Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage

[Nintendoobsessed]

And live a lie their whole life, pretending to love members of the opposite sex? How exactly is that good or virtuous?

Well, it doesn't really matter what you want! It's all about how the Bible controls your life!

[Captain Jim]

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[Turtlekid1]

Well, it doesn't really matter what you want! It's all about how God controls your life!

Fixed.

[Captain Jim]

That still feels broken. More so than before.

[PaperLuigi]

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Lucario and John!

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

[Luigison]

No one is innocent.  Other than grace, that is the primary message of the Bible.

I've responded to this before.  This is my last time explaining it, so PLEASE pay attention this time.

The desire to practice sodomy is an inclination.  Yes, some people will be pre-disposed towards it.  Some people are, unfortunately, exposed to circumstances from birth that cause them to think that way.  The choice comes in when they choose to either give in to or resist the sinful temptation.

I partly agree, but think that some recent research suggests that the predisposition actually starts before birth.  There is a fairly strong correlation between homosexuality and the amount of testosterone received during pregnancy that can even be noticed in the ratio of ring to index fingers.  Further, when women have multiple male children each baby receives less testosterone than the previous one and is more likely to be homosexual.   This could be because the mother doesn't have enough testosterone for successive births, the mother's body rejects each "foreign" male in the womb more strongly, or evolution has built in homosexuality as a population control.  I also think that most exposure after birth is predominantly heterosexual.  Specifically, a student committed suicide because he could no longer deal with homosexual feelings in a family and church that specifically forbid such.  It really upset me when the preacher at his funeral basically preached about how suicide and homosexuality are wrong. 

[PaperLuigi]

Prayers for Bobby?

[bullykoopa96]

I am a Catholic and am religious to an extent

But I think it's a crock of **** that ANYBODY could believe that you have a choice, and that its possible to be "fixed".  It's not a sinful temptation, and yes research has proven that more than likely its something you're born with, and you will keep it no matter how much denial you are in.

[sadib100]

I say we should be allowed to marry whoever we want to. If I want to marry my dad and my dog, you have no right to get in my way.

[Suffix]

It's probably too late to ask for a citation on that, eh bullykoopa? Mah, I'm not that interested anyway.

I personally believe strongly in a conflict between conditioning and sociological norms.

[Forest Guy]

While I'm not flat out against gay marriage, I believe it should ultimately be left up to state voting.

I also still think that homosexuality should still be classified as a mental illness. I don't think they're bad people, but I just think it matches the definition of a mental illness.

[CrossEyed7]

I probably already said something similar to this a while back somewhere, but meh: Marriage in America currently exists as a joint operation between the church and the state. As things stand now, we can't legalize gay marriage, because if the state changed the definition of marriage from what it's been here pretty much since the founding of America, it would essentially be dictating to the church what they have to believe. If you want gay marriage, or something similar, you'd first have to split the concept of marriage up -- making the word "marriage" refer to a solely personal religious institution, which each church or group of churches (or mosques or synagogues or whatever) can define on their own, and put all the legal benefits of what we currently call marriage into a contract, overseen by the government, that any two people can make with each other.

[Suffix]

Well put. I love it when actual solutions are conceptualized.

[Forest Guy]

Well yes it is nice, but I thought the point of the thread was to express your own views on whether or not gays should be able to wed.

[PaperLuigi]

Gays should be able to wed. I still consider myself a Christian (although my faith is dwindling as noted in the religion topic a while back) but it's not my business to tell people how to live. That is, I'm not an evangelist.

Forest Guy, how is homosexuality a mental illness? Please elaborate.