As a conservative Christian, I have had my share of anger from 2003. I have seen our president finally sign a bill into law that outlawed the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion, only to see judicial tyranny undermine his efforts, along with the efforts of all of those who fight for the right to life. I have seen a Christian denomination throw the Bible out the window by electing its first gay bishop. And now, Massachusetts has pretty much approved same-sex marriages.
I've been wanting to write something about the homosexuality issue for a long time. The problem was finding a format in which I felt comfortable doing it. I have now been inspired by a webmaster who goes by the screen name of Gilgamesh.
First, I should probably give some background. As most people can probably tell from the subject of my book, I have a fascination with the martial arts. This fascination, when I was in high school, led me to a specific genre of video game . . . the Fighter. Over the years, as this genre has evolved to show more women in impossibly revealing clothing doing things that would cause this clothing to fall off (if we pay much attention to physics), I've been pleased to notice that my favorite character, Chun Li, has remained a lady. In effect, she dresses the part of a lady.
Gilgamesh (aka Chris Bradshaw) has what is pretty much accepted as the definitive Chun Li fansite. His design ability is flawless. I'll tip my hat to him for that. He's also a highly intelligent individual. Though he and I definitely don't agree on a great many things (he is the way I was prior to 1996), I do respect his mind. An article that he wrote on his web-site has given me an idea for a response. Again, I thank him.
He starts by commenting about how Massachusetts's ruling has brought all sorts of "loudmouths out of the woodwork." I will count myself among that number and congratulate my fellow "loudmouths" on doing something that God commands . . . That is, preaching the Bible. When the Episcopal Church made its landmark . . . not to mention unscriptural . . . decision to ordain an openly gay bishop, I was floored. I mean, here was a major Christian denomination that was choosing to ignore the Bible. Of course there's going to be an outpouring of opposition! This even came from the Orthodox Christians in their own church. Stephanie Sawyer, the author of Facing Me (ISBN: 1591295297), is one of those Bible-believing Episcopalians who was angered by her church's disregard for Scripture.
Now I am not going to debate the "Separation of Church and State" thing. The constitution never says that a man should be able to marry a man. It only says that the government cannot make laws favoring one religion. Unfortunately, the late twentieth century found our government doing just that. It's laws favored anything but Christianity.
Gigamesh makes an intesting comment at this point. He says that the Bible "says a lot of stuff that we don't listen to anymore." Then, he uses, as an example, the fact that the Catholics no longer require a fasting from meat on Fridays. Okay, here is the difference. There was no Scriptural basis for that rule. It's not a Biblical law that we are ignoring. It's not a Biblical law . . . Period. However, there are many verses that condemn homosexuality. One that really stands out is Romans 1:26-27.
He goes on to state that he considers himself a "real world" Christian, believing in the "basic message of the Bible." Then, he comments that he doesn't think that Christians are the only ones who will go to Heaven. I'm sorry. I have to beg to differ. If a person doesn't believe that Christ is the only way to Heaven, then he is ignoring the main, basic fundamental of the Christian faith and is, thus, not a Christian.
Mr. Bradshaw asks a final question that I want to address. He asks why God should care if two people of the same gender are in love. The answer to that is that I don't know. But this isn't the point. The point is that He does care. And, as a good friend once said, it doesn't matter if God's reasoning makes sense to me or not. I have chosen to follow Him, so I must follow all of Him.
UPDATE: Gilgamesh recently honored me with an e-mail regarding details of this article. He asked that I make a few corrections, such as his name. He also said that he no longer considers himself a Christian, at all. He says that he is an agnostic. August 7, 2005