In lieu of the controversial Proposition 8 in California, I wanted to write my thoughts down. What really got me thinking of the thing was not only the
propaganda/
propaganda going around, but also insights from a class I had awhile ago that talked about the passage found in
Matthew 19:3-12 that alights upon the subject.
My ideal family has always been one of man and wife. I have been brought up in an
LDS (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) family and have been taught that marriage is
between a man and woman all my life. Many who oppose this singular opinion resent my apparent lack of effort to gain it. But you must remember that I am claiming this as my opinion whether or not you doubt it's sincerity; may that be what testament I can give to the skeptic.
I haven't really thought about homosexuality as much as I'd have liked. What I mean by that is I don't feel my opinion is as definite as it should be. I still feel undecided; as if I couldn't come up with an ultimatum for or against it even if I wanted to. There are a lot of intertwining aspects that make it a whole 'issue' that I have yet to find a complete answer to. Though the thing is, I would still vote yes on Prop 8...If it had been down-turned the ramifications would have been too unsure for my personal future to let it pass. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (as well as all others who support marriage between man and wife) could have been sued for not recognizing gay couples in matrimony.
'Good' some people would say. They equate not allowing gay marriage to the racist arguments of old (it's in one of the No on Prop 8
videos). They slander such opinions with emotional words such as bigotry, discrimination, and labeling us as labeling them for mere second-class citizens without even considering what they are accosting their opponents of. Now I understand I just took this last paragraph from the 'No on prop 8' website and that not everyone has the exact opinion as that organization, I am merely pointing out a extreme.
My resounding cry is absolutely no! No to such accusations. Disliking someones ancestry and disliking someones lifestyle are not equatable. Plus I am allowed to have my opinion as is every person on this earth, it's how I act upon that opinion that sets us apart from the bigots no matter how lightly/heavily you wish to apply the term. I prefer to be loving of my fellowman, that doesn't mean I have to love the actions they take. A person may often be defined by their actions; but I don't love
Dulcinea because she made the choices of a harlot, but because of who she was.
Whose freedoms in the end are taken away from this ensuing struggle? The homosexual community who want marriage or the religious heterosexual whose beliefs, from attempts to use the government as an instrument, are being forced to bend in the name of tolerance? That is the main comparison I am making through this struggle for legislative victory. As for bigotry I know a religion that teaches one, anyone, is inferior because of skin tone or sexual inclinations is not of God. Man is created equal. But the gay community feels inferior because they cannot have marriage...I believe there is a reason why a man and a woman united in matrimony is the original idea of a family, and from there raising children. Marriage is an ideal, that ideal challenged not only by gays but single parents, the divorced, widows, celibates, and others unmentioned here.
My plea is this. Consider that you are forcing me to change my religious beliefs, my religious freedom, that a man and woman are divinely appointed to have children in a married environment (adapted to the variety of situations for people in life out of their control) in order for a same-sex couple to purposefully enter a relationship where I feel they cannot fulfill that filial responsibility of having children. I believe any man or woman can affect a child's life for good, that yes men and women are created equal, and yes there can be extreme love for one of the same sex (please recall the differences between love and lust)(some personal definitions for me->
love and
lust). But there is an ideal to be had...and an institution known as marriage between man and wife that tries to uphold that ideal.
In Matthew 19 the Savior himself touches on the issue of celibacy. And I take the passage as a warning to the despairing. He lightly points out that those who are able to
receive it aught to. But I want you to read that passage and
interpret yourself what you will; it brings me comfort and I hope to share it with others even if they are not Christian...take the words as a
philosophers view on life if you dislike Christianity even.
Also please read
this article by the church...it
unclogs the mind as to rumors spread about it I think.
Anyways...Like I said before I am still unsure in my footing here because of all the strings that make the mesh of the Prop 8 issue and therefore I don't have a good conclusion to this post. But I believe in agency and tolerance, and I expect the same in return...in the end let us not stray from having love for our fellowman though...ever.
