Dear Heather,
I appreciate your passion in this matter. You always make me think.
Dear "Anonymous",
I will not post and certainly not respond to a comment where you didn't even sign your name. I think that you and I have fundamental differences on the war and other topics. Thanks for saying that I "bring a few interesting points". However, I think you misunderstood me on several issues.
Dear Kisa,
You are outed girl!! (just kidding:) Seriously though, same to you--I really appreciate your honesty. I don't mind having differences on things--makes for healthy debate. I really enjoyed reading your comment! I will admit that I have not read the article that you recommended--yet. I fully plan to do so however. (The past day and a half, I have been nauseated--yucky--so I haven't done much of anything :) I can appreciate your comment on the environment and being good stewards. Having said that, their are good politicians who support conservative fiscal and moral policies and still support responsible environmental policies as well. Boy it is hard to find it all in one person though, isn't it??? :)
About the same-sex marriage issue. This is such a big issue. First of all, let me start out by saying that I too, have known some wonderful gay people, and I have NO dislike toward them WHATSOEVER. That is NOT my agenda here. In fact, I feel quite the opposite. Having dislike toward them goes completely against what I believe. However, I have to say that I disagree with the lifestyle they are involved in. (see I Corinthians 6:9-11; Leviticus 18:22; and Romans 1:24-28; among others) In short, (and that is hard to do:), having same-sex marriage would hurt families because God has set up the sacred union between a man and a woman, (and he stresses that often in his teachings) because that is His plan. I don't think that it is up to us as people to change or modify a union that God himself sovereignly set up. Just like anything, if we try to change what God has done, it never works. When God set up the institution of marriage as a man and a woman, and that a man and a woman should raise a family, and we decide to ignore that, then our families are in trouble. I think that it would create more sexual identity problems in our children, and make homosexuality an acceptable way of life. (which I fundamentally disagree with as stated previously) Also, if same-sex marriage is acceptable, then TRUST ME that our children will be taught in schools that homosexual marriage and homosexuality is ok. (in fact, it is already being taught in Calif) Anyway, here are a few good articles to check out:
http://www.citizenlink.org/FOSI/marriage/A000004753.cfm
(below is an excerpt from the above article)
"First, when the State sanctions homosexual relationships and gives them its blessing, the younger generation becomes confused about sexual identity and quickly loses its understanding of lifelong commitments, emotional bonding, sexual purity, the role of children in a family, and from a spiritual perspective, the “sanctity” of marriage. Marriage is reduced to something of a partnership that provides attractive benefits and sexual convenience, but cannot offer the intimacy described in Genesis. Cohabitation and short-term relationships are the inevitable result. Ask the Norwegians, the Swedes, and the people from the Netherlands. That is exactly what is happening there. "
http://www.citizenlink.org/FOSI/marriage/ssuap/A000000985.cfm
Again, Kisa, I really enjoyed your comments and your honesty. Thanks for leaving your comment and opinion. Good to hear from you!!! :)
In closing, my intention in the first post was NOT to endorse a political candidate. (that is why I did not mention one in the post) . Of course, I am NOT suggesting, not to vote either. In fact, I am suggesting quite the opposite. We SHOULD vote for the people who will uphold Biblical principles and stand for what is right, according to the Bible. Who you decide that is, is between you and God. My intentions were to encourage people not to check their morals and beliefs at the door when they enter the voting booth. Do you know that I heard someone say the other day, "I don't care what (candidates name) stands for, I just think they are a good person, so I will vote for them." or "I think (candidate's name) looks "most presidential", so I will vote for them". That is what I am talking about. Again, vote for someone who will uphold and protect your beliefs, and Biblical standards!
Whew!! This is getting awfully heavy!! I better go take a nap--or better yet, grab a bowl of ice cream--yum, yum!!! :)
4 comments:
The distinction between abortion and the war is that abortion is the most innocent life possible. Yes, there is innocent life being lost in the war but the judgement there is what is the greater good of the war? I don't believe it was for oil, I believe the goal of the war was to save more innocent lives. With Sudam's regime you can not dispute the mass graves that have been found and the pictures of the chemical weapons that he used on his own people, I don't know why people forget that part? Oh yeah, because the liberal media doesn't ever tell it.
Iraq would be another Darfur. Furthermore, Darfur is a humanitarian crisis that Clinton didn't do anything about however, president Bush would like to declare Darfur a holocaust however it is Politically Incorrect to say that Arabs are committing a holocaust. Bush has actually asked the U.N. to get more involved but he is meeting much resistance on their part. Again, something the liberal media is not going to tell you.
As far as the environment, that is a GREAT issue to bring up. Republicans want to preserve and protect the environment. Also, some of the GREATEST conservationists are republicans, wanting to preserve natural game habitat (again something you'll never hear from the liberal media) The DISTINCTION is that republicans want to take a more measured and reasonable approach taking into consideration the effect environmental measures will have on peoples everyday lives, the economy, their families and their jobs. The KIOTO treaty is the perfect example of some of the sillyness of the liberal environmental agenda. All it did was allow wealthy corporations to buy carbon credits from other companies. Which doesn't prevent pollution, or reduce the total amount of emissions it just shifts it from one to another. Not to mention another government agency that has to be established to regulate it. An example of good intentions gone bad. Why not just pass a law that reduces peoples carbon foot prints outright as opposed to shifting it from one person to another.
As far as homosexuality goes, the Bible says that it's wrong! The government through it's policies and laws encourages or discourages certain behaviors. You see it everywhere from the tax code to criminal laws. We make moral judgements all of the time. The government through it's people makes moral judgments and if we are to be a Judeo Christian society our moral judgments need to be guided by what the Bible says. In the particular case of homosexual marriage, if the government endorses it, it will be acceptable and therefore degrade the definition of marriage that the Bible has laid out.
Thanks for not eating me alive. I'm sorry you've been queasy. I hated being pregnant. I was sick all the time.
I promise from now on, the only comments I leave on your blog are how beautiful your Tayva is (and she is gorgeous!) or to sympathize with your pregnancy woes. Swear it! Anyhoo, I read the articles and verses you pointed me to. Ok, so obviously, I'm not going to argue the facts of the Bible, but while the articles made some good points, I am curious where they got some of their "facts" from.
I was concerned about how many times I read that homosexuals can't/won't be monogomous and that they have upwards of 100's or 1000's partners. This line in particular, I found just plain mean.
homosexuals are rarely monogamous, often having as many as three hundred or more partners in a lifetime — some studies say it is typically more than one thousand
Also, I was disturbed by the comparison between people engaging in homosexual activity and incest or having relations with animals. That's just a really unfair comparison. So called "straight" people do some really disgusting things, too.
This line really sat sour with me, too.
In the present instance, homosexual activists, heady with power and exhilaration,
The same thing could be said about a lot of leaders, Christian included, so it's unfair to judge the majority by the noisy minority. This is the best example I can come up with, sorry, but, I would hate for people to judge all the priests by the actions of the disturbed ones.
More than ten thousand studies have concluded that kids do best when they are raised by loving and committed mothers and fathers. They are less likely to be on illegal drugs, less likely to be retained in a grade, less likely to drop out of school, less likely to commit suicide, less likely to be in poverty, less likely to become juvenile delinquents, and for the girls, less likely to become teen mothers. They are healthier both emotionally and physically, even thirty years later, than those not so blessed by traditional parents.
I absolutely agree with this statement. However, we live in a very imperfect world. Sometimes the best solution is an imperfect one. Our foster system is woefully understaffed and under funded. You have to wonder which environment is going to be more harmful. A group home full of kids who are dealing with emotional, sexual, substance abuse type stuff or in a home with 2 people of the same sex in a committed relationship?
Social scientists have been surprisingly consistent in warning about the impact of fractured families. If present trends continue, the majority of children will have several “moms” and “dads,” perhaps six or eight “grandparents,” and dozens of half-siblings. It will be a world where little boys and girls are shuffled from pillar to post in an ever-changing pattern of living arrangements; where huge numbers of them will be raised in foster-care homes or living on the street, as millions do in countries all over the world today. Imagine an environment where nothing is stable and where people think primarily about themselves and their own self-preservation. And have you considered what will happen when homosexuals with children become divorced? Instead of two moms and two dads, they will have to contend with four moms or four dads. How would you like to be a new husband a generation later who instantly had four or six or eight mother-in-laws.
With the state of marriage as it is, isn't this the norm already? My kids do have a crap load of grandparents due to divorce and remarrying in our extended families. A lot of this is going on and I don't believe homosexuals had anything to do with it.
This next part in my opinion is just an argument for a universal health care plan, but I know that's probably going to just get me into more trouble here, so I'm not going to elaborate anymore. :)
6. The health care system will stagger and perhaps collapse.
This could be the straw that breaks the back of the insurance industry in Western nations, as millions of new dependents become eligible for coverage. Every HIV-positive patient needs only to find a partner to receive the same coverage as offered to an employee. It is estimated by some analysts that an initial threefold increase in premiums can be anticipated; even with that, it may not be profitable for companies to stay in business.
There were other things I could go on about, but I'm tired. Darned those kids wore me out today! It's Elsi's 2nd birthday (Isn't Tayva's coming up soon, too?) I guess to sum it up, I don't believe I have the answers. I KNOW I don't have the answers! These are things I've been struggling with and wondering about for quite some time. Here's the thing, I don't believe it's up to me to come up with an answer, either. It's ultimately God's job to make the call. As a society we are a damaged bunch, sexually and spiritually. My hope for Christians is that we can learn to love like Jesus did and to meet people where they're at instead of expecting them to come to us. I don't believe it's my job to point out to someone what I think they're doing wrong, I believe it's my job to try and live my life like God commanded and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Besides, if homosexuality is a sin, it's no more severe than the sins I commit. I really irritates me when Christians put one sin higher than the other. I hope this make sense, because I am so tired! I hope it's obvious, but I mean no offense to you. I know you truly want to love like Jesus taught. And for the record, I am having so much fun discussing this with you. Finding an intelligent conversation among preschoolers and toddlers isn't easy to do.
Please excuse the spelling errors, I'm too lazy to spell check!
And, Heather, first of all your baby is so cute and you look amazing. Have you aged at all? Just in case you were wondering, I decided I didn't want to move to Canada or France (although, I could get behind the no shaving or bathing idea...), I would like to move to Hungary. I heard on the radio their congress is trying to pass a mandatory 2 hour nap time every afternoon. Now there's a political party I can get behind!
Kisa
Oh, yeah, I forgot to add, I totally didn't realize we got to vote based on looks. I could've saved myself a ton of time and energy, if I had only known sooner. Now that I know, though, I will be starting a write in campaign to elect George Clooney. He's an oldie, but goodie!
Kisa
Great discussion Shaunna. This is the time we really need to stand up for what is right.
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