Patrick. I love you like a brother and you are my favorite person on this board. I’ve told many people that in the past. You took me in, challenged me when I needed it, supported me when I needed that instead. With all that said, I hope that you read what I’m saying here and allow it to soak in. No reasonable person denies that the Bible has been misused in the past to justify inhumane and even non-Biblical practices. This is wrong.
That said, I hope that you will come to know the church by the people who make it up… us. We do not have control of the aberrant few troublemakers, it is the nature of the beast. That said, your criticism can be applied to other situations where it is easier to see if similar criticism holds up. US Gymnastics, for instance. They are under fire for the terrible abuse that occurred. It never should have happened, but it did. We don’t punish “gymnastics” or “gymnasts” for this. We fix the problem and move on. Penn State suffered terribly from the Sandusky event. A hallowed organization with 100,000 plus students was smeared because of the senseless and egregious acts of a few. Again, fix the problem and move on.
Christians and Christianity are known for their charity, their love and their willingness to give sacrificially, even to the point of death, to others. This is the norm. Are we perfect? No. Will we ever be? No. But we should be able to see that the terrible acts of a few can be separated from the acts, attitudes and behaviors of the rest? Yes.
The Bible makes a position that is pretty clearly against marriage being intended for other than a man and a woman . I cannot change what the text says. That said, you may (or may not) be interested in my own personal opinion on the subject. As a Christian, I love the homosexual. I want every one of them to be in heaven with me and I’d love to help to lead them there. I am not trying to fix them nor am I looking at them as sinners. We are all sinners. I am sickened by any attitude within the church that would cause any homosexual to turn away from the church, and not be drawn to the love of Jesus Christ. That’s of ultimate importance.
Regarding SSM, my personal opinion is that I’ve always been “against” it… not for biblical reasons, but rather because I’m vehemently against any movement to change the definition of a word. If our words become a moving target, we’re all in trouble. A Brave New World is just around the corner. So, I’ve always been in favor of SSU (same sex unions) wherein the union is legal, binding, and has all of the benefits of marriage, but is not called “marriage” because marriage is literally the union of a man and a woman.