Posted on 10/18/2011 11:38:34 AM PDT by Cronos
Would you attend a same-sex wedding ceremony? That question was posed recently to Houston pastor Joel Osteen, and Osteen said that he would attend, if the wedding involved friends. This came just after Osteen indicated that he could not perform a same-sex marriage ceremony, since he believes that homosexuality is a sin.
I recently wrote about this exchange, suggesting that Osteen’s position is morally and theologically incoherent. As I said:
This is beyond mere incoherence. It is moral and theological nonsense. More than that, it is a massive statement of ministerial malpractice. . . . You cannot celebrate what you say you know to be sin. You cannot honestly say that same-sex marriage defies the law of God, and then join in the celebration of that ceremony.
In recent days, Uri Scaramanga of “Out of Ur” and Leadership magazine posed the question to readers, using my comments as a point of reference. The question: “Is Al Mohler right? Is attending a same-sex marriage ceremony the same as performing one? Is it ministerial malpractice? What would you do?”
The responses to that question are revealing. I did not, however, argue that attending a same-sex marriage ceremony is the same as performing one, I did say - and I repeat - that it is incoherent and inconsistent to refuse to perform a same-sex marriage ceremony, and then to attend one.
(Excerpt) Read more at christianpost.com ...
NO.
No!
...And that goes DOUBLE for the bachelor party!
I just saw an article posted to FR concerning a “gay marriage” poll. It seemed like a reasonable poll, not one of the “50%” support gay marriage ones. It said that 64% are against it, still not too good, but reasonable. The pro-marriage amendments passed by an average of 67%, most of them coming in the middle of the last decade.
Anyhow the poll said that that 40% of those polled said that marriage was created by man. That isn’t a good sign at all.
Freegards
“Given time, no church, no family, and no individual Christian will escape this question. This will lead, unquestionably, to hard decisions and awkward situations. The time to think about this question is now.”
It would not be a hard decision at all. The answer is no, period.
Joel Osteen is a wonderful motivational speaker.shalom b'SHEM Yah'shua HaMashiachHowever he does not have a clue
who the creator of the universe is.He serves Mammon not YHvH.
I don’t think Dr. Mohler meant it was a hard theological question but that it could cause people to lose friends, status, etc by towing the biblical-orthodox position.
“Only if Fred Phelps is invited to attend.”
Better: Only if Fred Phelps is invited to officiate.
In fact, I have already refused to attend one such faggot mockery of a wedding.
I would think a friend would not ask me to participate, even by attending something he knew I felt was an abomination, a great sin.
Thinking... OK, done. I won't attend any gay weddings. And I won't attend any church that performs gay weddings.
It's a no-brainer if you actually have moral convictions.
I would disagree with you and refer to the Bible on the definition of ‘love’. We are to love the Lord first before family and friends. When we love someone, we respect their wishes. God has made his position on homosexuality very clear.
Matthew 22:35-39
One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
I’ve lost some good, old friends for not toeing the homo line. It was hard, but if one is willing to compromise their deepest convictions to “keep the peace” then they really have no convictions at all.
No hard decision here- ya wanna have the life style- have at it, but don’t expect me to support it with my approval. And you better darn well not flaunt it in my face.
Simply put..NO. I wouldn’t attend. I didn’t attend a wedding for a distant family member who cheated on his wife, left her with two small children and then married the mistress/girlfriend. I see marriage as a sacrament and couldn’t in good conscience attend. Just me...
A gay alumni of my kids’ Christian school in California posted a video about his problems at their school and he thinks a dialogue needs to happen at the school.
He’s right about somethings. There was a very negative chapel that linked homosexuality with eating dog poop. I had not heard of the chapel until the video. My son said it made him very uncomfortable.
I think we have to remember that God loves homosexuals. It is the primary goal of the Christian church to show love to one another.
Now, how do you do that at a Christian school. I think that bullying and name-calling, etc should not be tolerated for anyone. I think that all kids should be respected. I think that if someone has an opinion they should be allowed to express it in a safe environment.
I do not think the school has to have a gay club. I don’t think they have to allow gays to take a member of the same sex to a dance. I think the school has a right to say that they believe homosexual acts are sins according to the Bible.
My daughter and her husband (a very fine Christian man) live in another state in order to finish their schooling. Their landlords are a gay couple, males. They asked me about the advisability of continuing to rent from them after they discovered this fact. I asked in return if the rent was fair, the terms they agreed to were followed, and in general if they had been good landlords. The answer to all questions was yes. They then added that the two had been very kind to them even though they well understood that my daughter and son-in-law were serious Christians who could in no way endorse homosexuality. After a couple of years, with the legalization of same sex marriage in this particular state, the two decided to get “married,” and sent an invitation to my daughter and son-in-law. They declined to attend. They did so by going over to their house and, face-to-face, telling them that they could not, by their presence, validate what they knew to be morally wrong, while at the same time they again thanked them for being good and considerate landlords. The two said they understood, and would not want them to do what for them would be hypocrisy.
The neighborly relationship has continued, civil, cordial, but the point has been made.
In the case of Osteen, he is indeed being morally and theologically incoherent - nothing new for him. If one cannot tell the truth to family or friends, one will never be able to tell the truth. And so those who need, badly, to hear the truth from people they care for and, presumably know and at least somewhat trust, will not hear it.
But the truth does not have to spoken with anger, self-righteousness, or contempt. It should be spoken humbly, lovingly, and in the fear of God. For finally, all are sinners before God, who so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son. There is forgiveness also for this sin. In other words, God is deadly serious about sin and its reward, but He is just as serious about the forgiveness that He sent into the world in the person of His Son, the One who was “delivered up for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.”
My daughter and son-in-law continue to pray for them, treat them as neighbors (errant though they may be) and simply lead their own lives as Christians. To which I can only say, “Amen.”
No.
All I can say is, you go to your church and I’ll go to mine. I am speaking of a person who has been closer to me than even my own brother. Your church may call this an abomination, I can’t call it that.
Doesn’t mean I’ll vote FOR mixed marriages, but that’s because I don’t want them indulging in the perks that normal marriages offer.
Flame away all you want. I will never stop thanking God for allowing me to have such a wonderful friend in this lifetime.
And, FYI, I’m out of time to post today....so don’t waste your time and bandwidth trying to get a rise out of me. Be back tomorrow.
Sorry we can’t agree, but more sorry that you may have never had a friend as good as my friend. It was a gift.
I don’t do weddings.
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