Christian Marriage is a lifelong 1m1w covenant

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So tell me. Ever wear poly/cotton blends?

What's the point of this thread, exactly? To remind us that christians are often bigoted?

This is how fundamentalist US Christians view the situation. No point in censoring them because they will espouse this regardless. It's this flowery idea of marriage based primarily on the last century in America and then claiming it has something to do with the Bible, that it has something to do with the fact men and women compliment each other because they are both needed to reproduce children. It's based on that. Reality is quite different. As we all know simply by existing as humans, marriage is rarely about the simple act of reproduction. What is in the Bible reflects the natural order - one male (sperm) and one female (egg) are needed to create the zygote. I am not homophobic but it's true two women or men together without a contribution of sorts from the opposite sex cannot produce a zygote and thus cannot procreate by themselves. The Bible bases it on biology and at the time, a man needed a woman and a woman needed a man to reproduce. Nowadays, men and women can reproduce without actually ever physically meeting. So, 2000 years ago, you needed a man and a woman in close contact to produce children and if that didn't happen, populations dwindled and human instinct is programmed to panic if this happens. If men limited themselves strictly to other men, back then, they wouldn't produce any children. So this could be the basis of it.


This is also the reason early gnostics lost favor with other Christians. Gnostics encouraged an ascetic lifestyle, pure body and not marrying or engaging in sexual intercourse, keeping things as spiritual as possible by denying the flesh, and if large masses of folks became gnostics, the population would become smaller because none of them would contribute any children. So orthodoxy won out because it was in favor of the majority of people getting married and raising a family.

However, throughout history, the family has rarely been about one man and one woman. It's been about a society of several men and several women, as in an extended family. So this idea there must be a marriage between a man and woman to successfully raise a family is not what reality teaches us. Success happens in a nurturing environment filled with nurturers. Creating the nurturing extended family type environment is what will lead to best outcomes.

... Or to remind us that some non-Christians can be just as self-righteous as some Christians?

That doesn't mean that self-righteousness is okay, though. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Further things that send you to hell:

Eating fat and/or blood (Lev 3:17)

Eating shellfish (Lev 11:10 to 12)

Getting a tattoo (Lev 19:28)

Wearing mixed fabrics (Lev 19:19)

Eating pork and touching pigskin (Lev 11:7 to 8 )

Trimming your beard (Lev 19:27)

Not standing up when in the presence of the elderly (Lev 19:32)

Working on weekends (Lev 23:3)


Tell me again why this book is in any way relevant to modern society? Also, since you accept the Old Testament as relevant, what's your stance on abortion, considering Numbers 5:21 to 28?

I am a conservative Christian, so I will add my opinion.

The US of A is Not a Christian Nation. It began as a place one could have religious freedom, at that time Protestant groups could practice freely without interference from Anglican or Catholic government leaders. And for many years Judeo Christian values were dominant throughout the US and the government. But the government itself is not Christian.

I’m sure someone can correct my memory of history, but it was only when Constantine was converted that Christianity kind of took over a big chunk of the world as it was then known. I understand we celebrate Christmas in December because the Emperor Constantine replaced some previous pagan holiday with this one. Given Biblical accounts, Jesus was born in early spring?

We will see how this recent Supreme Court decision will play out. Right now you have County Clerks, who are Christian, refusing to grant marriage licenses for gay couples. Does their personal faith, religious liberty trump what has become the law of the land?

I have to give the OP credit for specifying that he is talking about Christian marriage and not secular (or another religion's) marriage.

However, while the thread title is "Christian Marriage is a lifelong 1m1w covenant", the OP later admits:

Which looks to me like Christians saying "We don't actually agree with our god on this". I get that, I often disagree with the Christian god myself, but I'm confused about why a Christian would.

If the government of the state I live in were truly Christian, they would not insist on death as a punishment. I don't see that anywhere in the New Testament which suggests that death not be allowed.

If the government of the United States of America was a Christian government, then the Bill of Rights would have said so. Instead, the First Article of the Bill of Rights* says:Nowhere does it say that the U.S. of A. was established as a Christian nation.

Sure, there is "In God We Trust" on our money, but which god is being referred to?

Certainly, our Presidents take their oaths of office with one hand on a Bible, but this is more of a custom than rite of law ... and besides, is it the Catholic or the Protestant Bible? Is it really even a Bible at all, or is it just a black book-like thing with the words "Holy Bible" on one side?

Just where has it been legally established that this country is indeed a Christian nation, except in the minds of Christian zealots who are figuratively "Shoving their religion down our throats"?

Which raises another question: Which Christian religion is this country supposed to follow? Latter-Day Saints? Roman Catholic? Branch Davidian? What ... ?

*Also known as the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Treaty of tripoli is pretty clear too

Here is a link to the Wikipedia article on the "Treaty of Tripoli".

So, on June 10, 1797, it was legally established that the U.S. of A. is NOT a Christian nation.

Where in the New Testament, exactly, is it stated that being homosexual will send you to Hell? And why should anyone care for the New Testament's opinion on the matter? You yourself concede that you don't agree with all of the Bible's teachings on sexual ethics - how do you know it's wrong about polygamy but right about homosexuality?

Forget abusive (although I think it's naive to say "you should wait for them to be rehabilitated") - what if you're forced into marriage at a young age? Or what if they actually threaten your life?

Fair enough if divorce isn't something you want personally for yourself, but it's a useful practice which has saved a great deal of suffering and created a great deal of pleasure, and our society has greatly benefited from it.

I asked the same question and this is the answer I received. The following NT verses are a veiled reference to homsexuality and are uttered by Jesus.

The Ministry of the Twelve
…14"Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. 15"Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

Above is Matthew: 14-15

Jesus compares people who refuse his Disciples' preaching to those living in the last days of Sodom and Gomorrah.

I have seen arguments that it wasn't so much the gay as the rape wrt s&g

Some Ravel today for our pleasure as we read and think:

Please define for me, in the scriptures, any difference between mortal and venial sins? What is the unpardonable sin? Because I'm more than a little sure that I can muster an overwhelming scriptural case that it is wrong to condemn homosexuals, that our guilt is equal to theirs, that under original sin we have the same problem with coming into a relationship with God, and that there is a penal justice system as well as a satisfactory justice system.

The satisfactory justice system (grace and truth through Jesus Christ) is the gospel/good-news and that is what we as Christians should present to the world. On the other end, the penal justice system (OT covenants between God and Adam, Abraham, Moses, the Levites, and then the prophets who restored the temple under Darius and Cyrus) is for the benefit of society and for the well-being of Christians, but no one can live up to it and we have no basis for using the penal system to cast judgment on anyone else.

So it is perfectly consistent for Christians not to impose their views on others, and still hold God's justice in high regard. When we cast judgment on people for being homosexual, or for some other "mortal sin" (which is not a biblical concept), what we are doing is confusing the two justice systems and cheapening God's gift of grace.

Last edited by Lukecash12 on 01 Jul 2015, 2:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.