The definition of marriage has changed according to the time period and place where the marriages took place. It wasn't until the Protestant Reformation that that the state got involved in defining marriage and creating rules for it.
For a good portion of history, marriage didn't need the government to make it legal. Two or more people could just say they were married. Maybe there were rituals involved but there was no government approved certificate.
In most European and American countries, people marry for love. That has not always been true.
Why can't marriage change again?
Are you trying to pass laws to prevent people from drinking alcohol or to forbid them from marrying someone who also occasionally gets drunk? If not, then your comparison doesn't work.
Sexuality is like race in that you can't change it. If you have at all suggested to your brother that you love him but hate homosexuality, he has a right to be very angry and you should apologize. That is like telling someone that you love them but hate their race. It sounds horrible.
Yes, that is a hateful position to take. The particular religion and the interpretation of its holy book that someone follows says a lot about an individual. You decided which interpretation that you would follow. Not only did Jesus not mention homosexuality but the translation of the word that Paul used to say homosexuality was a sin has been disputed by many experts. You decided to go with the more negative translation which says something about you.
The same is true of women pastors. Paul contradicts himself a lot in the epistles. He tells women to be silent and gives instruction for women who make prophecies in church. How can women be silent but allowed to make prophecies also? Some experts think that more then one person wrote the letters or that Paul was writing to specific situations in specific cities with each letter.
Romans 16:1-2, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon in the church in Cenchreae. I ask that you receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and give to her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.”
Phoebe was a deacon. How could she be a deacon and not teach men or have some position over men?
Here is a different interpretation of the bible then you are using. Which interpretation that you decide to follow is based on your own prejudices and biases.
http://reknew.org/2007/12/women-in-ministry/
For a good portion of history, marriage didn't need the government to make it legal. Two or more people could just say they were married. Maybe there were rituals involved but there was no government approved certificate.
In most European and American countries, people marry for love. That has not always been true.
Why can't marriage change again?
Quote:No. Not true. I hate drunkeness, but I used to be a drunk and I don't hate myself.
Are you trying to pass laws to prevent people from drinking alcohol or to forbid them from marrying someone who also occasionally gets drunk? If not, then your comparison doesn't work.
Quote:I like some homosexual people just fine and others not so much. My brother is gay and I love him, but I don't like him much because he continually bashes me when we talk on the phone. We never even get to discuss homosexuality. He has just assumed, for no valid reason, that I hate him.
Sexuality is like race in that you can't change it. If you have at all suggested to your brother that you love him but hate homosexuality, he has a right to be very angry and you should apologize. That is like telling someone that you love them but hate their race. It sounds horrible.
Quote:So your position is that because I believe homosexual relations are sinful that I hate homosexuals? And because I believe a woman should not be a pastor that means I hate women?
Yes, that is a hateful position to take. The particular religion and the interpretation of its holy book that someone follows says a lot about an individual. You decided which interpretation that you would follow. Not only did Jesus not mention homosexuality but the translation of the word that Paul used to say homosexuality was a sin has been disputed by many experts. You decided to go with the more negative translation which says something about you.
The same is true of women pastors. Paul contradicts himself a lot in the epistles. He tells women to be silent and gives instruction for women who make prophecies in church. How can women be silent but allowed to make prophecies also? Some experts think that more then one person wrote the letters or that Paul was writing to specific situations in specific cities with each letter.
Romans 16:1-2, “I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon in the church in Cenchreae. I ask that you receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and give to her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.”
Phoebe was a deacon. How could she be a deacon and not teach men or have some position over men?
Here is a different interpretation of the bible then you are using. Which interpretation that you decide to follow is based on your own prejudices and biases.
http://reknew.org/2007/12/women-in-ministry/
