Narrock wrote:It's not about changing we in the Christian community... it's about preserving and defending the holy and sacred rite of marriage, under any circumstances and in any place in America. Frankly, I'm sick and tired of having to defend the issue... I really wish it would just go away forever. But, as long as the gays keep pushing the issue and bringing it up every year (just to be pains in the asses, no pun intended) we will be right there defending again, and will defend it over and over again until it's pounded in their head that we won't cave in. This could all so easily just go away...
See, that's just it, though. You're defending something no one is attacking.
The "holy and sacred rite of marriage" you're referring to is a RELIGIOUS rite, is it not? It's one of the Sacraments of the Christian faith. The thing is, though, no one is calling for your religion to change that rite and sacrament in any way, shape or form. Your holy and sacred rite of marriage is, and always WILL be a man and a woman. Period. End of story. That's not being taken away from you. No one is demanding the Christian community change 1 thing about its holy and sacred rites and practices.
What is changing is the CIVIL definition of the word. You don't consider 2 people getting married at a drive-through Elvis themed wedding location in Vegas to be undergoing a "holy rite" do you? I certainly don't. Nor do I consider 2 people getting married in front of a judge in a civil ceremony to be anything resembling a holy rite. Since there's no religion involved in those ceremonies, how COULD they be in any way holy? The only reason those 2 types of marriages intersect is because a marriage performed within a church that IS a holy rite has to let the secular authorities know about it, so they can file the paperwork to note you are also hitched as far as they are concerned. But they're not the same thing, now are they?
So, I really am at a loss to understand how the change to a purely secular institution, in now allowing co-signers to be of the same sex, in any way impinges upon the holy and sacred rite performed by your church?
-Arlos