Marriage is not a Christian idea. Please first get that very thought out of your head. Marriage has been going on before the Church, before the Jews, before the Flood. Marriage can *almost* be classified as a "universal truth", since people from every culture and age have been doing it.
I think pagan marriages are valid in God's eyes. Marriage is a contract, a promise, made between two people. It doesn't matter where you come from either, the marriage contract is essential to society and properly raising children. And then on top of that, when you *break* a contract or promise (just in general) you've lied. We know for a fact that God does not tolerate lying, no matter who you are.
So what is a marriage? I think, based on what people for centuries across the globe have been doing, that marriage is a vow made between a man and woman to stay together, help each other, and raise their children.
Marriage has nothing to do with the church, nor the government. People seem to think it does because they're confusing marriage with something else. In the case of the church, they confuse ceremony with the vow. The church does not make the vow, the couples do, all the church is doing is celebrating and making the vow public. The government is in a similiar position. It can't make the vow, nor can it really enforce it (though it does try). The government is simply keeping track of marriages for legal purposes and taxes.
So I really think there are a lot of people married right now who do not really realize it. They are fooling themselves into thinking they aren't [married] because they haven't had a ceremony or signed a paper for the government. But they have made vows to each other none the less. They are, before God, just as much married as I am to my husband.
As to people living together, who have not made a vow, they really are the worst of the lot. They aren't together for anything more than the convienence of it. It just happens to be cheaper and more comfortable to live together and have sex than to do it apart.
What annoys me is the people who say that it's the "next step" and they "really love" the person [they're living with]. No, the next step is the VOW (aka, marriage). Anything less are two very stupid people acting no better than animals. They're simply using the other person to satisfy their basic impulses. That is really it.
What I think about "gay marriages" is that the whole idea is just absurd. What they are trying to do is label their relationship something it is not. They can say their relationship is a marriage, have the government sanction it, but that does not MAKE it a marriage. (Just like if you keep telling yourself your cat is a dog will not make it a dog, nor make it act like one.)
Straight people aren't withholding marriage because they can't withhold it, so it's not a "right". Marriage is simply [one of] the conclusion(s) of being straight. (The true "next step" in a girl and boy relationship.) By choosing the path of homosexuality they have given up marriage. That is their own fault, not heterosexuals, or the government. (So they really should stop blaming everyone else for the pickle they got themselves into!)
Men and women are not the same (they are only "the same" in the eyes of the law, both God's and man's law). Marriage depends on that difference, it is a strength. A man and man, or women and women, can't have a marriage in any sense the same way as a man and women can have it. Homosexuals, no matter what they label their relationships, will never truly have a marriage simply because of that.
I'm sure someone will read this and thing HOMOPHOBIC! But that's not really the case. I'm not threatend or afraid of homosexuality. Nor do I go around treating homosexual people badly because I happen to think they're being very sinful. They are lost, just as lost as so many others, and I ache more for them not hate them. If anyone despises me for that, so be it.
Anyway.
Neo, Please take what I'm about to say as a compliment, because it's meant as one. The truth is when we focus on politics too much we stop thinking about our beliefs, we just repeat and defend what "our side" believes in the great debate. When you stop looking at politics and start looking at your beliefs, the ones that are REALLY YOURS, you'll find out all sorts of things you didn't know before. Some conclusions will be very different from "your side" and others will fall right in line. This is a good thing. Keep at it! You'll be amazed at what you'll discover.
Oh, I do believe I disagree with you. At least I think so. Which is quite amusing because only a year ago I would have been right with you!
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