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Fear of Same-Sex Marriage
by Mary Pearson
While sitting in Church this morning, I was subjected to a message of prejudice, hatred and bigotry from the pulpit, directed against homosexuals regarding the upcoming legislation which would allow marriage by people of the same sex. As an "OUT" lesbian Christian - YES! It IS Possible! - I feel an obligation to speak out for my brothers and sisters who would be subjected to persecution for taking a stand against this behaviour. So many of us must sit silently in your congregations every Sunday but you are hurting us. To summarize this message, it was a call, indeed a plea, accompanied by literature in the bulletin, for Christians to take action against this movement to "protect conventional male/female heterosexual marriage". My first question would be, "What exactly does heterosexual marriage need protection from?" Is there a shortage of love? If two gay people love each other, does that mean that there will not be enough love to go around to "straights"? Your literature would indicate that families with heterosexual parents are healthier than those with homosexual parents, and yet statistics would not indicate this to be the case at all. Divorce of heterosexual parents happens in more than half of the marriages that take place. On the other hand, I know of many very healthy, long term relationships of same sex couples with healthy, well-adjusted children. I would not suggest that gays have any more healthy relationships than straights do. I would suggest that it is not fair to make generalizations about either demographic. Some heterosexuals are so adamant about gays not having "special rights". Do you not understand that it is you who are the ones with the special rights? All we would like is to have our loving relationships recognized with the same respect that yours have, and to be entitled to the financial/societal benefits which you already enjoy. Why would you want to deny us basic human rights which you have been enjoying for so many years? Why should we not also be entitled to the same "special rights" granted to you, the majority of the population, who by the luck of your birth just happen to be heterosexual? Even if you do not agree with our lifestyle, why must you persecute us? Christ has told us not to judge and yet you are putting yourselves in the position of judge, jury and executioner. During the time of Christ, the Sadducees and Pharisees took great pride in the fact that they understood Scripture and the letter of the law. The central theme of their message was the coming of the Messiah. And what happened when the Messiah came? They crucified Him. Why? Because they had misunderstood God's Word. Christ fulfilled all the prophecies - hundreds of them - that had been predicted about His coming and yet they missed it completely. That did not mean that God's Word was not accurate, just that it had been interpreted incorrectly. New research has now given us explanations of the "six clobber verses" used in Scripture against gays. To give a quick or simple explanation here is not possible, nor would it do justice to the complexity of God's Holy Word. But it would behoove those of you who have access to computers to check out the "Education" link on my website, ChristianGays.com for many, many authoritative discourses about the subject. Now the point I would like to make here is that whether or not you are interested enough to actually read about this research doesn't really matter. I believe, as do many others, that the Bible, just as it stands is God's divinely inspired inerrant Word. I also believe that the traditional understanding and interpretation of God's Word is not accurate regarding the issue of homosexuality, just as the interpretation of the Messiah's coming was misinterpreted by the Pharisees, and there is now scientific evidence to back up this position. John 3:16 tells us that: "God loved the world so much, that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, was freely given, that WHOSOEVER believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." I see nothing in Scripture that says "whosoever except gays". I am a born again Christian lesbian and I will not allow the church to rob me of my relationship with Christ because someone says that I don't belong! For many years I believed, and even taught the traditional values, all the time trying to be someone who I was not. It took many years of prayer and reading to come to the conclusion that I am acceptable to God just as I am, just the way I was created. I did not come to this conclusion because it was emotionally healthy for me to do so. I came to this conclusion through a fair evaluation of the literature that is now available and by educating myself from a different perspective. It is not easy to step outside the box of indoctrination but if Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. had not stepped out only a few decades ago, we might still be promoting discrimination of blacks. After all, the Bible does say, "Slaves obey your masters". Surely this is very clear that God endorses slavery. Well many people argued and even fought wars to convey that belief. People were wrong! People are wrong now about a loving relationship between two people of the same sex and there is much evidence to support that position. If that is even a possibility, how can Christians continue to judge us? WHAT IF YOU ARE WRONG? How will you face Christ knowing that you have kept some of His children from being welcomed into your Churches? How will you face Jesus and explain how you have tried to shut us out of the Kingdom? How will you explain the number of us who commit suicide because we think we are an abomination to God and to our loved ones? There will be an accounting. You can bet your eternal life on it! This is serious business. "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Matt. 7:1,2 "How terrible it will be for you experts in religious law! For you hide the key to knowledge from the people. You don't enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering." Luke 11:52 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God's
messengers. How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a
hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you would not let me."
God wants to gather His gay children and you are doing all within your power to thwart Him. It is not your position to judge us. If we are wrong then let God be the Judge! The health of your marriages will not be determined by the exclusion of ours. If we believe, through our own education into God's Holy Word, that we are not sinful based on our orientation, then you have no right to judge us.
Please, I encourage you to start practicing "REAL LOVE", not by trying to exclude us, but by researching for yourselves into the possibility that maybe God really does accept gays and our lifestyles (which are pretty much like any straight couple's lifestyle) when we are dedicated to Christ. It would be a giant leap to try to open your minds to something which sounds so foreign and yet it is a matter of love - which is Jesus' Great Commandment, "to love God above all else, and to love your neighbour as yourself". Well we are your neighbours, your sons and daughters, brothers, sisters, friends and parents. Please love us enough to read and ask questions about what we believe and why we believe it. Our answers are based on God's Holy Scriptures! For more articles by Mary, Click Here 
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