Gay marriage

Although proclaiming yourself as a homosexual is not in of itself a sin, i tis still in fact a sin in Christianity, amongst other religions. This isshown in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:5) when the cities weren't destroyeduntil Lot and Abraham were pressured by the people and subsequently left. It was also given as commandment in Leviticus 18:22. This creates aninteresting issue since Gay marriage, once a religious issue, has becomesecular. Making it legal secularly is one thing, but forcing equality I thinkis another; thus is my argument. I don't think it should be legal becauseI find it unnecessary, and equality should not be mandated since enforcement would likely infringe upon religious beliefs. Let me elaborate.What is marriage?In religious context, marriage is much more than just the affirmationof love of two people. If that is all there was to it, then it's basicallya statement to the other person, "if you love me so much, write it down, make it official, and let's celebrate". Seems almost unnecessary in thoseterms. In some ways, I see that as what homosexual individuals are askingfor. Let us just make it official. Granted there are some other thingsto consider such as taxes for married persons and what not, but as a matter of expression of love, the secular marriage isn't what I thinkthey think it is. Marriage in religion is much more, which we know from the Bible which states in Genesis "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." That phrasing isused five other times. Christians believe that marriage is not justthe epitome of a relationship, but the very culmination of the plan of God. While here on Earth, we seek to learn, to grow closer to God, understand His will, and along the way we accomplish certain things thatmake us the best people we can be on this Earth. The greatest of them allI believe is Marriage, an eternal ordinance with spiritual, physical, and eternal implications. With this in mind, we begin to see the results ofallow homosexual marriages.Direct Response to Your ArgumentTo get more to the point and address what you talked about, of course God theFather loves all of us. To this end He has given us commandments that willhelp us be our best selves. Homosexuality is not something to hate someoneover, and nor should those who are homosexual be cast off in any way. However, God has indeed made it clear that homosexuality is contrary to Hiswill and the purposes of life here on Earth. God operates not just under the rule of mercy and forgiveness, but also justice.The Atonement for example is the ultimate satisfier of justice through an act of mercy by the Son of God. Justice is still at play here and I think you misinterprethow justice, repentence, and forgiveness works.While God is forgiving, I do not believe we can do whatever we want and everythingwill be just all hunky dory. Justice still need be satisfied. It is ultimatelysatisfied by the Atonement of Christ which is in turn sufficient for usif we have faith in Christ. Faith in Christ however, for the remission of sinsrequires repentence, acts in which would not be satisfied if homosexual marriagesare just simply allowed. Rather than repenting for laws being broken, we'd besaying to God, "I know you told me not to do it, but that's okay, Christ sufferedfor me, it's all good". I recommend you read through James 2:17-26. Your argument tells me basically that you are expecting mercy despite deliberately disobeying God. If He were to just give out mercy like that, then whymake it a sin? In Luke 1:50 we read "And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation". Fear is a common Biblical word that I often interperetas worship. How can you worship God while at the same time breaking a commandment?You are right with one thing though, God does treat us equally. He loves us equally, will help us equally, and will provide mercy equally upon all of us of which he satisfiesjustice equally through the gospel which provides for our salvation equally if wewill follow it. Regarding AbortionsI don't really want to give this much time because I really think thatthis point is extremely rare and not actually even relevent. In a day when people are often having children without even getting married, abortion has little to do with this. The abortion problem you are talking about is an honesty issue, a communication issue, a gay-straight relationship issue. I knowa few couples that include a homosexual partner and they can effectually prevent this from happening just by speaking up. Legalizing gay marriage would haveno impact on this whatsoever. Final CommentsI hope it's clear from the scriptures I share and the other religious commentsthat God and Jesus do have a problem with homosexuality and yet still love everyone.Homosexual people are not bad people. As I mentioned before, they should not be hatedor turned away. They should be allowed into public organizations and so on and so forth. My main point I wish to emphasize, however, is that despite the religious nature ofthis argument, I do not thing the argument is necessarily about whether or not God isokay with it or not. My concern with Gay Marriage legalization is about how it comesto be. Should civil entities such as states or what have you legalize it for civil marriagessure, it's your life. But as a matter of equality, I fear that states will mandate thatall marriage-performing groups or individuals perform same-sex marriages despite religious beliefs that stand in opposition to the practice. So my question to you is:can you guarantee to me that that won't happen?