May 31, 2012
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Same Sex Marriage
(I really don’t want any hateful responses on this post. I’m not writing this post to debate the issue. I firmly believe marriage is between one man and one woman.)
I asked a friend of mine two questions:
1st Scenario: A couple comes to the church and wants to have their child dedicated.
(This is a ceremony we do for any parents who would like to dedicate their child unto God and to charge the parents and the church to care for this child.)
I then tell my friend that this couple is living together and are not married.
He tells me it would be ok for the church to dedicate the child. After all it’s about the child.
1st question: Would it be ok for the church to dedicate their child in front of the church?
2nd Scenario: A couple comes to the church and wants to have their child dedicated.
I then tell my friend this is a same sex couple.
2nd question: Would it be ok for the church to dedicate their child in front of the church?
He tells me it would not be ok for the church to dedicate the child because the parents are gay.
I then asked him if being gay was worse than living together?
He didn’t have an answer.
What would be your answers?
Is my friend hypocritical?
Comments (26)
Worse???? I have no judgment on that matter. I’ve never heard of dedicated. Is that like a baptism?
it should not matter either way. the child is an innocent. isnt there some thing about, “he who seeks me, shall not be turned away”??? and if being gay or living together out of wedlock is a sin (and all sins are equal) then if they are asking to enter, then their sins are absolved.
cant rec this post as ie wont let me.
I don’t think being gay is an issue here. The issue is whether unmarried parents pose a difficulty for the child to receive a blessing.
Since Jesus said, “Let the children come to me,” I can’t imagine a child being unworthy of a blessing based on the marital state of his parents.
@PrisonerxOfxLove - I agree
@vexations - Yes. We don’t do infant baptisms, but we do infant/child dedications. It’s a ceremony in which the family comes in front of the church with the child. The Pastor prays over the child then charges the parents and the church to spiritually care for the child.
@buddy71 - Agreed
I live in California. I open my eyes and mind every morning. I understand that most of us have a need to connect with a higher power and to want that beginning of a connection through ritual. It should be freely shared if it’s offered. (pats heart and points to “all that is”)
@Jaynebug - Thanks (I enjoyed your blog -I’m a fan of saying a lot by saying little.)
@Randy7777 - Also, I don’t think your friend is being hypocritical. Most Christians have just blindly accepted ideas without having thought them through.
And that’s why the secular world is taking us to the cleaners.
@Randy7777 - Thank you. Make it a great day!
@PrisonerxOfxLove - You have a great point. I want the church to open their eyes and start thinking. The church needs to be taken to the cleaners.
@buddy71 - Absolutely well said.
I don’t know what religion you are ( I am an ELCA Lutheran.) I suppose we are a bit more “liberal” in our beliefs as women and homosexuals are allowed to preach. The Baptism of an infant requires that a sponsor and the congregation honor the pledge of ensuring the teachings and loving of Christ. That’s it.
@vexations - No it’s when you take your child to church and the church members hold you accountable as a parent and help you the best they can to raise the child.
@SHEERROSE -
But as has been said before here, that is what happens at a baptism. Why not just do a baptism?
@vexations - We believe baptism is an outward proclamation of an inward transformation. An infant doesn’t have a choice of baptism. We believe that when a person is saved the person then is to get baptized.
@Kellsbella - I’m Assembly of God. Yes, you are more liberal in your beliefs than we are.
@vexations - No you’re confused.
@SHEERROSE - I see, Baptists have rather unique beliefs about a baptism. I get it. I guess that is why I am not a Baptist.
He doesn’t have an answer for the only question that matters, yet he can make a judgment of what they can and can’t do based on the same criterion of the question. Around here we call him a hypocrite.
Obviously!
@brown_buffalo - I’m hoping education changes that.
In God’s eyes – sin is sin … but that probably isn’t answering your question.
Both relationships are outside God’s blessing. In either case, I would bring the ‘parents’ in for counsel and give them the good news that they can be new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5) and that the dedication ceremony means they have promised to raise the child in the ‘fear and admonition of the Lord’; therefore, unless they accept Jesus as personal Lord and Savior, the dedication ceremony is meaningless; no one can dedicate a child to a God they do not know, obey or serve. You can’t charge the parents and church to care for the child if they have, by their lifestyle, already refused to do that. I’m saying that any unmarried couple having sex are in disobedience. It’s not about blessing the child, it’s about promising to raise the child in Christ.
You know what I think?
For a country that is putting “family life” on
a pedestal, like people do in the United States, it is devastating to read,
hear and see with how much ease they just exclude a whole group of people, and
a whole group of innocent children, from having it.
Is it not God who will judge others?
Is it not Him, and not we, who has his final
say about these things?
Are we not just humble servants who have to respect
the basic rules of life, that every person is a human being, equal to us?!
It depends on the religion. If the religion accepts same sex couples, then they are in the right place. If they want their child dedicated in a religion that preaches against practicing homosexuality, then it is ridiculous to expect a dedication or baptism because they would be deliberately raising the child contrary to what that religion teaches; even though they are publicly saying through a dedication that they intend to raise the child in that religion. it would be hypocrisy. The same thing applies for unwed couples.