Ok, this whole gay-marriage thing....

On a parenting board I frequent, I am one of only a handful of Christians. And so when anything newsworthy (or not-so-newsworthy) happens, those few of us who claim to believe the Bible stand up for it (as Paul stated, "I am not ashamed of the gospel..."), and of course we get flamed for being intolerant, unloving, yada, yada, yada....
However, I like to remember that Jesus was not "tolerant" of sin. As the saying goes, love the sinner; hate the sin.
And so, to make my point, I am stating quite simply what I believe:

The Bible is clear about homosexuality....

• Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. (Lev. 18:22)
• Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.(Romans 1:26, 27)
• Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offender (1 Cor. 6:9)
• In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 7)

Jesus affirmed in Matthew 19 and Mark 10 that marriage is ordained for one man and one woman.

I do not believe people are "born gay". I do not believe there is a "gay gene". I do believe that homosexuality is a sinful desire. I think we all wrestle with our own sinful desires...be it gluttony, covetousness, lying, adultery, etc...but we have to learn self-control (which is admittedly difficult, but self control is one of the fruits of the spirit...so we can be overcomers with the power of God in us). Why some struggle more than others is a mystery. There are questions that we won't know the answers to until we get to ask God face to face. But one thing I am certain of. God doesn't make mistakes. Every single person walking this planet today do so because the Creator of the universe deemed it so.

I know that many "Christians" do not believe the Bible is the inspired word of God (despite "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16), but I do wonder....how can those who call themselves Christians deliberately twist the word of God? As someone so wisely pointed out to me...Jesus was clear what he meant when he said, ""Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21)

And that is all I have to say about that.