Re: gay marriages are annulled in Calif
Anybody ever hear David Allan Coe sing "Anita Bryant"? Now there's a classic bit of homespun Americana!!<br /><br />How bout this; I am currently attending church at Calvary Chapel Gulf Breeze, a non denominational church with a "praise and worship" service like the full gospel, or Pentacostal chruches. (Man, I love a kicked up praise and worship service, like at Brownsville Assembly! Anyhoo, there are more gays and lesbians in this chruch than any other I have been to. Pastor Spencer (brother of the famous Yancey Spencer) does not condone homosexuality, however, we as a congregation love our homosexual fellow worshipers. Look, the bible says it is a sin. So lets say you are in church, and sit down next to couple of gay men. You see thier sin, they don't hide it (Num 32:23 "...be sure your sin will find you out") Well what do you do? Get all fraked out and say "hey, I ain't a gonna worship MY God with you, ya no good ole gay boys....!" What about the nice guy that you met in church who has 5 million gigs of child pron on his computer and no one knows it, or the guy who can't stop thinking about nailing your wife, or the guy who cheats on his taxes, or the married woman who has been sleeping with her boss for three years? Gay, straight, smart, stupid, educated, ignorant,.....we are all just rats on a ship we hope won't sink. And we better start to love one another, no matter what. <br /><br />This issue is not ultimatly about whether homosexualtiy is acceptable or not. No sin should be acceptable in our personal lives, but we accept all kinds of sin as long we are the one sinning. It's when you see someone else sinning that Christians get all rightious and pious and "holier than thou", and that is a load of crap. Get over it, whether we go to the grave with homosexuality, or lust, or adultery, or thievery, or pride, or gluttony, or slothfulness, anr any sin whatsoever, that is between the individual and thier maker.<br /><br />Marriage is a different concern. While most Christians would agree that none of us is without sin, and we would further agree that to God, one sin is no better or worse than any other sin, we are left the question about the rights to marriage versus civil union. Why would this seemingly inconsequential thing be THE question which is raised after all the emotional BS is rendered? Because marriage was spelled out in the bible many times, beginning in Genesis as being one Man and one Woman. Now, you may ask " well, if marriage is ok for a sinning man and his sinning wife, why isn't it ok two sinning men?" Marriage is an escape from a plethora of sexual sins. Marriage is a Religious ceremony, a Christian ceremony wherein two people of opposite gender, according to the commandment of God, vow to God, not each other, that they keep the commandments of God, in so far as the marriage it's self is concerned. Of course , then they don't, but that is a discussion for another thread. Sexual sin is outlined exhaustively in both the Old and New Testement. The only way to practice sinless sex is to do it with your spouse after marriage, and your spouse has to be of the opposite gender. It is a religious matter, not a social matter, not a cultural matter, not a matter of tolerance or inclusion. I don't know any Christians who are opposed to homosexuals being afford the RIGHT to civil unions. We are not bigoted homophobes, nor do we hate homosexuals. We simply desire to protect a sacntified and ordained institution we call MARRIAGE. To God, (according to the bible) the marriage bed is a HOLY place. Did you know that? To God, marriage is a HOLY union, did you know that? We are trying to protect the santity of mariage, we are NOT trying infringe on the rights of anyone. It is strange to me that any preacher would subvert the holy and santified institution of marriage when the option of civil union exists, and afford the same rights and responcibilities as marriage.<br /><br />To sum up: Sin is bad. We all sin, and homosexuality is no worse than any other sin (the only sin that stands alone in the bible the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit). Gays, be they man or woman, saved or unsaved, are no different from me. If they want a legal union, they deserve it, give it to them, but not the holy institution of marriage.<br /><br />It may sound petty. It may sound insignificant. However, to those of us who are trying to serve our God, and know His word, and know what His will is for us, is it as clear as can be. It is all spelled out in the bible, so please don't think that we are Neanderthals just because you don't understand where we are coming from and what our motives are. Like I said eralier, we all need to start loving each other, but that doens't mean that we must sacrifice our faith to do so.
get one that actually swims 
