It ends what some call "invidious sexual discrimination" based on sexual preference. They have compared this to two other major civil rights decisions: President Truman's de-segregation of the US Armed Forces in 1948, or the landmark decision of the US Supreme Court in Loving vs Virginia in 1967.
And in both of these cases I can clearly understand how these things serve to undermine the liberties we enjoy here in the United States.
However, the whole issue with homosexuality pulls me both ways.
First: There is the whole "Civil Rights" thing - why should we discriminate against same-sex marriages?
On the other hand: Though the Bible doesn't speak about segregated military forces, or cross-racial marriages, it does speak very loudly on the subject of homosexuality - for example, there is an explicit reference in Romans 1:27 forbidding it. At this same site - in the right margin - are a number of other Scripture references forbidding homosexuality.
So, I feel like the crowd in 1 Kings 18:21 where Elijah says "How long halt ye between two opinions?"
So, here's my quandry:
- If I go with my conscience - favoring same sex marriages based on basic civil liberty, I find myself in direct opposition to God's Word.
- However, if I toe-the-line with respect to the Word of God as revealed in Romans 1:27, I find myself in direct opposition to both my conscience and the unbridled liberty that I, as a child of the living God, enjoy in Christ Jesus.
Viz.:
John 8:11,
And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more
Romans 8:39,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:1,
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
And yet. . . . And yet. . . . If Christ does not condemn me, what gives me the right to condemn anyone else?
What say ye?
Jim (JR)
