Picking up the pieces and putting something together

The California Supreme Court today upheld the constitutionality of Proposition 8 (called by some to be the Defense of Marriage Amendent, and other the Anti-Gay Marriage act).  The rhetoric on both sides is amping up, but I would like to submit a third option.

Let's drop the whole issue of marriage and start considering the concept of legal civil unions.

As we've seen, the faith community is pretty adamant about the theological concept of marriage and as long as the gay community continues to fight to apply that term to its unions, they will receive significant opposition to attaining equal rights in their unions.  In many countries around the world, most specifically in Europe, the government recognizes "civil unions" on the same level as traditional marriage.  In doing so, those countries have overcome any opposition from the faith community.  They may not like it, but they are willing to accept it.

Likewise, in California, polls have shown that the clear majority of voters would accept equal treatment between marriage and civil unions as long as the term remain separate.

Now we can start picking nits with a "separate but equal" argument but we have to ask, are we trying to get equal treatment under the law or legally imposed approval of a lifestyle.  If you are going for the former,  you have an easy path in front of you.  If you want the latter, get ready to divide our communities even more.

People of faith who were on the Pro Prop 8 side need to think about this as well.  You need to ask yourselves if you want to maintain the integrity of your theological terms, or do you want to impose a theocratic position on people who have not freely chosen your faith.

To me, it's a no brainer.  Let's start working this out.

Self-inflicted wounds on the other side of the coin

Today we have report of a documentary outing Republican politicians as gay.  This is a great example of how shooting oneself in the foot is not limited to Christians and religious times.

The story says that there are conservative governors and legislators who live a secret gay lifestyle while opposing legislation proposed by the gay lobby (gay marriage being the primary topic).  The logic goes that if they are revealed as gay, then they have to change their position.

Why?

I know many gay people and for the most part, really enjoy their company.  Most support the gay agenda and they know that, for the most part, I don't.  We still enjoy our friendship.  I know, however, people in the gay community who do NOT agree with the entire agenda and gay marriage happens to be one of the things they don't agree with.  They do not speak up in their community because they are afraid of reprisals.  After all it's one thing for a conservative, straight evangelical like me to politely disagree with them, but not one of their own.

But what happens if one of these conservative politicians accepts the spotlight thrust on his lifestyle.... but does NOT change his position on the gay agenda.  That would have the affect of encouraging other members of the community to come forward.  What, then, is left of the monolithic image of the gay lobby?

Pride goes before a fall.  We ALL need to remember that.

Sin, pride and what really matters.

As I said, I've been reading and studying the Book of Job. Last week I came across this passage in chapter 35.

6 If you sin, how does that affect (God)?
If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself,
and your righteousness only the sons of men.

That's kind of weird, don't you think? So many Christians are concerned over offending God with their personal and national actions, yet in this series of sentences it states that God is not really concerned about out sins. Or our righteousness

Pride is the core of all sin. I'm not alone in that observation. When you think you know better than your creator, you have an issue with pride. Most people do the wrong thing when they believe they are too smart to get caught or because they really don;t believe that what they are going to do is wrong, even when everyone else says it is. But even if you are doing the right thing, you can still be dealing with pride.

In the church, there is a real pride issue in the belief that it is possible to thwart the plan of God in the world through our actions. Many in the church justify that position by calling certain actions as "compromising the Gospel." In other words, you do something that goes counter to the culture of your church (e.g. going to see a particular movie or reading a certain book) and you will be told you are free to do that, but if others see you do it, you could cause them to stumble and "compromise the gospel."

Number one, that is a very weird definition of "gospel." Gospel means "good news" and that news is that Jesus Christ died for everyone's sin since the beginning of time, for now and into the future. It means that there is nothing we can do to make us any closer or send us farther away from God. Everything we have done wrong has been taken care of.

Second, if that is true, there is nothing we can do to make God love us even more.

What we do affects only us and those we connect with. That makes all our actions very personal in nature.