Monday, November 3, 2008

Halloween and Proposition 8

Halloween was a night that started terribly and end up wonderfully. I was invited to a party where by a friend I met at church. I was planning on going, and then my friend realized she had to work and wouldn't be able to go. No biggie, I'll just crash the party and make friends. So I dress up as Terry Langner, freelance security guard, and head to the party. I arrive, then sat in my car for an hour because I realized, "I might not know anyone in there. And that would be weird." I listened to UnderOath at extreme volumes, it helped a little.

After sulking in my car I headed over to a house where some guys and gals from UNC live. I know them through random mutual friends and I had been to the house once before. It was a great time, I met lots of new people, got to know the UNC folks a little better and really enjoyed myself. It helped that there was loud music and a strobe light.

One guy had a genius costume -- a propeller made of cardboard and aluminum foil with "8" written on it. Prop 8. Which is utterly hilarious.

For you non-Californians (which is probably everyone), Prop 8 is going to be voted on Tuesday. If it passes, then the State Constitution will be amended to legally define marriage as a heterosexual union. This is in response to a court case a while back where the judge's ruling allowed gay marriage in California.

So, how should I vote on this matter? You might think that being a Christian, I would obviously want the bill to pass. But I am not so sure how I feel about that. Should we vote based on our moral convictions or our sense of justice and fairness? The campaign against Prop 8 states, "Regardless of how you feel about marriage, it's wrong to eliminate others' rights." And I agree.

"But Chad, marriage is a picture of Christ and the Church! And homosexuality is explicitly condemned in Scripture!" Yes, these things are true and I believe them. I do not think that Churches should officiate and endorse homosexuality, whether in lifestyle or marriage. But I also believe in the Separation of Church and State. And sine the State does not hold marriage up as a spiritual union, then why shouldn't they allow gay marriage? Furthermore, if we are to make laws that reflect the morality of Scripture, then it logically follows that all sinning should be outlawed. It should be illegal to drink and chew and go with girls that do. JK JK, lol. But seriously, a campaign should be started to make Christianity the official religion of the United States. And we all know that that is just ridiculous.

So, I welcome your thoughts and opinions. Let's hear 'em.

7 comments:

janel said...

thoughts? ... who is that freelance security guard?

opinions? ... try to avoid using "JK JK lol" in blogposts.

thanks. see you dec 23rd.

love,
janel

patD said...

i think that's a stance that most Christians are unwilling to reconsider. having a stance against gay marriage or something like pro-life is, for the most part, a very conservative "christian" viewpoint.

and if you truly believe in the separation of church and state then forcing your moral convictions and values on others (the ones that are mainly shaped by your faith) is hypocritical.

good things to think about for sure.

by the way, did you go early vote?

Anonymous said...

Let me start off with my agreement that we shouldnt legislate religion. However, Not all morals are inherently based in religion. Traditionally morals are just a set of societal "norms" that are adhered to and respected by the majority of the people, regardless of basis. Things like Murder, Rape, Larceny, etc are unwritten norms. We inherently know they are wrong regardless of religion.

Then you get into the vagueries of things like homosexual marraige. There are non religious types who disagree with it. There are even more religious types (and were talking a LOT more than Christian here...see what happens to homosexuals in Muslim countries) who disgree with it, of course.

However, that doesnt mean they dislike the people. Its love the sinner, hate the sin, but thats an aside. Back to the issue at hand.

This is the land of the free. That doesnt mean the freedom to do what you want when you want. It means the freedom to PERSUE what you want. You have the right and ability to make a case for your beliefs, and to share that with others, and convince them of your mindset. When you win the hearts and minds of the people, you have the ability to make rules in your society to reflect that set of common ideals.

However, if you fail to convince enough people of your viewpoint, that doesnt mean you have the freedom to do it anyways. It means you are in the minority, and you hardly have the right to trample the wishes of the majority.

Now, I spoke that as an American. Now Ill speak as a Christian.

We dont need to be spending out time trying to put legislative caps on people and society to maintain an image of morality and decency in this country. We are charged by God to spread the word to the people, and love them regardless of thier shortcomings, because every last one of us has them. For us to view our personal drawbacks as less "evil" than those of another is sin itself, because then we arent loving that other person as we should, we are merely judging them. You can only be judged by someone above you, and we as people are ALL equals. We can council, we can help, and we can love. But we cannot judge.

That is not to say we can't tell someone they are doing wrong or living in sin, but it has to be clear that we are doing so because we care about them and truly believe that if they dont change thier ways, an eternity of pain awaits them. We arent trying to "fix" them to be as good as we are (because we are NOT good), we are merely acting out of love and concern. If you really believe eternal damnation awaits someone who does not believe, how can you not reach out to them?

Anonymous said...

Chad, you and I both know this is a front for you to ensure that you can still get married to your boyfriend after today. We all know that's why you moved out to California to begin with. Freakin' homo.

Chad said...

jeremy, great point about the inherently accepted norms. I will have to think about that. While we shouldn't regulate some "evils," we should of course have laws against terrible things like murder, rape, etc. And I agree with that, I am trying to figure out how this works into my world view and what the criteria should be for deciding whether something should be outlawed.

mark, your an idiot. but i love you. but not in a prop 8 way.

Stephanie said...

Chad, I feel about this topic the way I feel about abortion. Glad I'm not the person making the ultimate decision. I think I agree with your thinking, we should follow God's word and wisdom as written in the Bible- but this is by choice. And I especially do not think the government of the USA (or a state within it)should take away a right that was already given its people.

Mostly, I think of how God gives us an innate sense of right and wrong, He gave us the holy spirit and He gave us His son and His word. And He still gives us freedom to be individuals, knowing that we will make wrong decisions but still loving us and wanting for us to learn from mistakes and choose the right direction in this life.

So if Almighty God gives us the freedom to do this, who am I to say "no" to someone else?

Often, taking away people's rights to choose automatically turns them away from your cause (not being open to knowing God).

Would you mind sharing your thoughts on what people in Cali are saying now that the votes are in?

Andrew said...

Chad, what's the word on the street about prop 8 now, post-election?