I was just going to write this as a comment at on the other post, but it got long so I brought it up to a full post.

What I think many Christians forget is that there are real people with real emotions who want to be married. To look at them and say that your marriage is going to be the same as someone marrying goat is a little off putting and best and at worst will probably turn them off from this whole “Christian” thing altogether. When I look at this issue I can’t help but think that if when I decided that Meredith was the person I wanted to spend my life with I would have been outraged if someone had told me that I couldn’t marry her. At that moment it would no longer be a political issue it would be a personal issue.

I just think that homosexuality is an easy target for Christians. It is something to rally against. Why are we stopping there. Here are other things that we should have laws against: premarital sex, gossip, lying, disobeying your parents, not loving your neighbor, etc. A truly “Christian nation” could try to make all of those things laws, but we wouldn’t end up a more moral place; even if people followed all of those laws because morality is a matter of the heart more than a matter of our actions. You can change the actions on the outside and people would still be just as messed up on the inside.

Is it any wonder that the people that Jesus had the biggest problem with were the people who were following the most rules. The religious leaders of his day had all of the outward stuff working, but inside they were messed up. I am not saying that homosexuality is right. I am not saying that it is something that we should embrace and celebrate. I am saying that maybe gay marriage is a fight that actually hurts us more than it helps us. In my opinion there are bigger issues that need to be faced, and better ways to help people to find Jesus.

Why not instead of being against gay marriage we decided that we were going to be against hunger in the US. That was going to be our new rallying cry. Or what if the church instead of pouring millions into a political battle poured millions into helping the homeless or after school programs. Sure some churches are part of these programs, but I know that in my circles I have heard more Christians talk against gays than I have heard them talk about helping the helpless.

If we could do that, if we could rally for something instead of against something then maybe we could start to work along side people who may just happen to be gay, and as we do maybe they could see Jesus in our lives and then (and here is the crazy part) maybe God would convict them of their sin and help them to change their life just like God convicts me of mine.

(BTW: Everyone did see that California voted against gay marriage, but for the rights of chickens in egg farms. I just thought that was strange)