My grandchildren and I are sitting in a platformed house far up in the sky.
Rebecca: Tell us another story, grandpa.
Lance: Is it true people who loved each other couldn't get married when you were a kid?
Me: It is.
Rebecca: Why not?
Me: Well, Rebecca and Lance, there were groups of individuals who saw it as their moral duty to prevent others from sinning.
Lance: What's sinning?
Me: It means being very bad.
Lance: Like breaking the law?
Me: Not exactly. It means making God mad.
Rebecca: But God doesn't get mad. He loves us all!
Me: I know, and believe me, it's what a great many tried to get across.
Lance: Why did they think love was a sin?
Me: They fell victim to the same things people do in everytime. They saw a group different than themselves and decided it was best for them to be the same.
Rebecca: But, they didn't want to, did they?
Me: No, they did not.
Rebecca: What did they do?
Me: They marched, they protested, they petitioned and they sacrificed for many years.
Lance and Rebecca: Wow.
Me: It was very impressive to live through.
Lance: Grandpa?
Me: Yes?
Lance: What side were you on?
Me: I was on a lot of wrong sides, but I knew from the beginning that this was the right one.
Rebecca: Did you ever have doubts?
Me: I never doubted the cause, Rebecca. I sometimes doubted if we'd win. I'm not proud of it but I did.
Rebecca: I'm glad love won. I hate hate.
Me: Oh, Rebecca. Don't hate. Not even hate itself. You have to love, as hard as it might seem. It's the only way to make things better in this world.
Lance: [Yawning] That was a great story, grandpa. You want to go play rocket tag, Rebecca?
Rebecca: Yeah, just a second.
Exit Lance
Me: What's wrong, Rebecca?
Rebecca: There's this guy I like at school. He's from Andromeda though and the other kids would laugh at me.
Me: Then be thankful. They could do much worse than laugh.
Rebecca: Thanks, grandpa.
Me: You're welcome, Rebecca. Go out and have fun, now. Don't worry about me.
Exit Rebecca
The world's not half as dark as when I found it.
Hummm....there are about three corrections I'd make here...
ReplyDeleteWell, don't be shy ;-)
DeleteHeh...alright.
DeleteThe first is,"there were groups of individuals who saw it as their moral duty to prevent others from sinning." I'm gonna go ahead and lump myself in this group of individuals, and speak for them. If "we" thought it was our moral duty to prevent others from sinning, we'd be doing a lot more than opposing gay marriage. We'd also get rid of no fault divorce, and have some kind of law in place for people sleeping together outside of marriage. And that is just outward conformity. I mean, if you are speaking of Christians in general, we believe that everyone sins. And merely "not sinning" won't do anything for you. What we actually oppose in gay marriage is a little more complicated. Here is where we made our error. We let the state handle marriages. We never should have done that. Marriage is something we believe is given by God as a gift, and not a right. This gift should be dispensed by the church. But it can't be given to anyone. For a less explosive example, I also would oppose a Christian and a non-Christian marrying one another.
Second, (I know...I'll try to be less wordy) I'm just assuming we both believe in God here, but He gets mad. I don't differ from mainline orthodox Christianity when I say that the bible is what God has given us to show us Himself. The bible mentions His wrath quite frequently.
Third, it's not an objection to people being "different." That's quite an oversimplification. Though I realize it's a work of fiction, I believe in telling the truth, even to fictional grandchildren. haha!
I do however, think rocket tag sounds pretty fun. ;-)
I wasn't speaking of just Christians. Many Muslim, Jewish and Mormon individuals feel the same way. But I do agree that the state has no place in dictating marriage. Nor do I believe I or any one else should force your church to accept gay marriage. What I do believe is that if a church, or group creating a church, decided to support and grant gay marriages they should be able to. To not allow this would be imposing one religious belief over another.
ReplyDeleteBut, in my personal faith, God is love. He forgives and wrath is a thing of the past. Nor do I believe in hell. God does not create angels or men to hate or be hated.
Sure, I get that (the people of other beliefs). The only thing I'd add is that marriage is an actual thing and we can't just redefine a word the way we want to. Like, the state can give a person some kind of document saying he has some form of legally binding relationship with...uhm, a TV for example, but that doesn't mean it's a marriage.
DeleteWell, I mean, that's fine. But I didn't make up my faith. I mean, mine has some actual history and the guardian of that faith is the institution of the church that has been around for a very long time. I don't get to decide what I think God is. I feel like that would be like me saying, "My version of Ben Ditty is one who doesn't like poetry." I mean, you obviously love poetry so, me deciding to believe what I want about you wouldn't change who you are.
A TV is not, as far as I know, a consenting adult.
DeleteBut, I didn't "make up" my faith either. It's came from a number of sources. And you do decide, ultimately. You've decided to have the faith you do. You could be Jewish, Zorastrian, any number of things. You ended up where you are based on your upbringing and experience. As I have. You define your faith as much as much it defines you.
Heh...true. But my point was marriage has a distinct definition. I hate to crack out the tired "one man, one woman" bit, but that really is it.
DeleteWell, I mean, you are saying God is one thing, and I am saying He is not. One of us is wrong and one is right. Do you see what I'm saying? There is only one God and He is the only who can let us know which of us is wrong and which is right. Just as in my example, there is only one Ben Ditty, and if I said he didn't like poetry, and someone else said he did, YOU would be the only one to tell us who was right and who was wrong.
Ah yes, see, I don't believe I decided to have my faith. I believe God gave it to me. Nor do I believe I define my faith. Now, you will come across Christians who don't believe those first two sentences, but I think there is enough biblical evidence to show that they are wrong.
Ah, but maybe being wrong or right isn't the point ;) Having faith and treating people with compassion and love, I would say is most important of all.
DeleteWell, it does if you believe in hell and a personal God who saved you from it, which I do. If He is personal and He has saved me, I want to get him right. Just as I want to get to know my own friends.
DeleteWhat most worries me about that is for one to get it right so many would be wrong. I don't think I can take that in my soul.
DeleteCorrect! Which is why there is a heavy emphasis on evangelizing and telling people the truth. It's like if you were pretty sure a bus was coming to run me over, you'd want to warn me to watch out.
Deleteuh, by which I meant heavy emphasis (in the church) on evangelizing and telling people the truth. And by evangelizing I mean you know...preaching the gospel (We are all sinners who hate God and deserve punishment. Jesus took on that punishment and gave us his perfection. We can now have a relationship with God)
DeleteWhew! BerlinerinPoet, you lost me at 'one man one woman. Your absoluteness is not how I think.
ReplyDeleteThe lesson here is told in such an easy read folksy way. I am not absolute about it :-) but I certainly agree
♥
kj
Thank you, KJ. I've never been one for absolutes either ;)
DeleteThat's alright @kj I wasn't out to convince you. Since saying "absoluteness is not how I think" is actually an absolute statement, I'm left a little confused...
DeleteI'm not so sure moral and ethical fuzziness is actually as noble a characteristic as some folks today think it is.
This is getting pretty philosophical :)
Deleteheh...true.
Delete