My thoughts on Gay Marriage and sin

I want to start with a warning, this is a long post.

With the issue of Gay Marriage in the hands of the California Supreme court I have been seeing a barrage of people using the bible as a weapon of hate. So I just wanted to add my two cents to the conversation. First I want to talk about what sin as defined in the bible.

Deuteronomy 5:6-21

⁶ “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

⁷ “You shall have no other gods before me.

⁸ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

¹² “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. ¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

¹⁶ “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁷ “You shall not murder.

¹⁸ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ “You shall not steal.

²⁰ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

²¹ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Here are the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses on the mountain. Now I am going to tell you something I have broken all of them in my thoughts and or in my actions. I am going to go through and explain my sin. I am going to number them 1-10.

1. Before I met my husband I had no religious beliefs only an idea that I was already too sinful to be forgiven. My husband loved me and showed me what it means to love and to forgive. This is an example of putting someone else before God. Now I believe that God sent me my husband because he loves me, but that is a different matter.

2. Well this is a good time to mention that before I came to God I searched for God's love in all the wrong places. So yes, I have prayed to the God and Goddess for protection.

3. I get so upset sometimes I curse and I misuse God's name. I want to believe it is rare but I am guilty of this.

4. I am also guilty of not keeping the Sabbath day and I sometimes chose to stay home over going to mass.

5. My father died when I was an infant, and then my step father died when I was 9. I am angry with my mother for all of the hurt she has caused me. In the past the anger bordered on hate, not very honoring.

6. I am a meat eater; animals die so that I might live. I kill spiders for no good reason except for fear. I have even said I am so mad I could kill . . . If our thoughts are just as sinful as our actions then it counts, because even for a moment I believed I was better than that other person.

7. Rob was not my first love. All those times I chose lust over love was me cheating on my future husband.  Or even looking at an attractive actor and feeling lustful, yeah that counts too.

8. When I was young, still in elementary school I stole from a gas station that I had to walk past on my way to school. I waste time, which is stealing from myself, my family, and from others. Sometimes I hide in the bedroom closet to eat chocolate so that I do not have to share. Is that not stealing?

9. I can be judgmental and when I was younger I was a huge gossip. I took what I heard as fact and spread it around like jelly on toast. I learned a very hard lesson about how much that hurts people and I try not to be so destructive.  But gossip is sin folks, and I am guilty.

10. I see things that I want and I covet it. I feel envy and jealousy. Why can't I look like that, that is so cool I really want that too. How many times have you witnessed me coveting my friend's cow Bessie? More than once.

I am guilty of breaking all Ten Commandments. How about the seven deadly sins, let's see how I measure on that scale. Here is a great article that I am using here

Proverbs 6:16-19

¹⁶ There are six things the Lord hates—
no, seven things he detests:
¹⁷ haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
¹⁸ a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord in a family.

Here is a clearer list I found http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Seven_Deadly_Sins.pdf

The Seven Deadly Sins

Three Spiritual Sins

1. Pride (spiritual sin)

2. Envy (spiritual sin)

3. Wrath (spiritual sin affected by body)

Four Corporal Sins

4. Accidia or Sloth (corporal sin)

5. Avaricia/Cupiditas or Greed

(corporal sin)

6. Gluttony (corporal sin)

7. Lust (corporal sin)

1. Pride. I looked up a good example of what being prideful is when we lie, we are wanting to make ourselves look good, make excuses for our not doing the right thing. I do try to justify myself so I fail here to.

2. Envy. I covered this in the Ten Commandments.

3. Wrath. I mentioned that I get angry and that I am still angry at my mother above.

4. Sloth. I am lazy, say 75% of the time. I hope I am being generous.

5. Greed.  I guess hiding in the closet eating chocolate falls here to.

6. Gluttony. I over indulge on alcohol, chocolate, and crafty things.

7. Lust. Well I fail here too. Although I only want my husband I have been known to see attractive people and think "that's nice."

After looking at my own sinfulness based on the bible's definition of sin, it appears that I am not going to make it into heaven. I fail a lot. I am sinful. So what is the point? JESUS. I will get to that. First I want to examine the seven holy virtues

  1 Corinthians 13:1-13

13 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;^[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

⁸ Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages^[b] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! ⁹ Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! ¹⁰ But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. ¹² Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.^[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

¹³ Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Seven Holy Virtues

Three Spiritual (or Theological) Virtues

1. Fides (Faith)

2. Spes (Hope)

3. Caritas (Charity)

The Four Cardinal (or Pagan) Virtues

4. Prudence

5. Temperance

6. Fortitude

7. Justice

 

1. Faith. I believe that we are made in God's image and that we are all made perfectly. I believe that God loves all of us so much that he sent Jesus to die for our sins. I have a lot of faith in God's greatness.

2. Hope. I am filled with Hope. Hope that I can be better. Hope that I will meet God in the afterlife.

3. Charity, which one does good deeds out of love for God alone. I try to do this.

4. Prudence, careful in providing for the future. We grow food and teach the children in the value of living in a way that protects the earth.

5. Temperance, moderation or self-restraint in action, statement. Well I am a work in progress.

6. Fortitude, mental and emotional strength in facing difficulty, adversity, danger, or temptation courageously. I think I do a good job of this, at the very least I try hard.

7. Justice, the moral principle determining just conduct. I think I do okay on this one too, but again I try to do my best.

I know this is a crazy long post and if you made it this far. Thank you for sticking with it. Now I have gone over the Ten Commandments and the seven deadly sins. I have bared all my sins for you to witness. Homosexuality is not on either one of the lists that are in the bible. Even if it were how can I judge another person for their sins look at mine. I am dirty, flawed, and broken. I believe love is love. I also believe in equality.

I am a Christian; all that means is I follow the teachings of Christ. Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). Love one another, it is just that easy. So let's stop using our bibles as weapons and start loving each other equally. Let's leave the judgments to God.

I am sorry for the long winded post today but I hope you understand why I wanted to share my views with you.

 

I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love, and laughter. Be well my friends.