Its that time of year. The tinsel is out, the tree is up and the family flying in with a barrage of questions about your job, house, friends and your love life.
My partner and I have been together for six years. While we have toyed with the idea of marriage it has not necessarily been a life goal, but family and community has always been an important feature in our lives.
My religious upbringing was a kind of ‘supermarket’ Christianity. We were Catholics, Mormans, Jehovah’s Witness, Anglicans, Baptists, we were Born Agains (again and again). While eventually mum settled for being Born Again, and dad settled for a special kind of anti-authoritarian Christianity, suspicious of all organised religion. I settled for an agnostic hope in humanity.
I was brought up to have a great respect for all people, to do unto others as you have done unto you. It was with some astonishment then that at my cousin’s christening last weekend I was confronted with preachings of hate from so called men of God.
The love we were feeling welcoming a new born into our community was pierced with bigotry.
“We are campaigning against gay marriage. For those who do not believe that gays or lesbians should be allowed to marry, there is a petition at the back of the Church. I urge you all to sign it.” Everyone was stunned.
After the service, I overheard a conversation outside between a grandmother and her teenage granddaughter, “I don’t know why Father is promoting this anti-gays petition, there is much more going on in the world that needs our attention. It Christmas time, this is meant to be a time of love and compassion.”
It was a reminder of how distant the church leadership can be from the views of its membership, the people who make up the organisation.
The battle ahead for marriage equality is a long road, while a majority of ordinary Australians are on our side. Let us not forget as we get more organised, so will the haters. Its time to get active! Join the GLRL today: www.glrl.org.au
info: Rathana Chea is a NSW GLRL Co-Convenor
Thank you David Lograsso and of course our Bayne!
Bayne, well said mate :) Big thumbs up
Souls supply u have so got it wrong. Enough is enough of the damage that has been done to glb people.
Learn to live like ur leader.
Same sex love is not sin and gay and lesbian people are not defective. Gays are accepted by God and loved.
I do apologise on behalf of the church for all the bigotry dished out to the gay community by ignorant people claiming to be christians and for not declaring the true gospel that CHrist is for all.
SOUL SUPPLY _ being gay is not sin ,its not a sickness, its nothing different t obeign born with a diferent color or being left handed.
Many people have been damaged by the ignorant and false teaching that being gay is sin.
More churches are waking up that glbt people are accepted for who they are and Scripture does not condem gay people and same sex relationships. There is plenty of resourses out there.
Im avaialable for any questions, [email protected]
soulsupply, Jesus never says one thing about being Gay being sinful in the Bible! Leviticus says some but then he also tells us not to throw a shrimp on the barbie and not to have pork or bacon or wear cotton-blend socks, and it’s pretty harsh on disabled people and more. Poor modern translations have Paul saying some and you can google the controversy over the translations yourself. Paul was but a man, a student. What did Jesus himself say?
In Mathew 19:12 he said “some are Eunuchs because they are born that way”. He clearly at the very least is talking about Intersex people. If you don’t know what that is you should google that too. But the laws against Gay Marriage also ban Intersex Marriage, yet God made those people Intersex, made them born that way as Jesus says!
And then there’s the Transsexual Gene. In biblical times Transsexual people were often called Eunuchs too, and the gene and other brain discoveries show they appear to be Born That Way, as Jesus said! And the same laws against Gay Marriage often ban Transsexuals from marriage or force already married ones to divorce!
And then there’s brain scans and autopsies that show Gay men have brains similar to straight women, and Lesbians to straight men, and other scientific evidence suggests they too may be Born That Way, and in biblical times Gays and Lesbians were sometimes called.. eunuchs.
Just as the understanding of the bible had to change when the world was discovered to orbit the sun so too must understanding change when it turns out they actually are Born That Way, just like Jesus told you.
Millions of good Christians around the world advocate for and support Same-Sex Marriage.
These include Bishops, Priest, an Arch Bishop Nobel Prize Winner, Nuns, Reverends, scholars, Uniting Church Ministers and more.
The issue of gay marriage ia about righteousness and not simply about love and compassion – the greatest love is to care enough for people to guide then to the truth of life in Jesus… not a hollow ‘truth’ founded upon a popular opinion.
YES ..Jesus died for gays and loves them equally to non-gays, but he died to free them from sin (to pursue righteousness) and not enter a poularity contest mediated by a perceived public opinion.