My Humble Opinion
Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama announced today that the issue of Gay Marriage will be placed on the Alabama state ballot in this years election. He thinks the people of the great state of Alabama should have their say on whether or not Gay Marriage will be legal in Alabama. I'm no fan of Riley's but at least he is leaving it up to the people to decide. Of course that could be because he has no doubt as to what the majority of Alabamians will say. I sure don't.
Alabama has made it into the 20th Century (yes I mean 20th ). Still this is a state populated by a lot of rednecks. People who use their religion as a sheild against modern day society.
What I don't quite understand is , if we are going to use the Bible as a guide line for deciding what constitutes a marriage, what do we do about the following ...
A. Marriage shall consist of a union between one man and one or more women. (Genesis 29:17-28; II Samuel 3:2-5)
B. Marriage shall not impede a man's right to take concubines, in addition to his wife or wives. (II Samuel 5:13; I Kings 11:3; II Chron 11:21)
C. A marriage shall be considered valid only if the wife is a virgin. If the wife is not a virgin, she shall be executed. (Deut 22:13-21)
D. Marriage of a believer and a non-believer shall be forbidden. (Genesis 24:3; Numbers 25:1-9; Ezra 9:12; Neh 10:30)
E. Since marriage is for life, no law shall be construed to permit divorce. (Deut 22:19)
F. If a married man dies without children, his brother shall marry the widow. If that brother refuses to marry the widow or deliberately does not give her children, he shall pay a fine of one shoe. (Genesis 38:6-10; Deut 25:5-10)
(thanks to Jaye for these Bible refrences)
Now according to these Biblical guide lines, half the people in this country are breaking the law in regards to marriage. I guess the people who insist that the Bible alone stipulates what marriage is, are going to pick and choose which Biblical laws they will use to decide this issue. Am I the only one who thinks there's something wrong with this picture?
When did we decide that a man could no longer have more than one wife? Was it when society decided that it was not appropriate? When was it accepted that a woman did not have to be a virgin when she married? Could it be that society recognized this was a personal decision and not one to be decided by the government? At what point did the Church, the government , and the people decide that believers and non-believers could marry? That people of different races could marry? Was it about the time that society realized that whom one married was a personal choice/decision and not one to be decided by the government? The laws governing us must be flexible. As society grows and changes so must the law. The first step would be to remove the government from any decision regarding who can marry whom.
It's called the right to life, liberty and the persuit of happiness.