Friday, July 17, 2015

Love Wins (An Elaboration)

About two weeks ago I posted this. I realized some time later that the post was very ambiguous and that I should probably elaborate a little. To be honest, I've been meaning to go in a somewhat in depth post on this topic for some time now it's just that life is crazy and fulfilling and I've been a really bad blogger these past couple of months.


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In a simplified and quickened version, on June 26th, our Supreme Court ruled that it is legal in all 50 states of America to get married despite your sexual orientation. Men can marry women, women can marry women, men can marry men. Essentially, if you love a person YOU CAN MARRY THEM.

Before this decision, gay marriage was a topic left up to each individual state. At the time of the ruling, gay marriage was already legal in a good majority of the states (36 out of the 50), but thanks to a 5 to 4 decision in the Supreme Court the 14 states that had made gay marriage illegal had no choice but to follow suit.

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As expected, there were some that were less than thrilled with the ruling. It was a hard day to be a Conservative in America. Poor things having to deal with God forbid, equality. I even read an article (although I'm not sure how trustworthy it was) where three counties in Alabama quit issuing marriage licenses altogether. Gay or straight. Didn't matter. You weren't getting married either way. (Article.)

Even with the dissent of some who claimed that America needed God now more than ever, or how Christ would soon be returning because of the "un-biblical mess" our nation has gotten itself into, it was a great and glorious day for me and millions of others.

I'm also going to skim the surface as to how — as a Christian — I believe in gay marriage. And by I believe I don't mean I'm one of those "I love them but don't support their lifestyle," but more like, "I love them. End of story. No buts." 

Honestly, I've been bouncing around a theory I read a while ago about how gay relationships aren't the sin we think they are. In short, when we put the Bible in its contextual time period and not our time period, homosexuality was very different.

In Biblical days, homosexual relationships were not two men or two women nor were they consensual. In that time, homosexual relationships were almost always a man and a young boy whom he bought and did sexual acts with in an non-consensual manner. So when the Bible condemns homosexuality, it's not condemning the two adults in a consensual relationship that we know today, but condemning an adult and child non-consensual relationship. 

Although I haven't done a TON of research on this topic and theory, it's one I'd like to hear your opinions on. I'm a big believer that the Bible is a living and breathing piece of work that grows with our time period. The Christianity that was practiced 200 hundred years ago is not the Christianity we practice today. This is the result of experiences and cultural changes that have flowed and ebbed Christianity into the religion that it is now.

I hope that one day gay marriage can become the sacred sacrifice that heterosexual marriage is in the church today, although I fear that hope is far from ever occurring.

Nevertheless, have a fabulous day.

12 comments:

  1. I agree with your theory on homosexuality in the Bible, slavery as an everyday part of life should tell people that times and attitudes have changed (for the better) since then. The Bible was critical of homosexuality because of how the Romans, who occupied much of the world, practised it. Funnily enough some religious extremists think marrying a non-consenting child is fine, but believe two consenting adults will go to Hell for having a same-sex relationship..

    I think it's great that the US made the bold decision to legalise SSM in every state, it'll send a message to people in countries influenced by US culture (which is almost all of them) and hopefully soften up homophobic attitudes across the world :) As you may know we legalized SSM by public vote in Ireland in May (in our opinion, we're the ones leading the world, not the US :P).

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    1. I remember reading your post about SSM being legalized in Ireland, and I kept thinking to myself, "wow the US really needs to step up their game!" I too hope that the US taking such a bold pro-gay marriage step will influence other countries to follow in suit. Great to hear from you! :)

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  2. Hooray for marriage equality! If you love someone and they love you, you should be able to marry them. Honestly, sometimes it's hard for me to fathom that we live in a time when some people still don't believe that. Guess what: it's not your problem who somebody else loves. Worry about yourself.

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    1. Yes!! It's incredibly hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that people can be so hateful and close minded towards others who are simply loving someone! Thanks for reading!

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  3. To be honest, I'm not entirely informed by what's going on with marriage equality and I don't know what to make of it because when the announcement was made, I was out of the country. The country I was in (the Philippines) doesn't recognize gay marriages, but people who are a part of the LGBT community there do openly date one another, so it's something I've grown up knowing about. And like Ella said, people should worry about themselves.

    xoxo Morning

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    1. Funny story is that I too was sort of "out of the loop" when the announcement was made. I knew the ruling was supposed to come out in the near future, but when it was actually announced I was away in a remote cabin in the mountains with no cell reception at all. I came home two days after the ruling and, I remember finally getting on the highway with cell reception, and I had gotten all these texts from friends who were excited about the ruling.

      Also, it's never too late to get informed!! The great thing about this day and age (and our generation) is that so much information is five feet away from us in our laptops. I wish I had a few websites on hand to share with you, but I might do some more research and write a blog post on this.

      Thanks for commenting! :)

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  4. Love wins! I personally just say this whenever I am asked about what I think about LGBT relationships;
    "You fall in love with the person, not their gender"
    I am so happy that America and Ireland legalised gay marriage. If only the rest of the world would follow suit.....
    And I agree wholeheartedly with Ella: Mind your own business. What right have others to take away somebody else's right to marriage?
    Great post. Really. You have outdone yourself. *loud and enthusiastic applause*

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    1. Thank you so very much. You are too kind *blushes*.

      I totally understand the "mind your own business" thing. We're not forcing you to go against your religion and marry someone of the same gender. We're simply asking that others can marry who they love. It honestly affects them very little if at all. The only possible way would be if their church were to need to perform same sex marriages, but honestly no same sex couple in their right mind would ask a pastor to marry them if they already knew they were adamantly against same sex marriage.

      Thanks for stopping by! :)

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  5. I love what you said- "I love them." What I'm actually here to say, though, is that your blog is so unique! You're doing something totally new and fresh and interesting here. Usually, I wouldn't find myself in love with a blog that's not lifestyle or poetry or photography based. But what you have here- something so raw and unedited and unique... that's beautiful.

    I adore how you are able to say what you feel here. It takes real courage to do that. And oh well to those who don't like what you're doing. You're expanding the blogosphere to so much more than just fashion and lifestyle, and that's amazing. Maybe blogging can go back to what it was before- where everyday people, without fancy cameras and expensive computers can just sit down and write.

    You're a step in the right direction, and I'd love to work with you in the future! If you would be interested in working together, please feel free to email me at peridotcove@gmail.com.

    ~ Sanjana
    peridotcove.blogspot.com

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    1. Your comment has truly made me smile (and blush) so much! You're absolutely too kind. :)

      I'm flattered that you love my work and after looking around your blog I love yours as well. I'd love to work together with you in the future! Thank you so incredibly much for stopping by! :)

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  6. Are you saying you believe gay marraige is okay?

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