Gay Marriage
Recently, as I left a local store, I was asked if I would sign a petition in support of Gay
Marriage. When asked if I believed in gay marriage I simply replied, “No,” with a stern
voice. I realize, to some, my sternness could be misinterpreted as being judgmental.
I did a reality check to examine my attitudes and beliefs. I concluded that my heart is
not filled with hate or contempt toward a person or group of people for what they want
for themselves and what they believe is right. The stern inflection in my voice comes
from my frustration that I am being forced to acknowledge someone else’s perception of
reality as though it is my own.
This reminds me of a favorite book and movie growing up, George Orwell’s, 1984. In one of the chapters the main character, Winston, who was being disciplined by the state for lack of loyalty, had electrodes attached to his body. O’Brian, the state’s agent, interrogated Winston by holding up four fingers and asked him how many figures he saw. Winston answered, “Four.”
“If the state says there are five,” O’Brian asks, “how many are there?”
“Four,” said Winston, who receives an electric shock for his answer. This exchange goes on and on until under extreme physical and mental duress Winston starts to waver and succumbs to the prodding to see what the agent wants him to see five fingers when only four are extended.
Throughout the history of mankind, marriage has been (and is still) understood to be a union between a man and a woman. And now there is a strong movement afoot to redefine marriage as being between any two people regardless of the gender, effectively eliminating biology from the equation. There is also an emerging “trend” that the perception of reality outweighs the fact of what is real, there is no ultimate truth. Each individual defines their own truth. And there is a movement to make all of us believe that we are hateful and bigoted if we do not accept the perceived reality of someone else, no matter what their perception is, or what our values are. Your perception must become my reality, or I am a bigot.
This is what is happening to us. There is constant bombardment by so-called “open minded” politicians, sitcoms every evening in our homes, courts overturning majority- passed initiatives, businesses giving financial support to promote this movement, city government support for gay pride, even silent religious leaders who are afraid to take a stand, to give in and to accept the inevitable.
The point is not whether or not homosexuality is right or wrong, or whether there are the same benefits and tax breaks in civil unions as for married couples. Domestic partners get that benefit already. What they want is for our society to see five fingers when in reality there are four. For some it is to see civil unions as sacramental marriages.
Marriage is a creator-designed union between a man and a woman to sustain the ongoing existence of the human race. Even if you don’t believe in a creator, to sustain life, evolution has brought us procreation to bring about mitosis, not mitosis to be the means of procreation. The Church defines marriage as being between one man and one woman. It is both natural (biological) and sacramental (sacred). It is for the good of the couple and the procreation and education of children.
When I was in eighth grade my science teacher conducted an experiment. Some of the students were blindfolded so they could not see and their noses were pinched to hamper their sense of smell. Then they were asked to take a bite of sliced apple, a bite of sliced raw potato and a bite of sliced jicama. All were of similar texture and moisture content. With some of their senses hampered some of the students were actually unable to distinguish between the foods they had eaten. While these students may not have been able to distinguish the difference through their hampered senses the reality still remained, the foods did not change.
Do I believe in gay marriage? No! Even if you put on a blindfold and pinch your nose I don’t believe in something that cannot be. It’s like believing that a potato is the same as an apple or a piece of jicama if you only dull the senses. You cannot remove the Creator’s biological design from marriage or it ceases to be marriage. It may be something, but not marriage.