So is there a reason people aren’t talking about this or…?
The UK is one step closer to legalising Gay Marriage, it just has to pass through the House of Lords
YOU GUYZZZ! SERIOUSLY THIS IS MY COUNTRY! AAAAAGH! EXCITED!
Alicia
Praise God!
Thank you for all your prayers!
There is going to be a free vote tomorrow on whether civil partnerships will be upgraded to marriage for LGBT couples in the U.K.
While weddings in churches (aside from Unitarian and Quaker) will be off the cards for a while this is a big step forward to full equality!
Prayers for wisdom, for thought and for open mindedness for those voting in Parliament tomorrow! And prayer for those of us here to accept the outcome, whatever it may be.
I can’t explain how much I hope my state of Illinois passes Gay Marriage. This is a good sign. We are ready, now let’s get it done.
(Merry Christmas Eve everyone :) )
-Andrew
-Ian
The Definition of Marriage - John Corvino
Another great video by him
-Andrew
And I am sorry to say that he is anti-equality.
As some of you know, my ultimate hope is that GCI grows to rival the size of GCN as an organization and become a physically present body and not just a blog. So I have undertaken the responsibility of contacting pastors within my region and seeing what I can give to the next editor in the form of advice and organization influence and maybe even finances. So far I have only spoken to my Church (SDFC) on Nazarenes for Equality and the Presbyterian church I mentioned before. But as you can imagine the going is slow, but not unworkable.
But back to my discussion regarding the Presbyterian pastor.
He does come from a very conservative generation and when I spoke to him, he didn’t seem to have ever truly encountered an opposing argument (he has met Mel White and knows of More Light Presbyterians, however) that was well formed. When I spoke with him, did not seem to be able to retort to most of my points. Instead, he occasionally resorted to conjecture or simply did not have a counter-argument.
Considering that he attended Seminary in the 70’s, it is not suprising this is the case.
But he was very loving and civilized no less, and I do pray that I helped plant the seeds of understanding with him from our discussion!
-Ian
1 Corinthians 5:12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
[New Zealand] Prime Minister John Key said there was more support for the first gay marriage vote than he had expected.
Same-sex marriage has become a near-certainty after legislation to allow it passed its first reading last night by a two-to-one margin.
The size of the majority means the Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill is now expected to pass comfortably into law.
Mr Key said it was an “overwhelming result” and a “strong endorsement for equality of rights.”
“It puts the bill in a strong place to potentially become law given you’ve got more than two thirds of Parliament voting for it.”…
The most dramatic turnaround of the night came from National’s Hunua MP, Paul Hutchison, who had told the Herald on Tuesday that he would oppose the measure.
After revealing that [bill sponsor Louise] Wall had given him last-minute advice on same-sex marriage, he said: “I cannot construct a strong enough intellectual, moral, health or even spiritual argument against it.”
Ms Wall described his u-turn as the most poignant moment of the debate.
She said Dr Hutchison had called her late on Tuesday night.
“He wanted to engage, he wanted to have a conversation and had some questions and I was able to provide some evidence about those questions.”
Dr Hutchison, a former obstetrician and gynaecologist, said he was deeply concerned that gay adolescents had a suicide rate five to eight times that of heterosexual adolescents “in a country that already has an appallingly high suicide rate”.
He was told by gay MPs Maryan Street and Kevin Hague that the passage of the bill would have a profound effect on the marginalisation that adolescents felt.
“From a health perspective, we should be doing everything possible to create an environment in New Zealand where everyone feels they are included,” Dr Hutchison said.
I teared up watching this, not gonna lie.
Powerful video of a gathering by Catholic people who support marriage equality singing their song of support.
Love it.
Response
Let us begin with this important fact: Ex-Gays are myth. Simply, they do not exist. They were either never gay to begin with (rather bisexual, forced to be acting on their heterosexual tendencies) or they are homosexual who have re-entered the closet.
Second, we should distance all association between Ex-Gays and their heterosexual sponsors from the Christian faith. There are no Biblical prohibitions on homosexuality or marriage equality. The way they construe Scripture for a bigoted end combined with the lasting damage they do to their victims is irreconcilible with the Gospel.
I hope this answer satisfies.
-Ian
View Larger I know we’re preaching to the choir with this one, but hopefully this serves as a quick go-to explanation for our followers who hit rough patches with any hateful Christians they may come across!
-Kevin
