumstances that lead you to believe you are that way.  Marrying your gay lover is your choice, but I don't see you having children because you cannot be impregnated by a woman, nor can a man be impregnated and have a baby, unless you are the pregnant man.

[lvstephanie]

That's why we have a separation of church and state. If your faith holds that homosexuality is a sin, then your church just won't allow / acknowledge homosexual marriages. But this has nothing to do with whether the state accepts homosexual marriage. If the state feels that it want to define the union of two people as being a marriage regardless of their sexual orientation, then it has the right to do so. However that separation of church and state goes both ways... This means that the state should not force churches to perform / sanction homosexual marriages either.

There is a picture going around FB that basically states how I feel... It shows a picture of an ascetic Jew and the caption reads "He doesn't believe in eating pork... But he isn't forcing me to stop eating bacon!"

[thtrngng]

I know that this is a sensitive topic and gay marriage is a controversial subject but I am a true believer of to each his own.

[erinelise2]

I think most people are born gay, not made gay.

As the comedian asked: Why shouldn't they have the same right to be as miserable as the rest of us married people?

[sigmapi1501]

Your CHURCH doesn't have to allow gay people to get married.  Your government should.  If you do not agree with this you are wrong.  This is not an opinion.  When you throw a ball in the air it comes down because of gravity. That is not an opinion.

[BlackSheepNY]

I haven't got a problem with gays wanting to marry - let them eat cake!

I haven't got a problem with you being proud of who or what you are.

I DO have a problem when they CONSTANTLY have to bring up the fact that they're gay.  Personally, I don't give a rat's ***.  It's not necessary, in my opinion, to try and twist anyone's arm to allow you to be you - just do it.  I also don't think that ANYONE deserves any "special" privileges because of what or who they are.  It should be the same for all of us, all around.

[paints]

I don't know if this will spark lively debate but where do you stand on gay marriage? Personally, I'm conflicted with faith and gay friends. For example, I am a christian so I am oppose to gay marriage but I have quite a number of gay friends. It seems like for me it is a balance between being a friend of someone with a different lifestyle and following the teachings of the Bible. I have always heard the phrase "hate the sin, not the sinner." What do you say?

Not my life. Not my business.

[Falconer02]

It seems like for me it is a balance between being a friend of someone with a different lifestyle and following the teachings of the Bible.

Then if you ever have a son, you should also practice this teaching because it's in the same chapter that says homosexuality is wrong-

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. Deuteronomy 21:18-21

Sure there's some stuff that's still good, but overall the bible is a primitive and outdated source for a moral compass in our current society. People try to justify illogical things such as condemning the basic rights of homosexuals when homosexuality is seen all over the animal kingdom. Not only that, but it's an overwhelmingly accepted action. Only humans have a problem with it. It's quite interesting that this behavior was made natural and yet your god condemns it. Talk about a malevolent quality.

Gay people need love too.  But God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.  I do not agree with gay marriage, but I have people I am related to that are gay.  I have a female cousin who lives in Chicago, and she disclosed to me that she was gay; she was broke in by their babysitter at 7 years old.  I treat her no different than anyone else.  She has been with the same woman for over 20 years.  I have a niece who is gay, a nephew who became gay by no choice of his (he was molested from ages 5 through 7; his molester was sentenced to 16 years in prison and killed by another inmate.  He struggled with his sexuality for years, got a girlfriend, bought her a necklace, and she dumped him.  He is now full blown gay).  I do not believe you are born gay; it is something in your circumstances that lead you to believe you are that way.  Marrying your gay lover is your choice, but I don't see you having children because you cannot be impregnated by a woman, nor can a man be impregnated and have a baby, unless you are the pregnant man. Huh? Huh? Huh? wave

Gay couples can adopt children or do the whole artificial insemination process. And if you believe nobody's born gay, you honestly think straight males and females just reach puberty and then choose to like the opposite sex? That's not how it works. It's the same with homosexuals. And I do enjoy your whole "had problems growing up, therefore gay" argument. The gay people I know had normal upbringings and still turned out gay. Some also dated women before they realized they were gay. It's normal behavior.

Your CHURCH doesn't have to allow gay people to get married.  Your government should.  If you do not agree with this you are wrong.  This is not an opinion.  When you throw a ball in the air it comes down because of gravity. That is not an opinion.

Not my life. Not my business.

I DO have a problem when they CONSTANTLY have to bring up the fact that they're gay.  Personally, I don't give a rat's ***.  It's not necessary, in my opinion, to try and twist anyone's arm to allow you to be you - just do it.  I also don't think that ANYONE deserves any "special" privileges because of what or who they are.  It should be the same for all of us, all around.

These are factual claims and rational opinions.

[claysherrod]

I do not feel that gay marriage is a immoral issue. I believe that instances in the Bible that speak against it have been misinterpreted over the years. For instance, What Paul talks about in Romans (I think) deals with more of a social structure than anything to do with sexuality. In fact, the term homosexuality was not even existent back during these days. It is known through Roman writings and other archaeological information that gay couples were indeed fluent and accepted amongst the society as long as one came from more of a dominant family and one came from more of a submissive family. The issue of Sodom and Gomorrah deals more with gang rape than any issue of sexuality. I think it simply comes down to the fact that people fear what they do not know, and label it as sin, the devil, you name it. I am studying to be a counselor in a local seminary and I assure you that gay marriage will NOT bring forth famine, pestilence, earthquakes and the anti-christ. If you study history a bit, the same things were being said over the ending of slavery, women gaining the right to vote and desegregation. Face it, there are people, Christians included, that live their lives against things that are stated in the Bible (if you interpret those things literally.) Plus, you go Old Testament and we shouldn't even be playing football...

I think sometimes common sense needs to be applied in studying spiritual truths. I think a monogamous relationship, no matter what two individuals are involved, is a beautiful and highly spiritual experience. For those who are stuck on literal intepretations of the the Bible, I would simply bring up something that Jesus said himself: "Think not that I have come to destroy the law and the prophets. I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Just think about it.

The "devil" is not in those that think and act differently than us. The "devil" is the fear we have in those that think and act differently than us.   

[bowrunner]

Marriage is between a man and a woman.  If gays get married it means virtually nothing except evidently it means a lot to them.

[nannycoe1]

Marriage is defined as a union between a man and a women. 

[sigmapi1501]

What to do with tax money, how much to tax, when a fetus becomes a person, how many bullets a gun can hold are all thing that can be debated.  Treating everyone like a human being is not.

[hvnlydevil]

So for it. Love is love. I am sick of everyone writing off love to church views. The whole Adam/Eve thing was to procreate, not about love. Defined as man vs woman-outdated thinking.

[sigmapi1501]

Quick bump.... just curious...  Does anyone that knows the Earth is more than 6,000 years old have an argument against same sex marriage?