Since Facebook isn’t really a viable means of getting this across, I’ve decided Tumblr is a better online venue to vent my frustrations about Facebook, and specifically the nonsense that has been appearing on my wall recently. FROM PEOPLE IM NOT EVEN FRIENDS WITH. It’s from people i know that revere this kind of ‘insight’. To quote directly:
“Three statements of fact: 1. Marriage is by definition the union of a man and a woman and has been from the beginning of time. 2. When there is a conflict between what the President of the United States feels or believes and what the Word of God teaches, I’ll always take God’s Word. 3. Truth and morality are not determined by popularity polls or majority vote.”
UPSET RANT AHOY. TURN BACK IF YOU DON’T WANT TO READ IT.
Now before you read on, this is more for me than it is for you. This will be an anger free zone, and I will try to use a logical argument to try and explain why I’m mad at this guy. Yes, I see where he’s coming from. Do I agree? Hell no. I’m going to keep this PG-13, and as insult free as possible, and I hope you do to. Begin educated rant.
Marriage is something that has only been revered as important by the Abrahamic religions. The beginning of time would include more than these religions, like any other religion that exists in the history of time. This includes the Greeks and the Romans, who revered male/male relationships over any other kind of relationships. Even the early Jewish people had multiple wives and mistresses, and so on and so forth. While marriage was sacred, it wasn’t exactly ‘a union between man and woman’ it was more like ‘a union between a man, 5 women, and any of their servants they gave to him as mistress. Read the section about Jacob, Joseph’s father (yes the one with the dreams and the colorful coat) if you don’t care to believe me about that. So either way you look at it, point 1 is rather uneducated, especially with someone who seems to hold the Bible and God with such important. Maybe he should read the Old Testament sometime.
Point 2 isn’t too bad. The Word of God is an important thing to me, especially being a Methodist. However, the Word of God was written by 40+ white men. God did not hand us the Bible and say ‘Here, go spread the word,’ and even if he did, that still leaves room for people to interpret what God really meant. The Bible has been translated almost as much as it has been printed. Humans have dealt with the Bible and writing it, not God, so maybe we should all keep that in mind. There’s always room for error, as well as the writer’s own opinion in any one version of The Bible.
Also, you can choose to disagree with the President. You didn’t have to vote for him. But at least half of the rest of the US did, so logically that means a good chunk of people will agree with him.
Lastly, Point 3. While the basis of this point may be true, your views on it really rub me the wrong way. Truth and morality are something that are shaped by society, but most importantly, they come from your own views on it. If you honestly believe that it is morally wrong for everyone to be able to LEGALLY marry whoever they want, then that is your belief. What you should stop doing, however, is expressing this as a moral that all people everywhere should hold. There are always people who will disagree with you, and to assume otherwise is ignorant. Even I’m not assuming everyone will agree with me here. President Obama has his own views on what he believes in, and good for him for having not only the power to voice what he thinks, but the power to do something about it. None of the three points above is definitive fact, it’s this man’s own opinion that is informed by facts. I think he has forgotten the difference.
FINALLY, MY OWN OPINION. THIS WAS MADE IN AN EDUCATED FASHION, AND IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, DON’T READ IT.
The church doesn’t have to do anything about gay marriage. They can still keep on saying ‘no gays, not allowed, it’s in the bible,’ and I’d be totally ok with it. The church can do whatever it wants. Church and State are separate for that reason.
What I do believe, is that people should be free to marry whoever they want in front of a judge with their close friends and family present. If they want a ceremony and a huge party, let them! It should be their choice. This is the State’s decision, not the church’s. This is a basic human right that I believe everyone should be allowed: a choice to be with the person they love. Rock on for President Obama being in support of this.
I’d like to close with a quote from the Bible. I was a PK in my early years (pastor’s kid for those out of the loop) and I’ve kept up with it even after my dad decided to pursue other careers within the faith. This is possibly one of my favorite passages, because it sums up how I feel about a lot of controversial things.
Matthew 16:19
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Direct from The Bible, telling us whatever we hold true as human beings and Christians, God will hold true in heaven. Next time I see one of these ignorant posts on Facebook, I’m going to keep this post in mind, and hopefully it will make blocking them a little easier. Hoped you had fun reading this. It was pretty cathartic for me.
