God, Gays, and the Sanctity of Marriage

Husbands, love your wives. Wives, respect your husbands because of the position God has ordained for him, not whether you think he deserves it or not. Now turn your bibles to Ephesians 5:21-33 to see what "God" (Paul, actually - not God) has to say about keeping your marriage blessed. - This is a paraphrased excerpt of a six-week series taught by Pastor Lee in the mainstream Evangelical church we infiltrated and investigated as CL and Cammy Morrison.

Ironically, on the Sunday the Pastor began the marriage series, we witnessed on our way to church, a display of "the sanctity of marriage" the Conservatives so righteously fight for. About five blocks away from the church, I noticed a Latino man roughing up a woman. There was also a young girl with them; she looked between 5 or 6 years old. I immediately told Ceil and we pulled into the parking lot where this abuse was taking place. Remember, we were in our characters, so CL, in a deep voice hollered, "Hey!" at the guy as we pulled up beside them. I picked up our cell phone and asked if I needed to call the police. He froze and looked at us, then made it obvious to us that he didn't speak English. Cammy asked the woman, "Is he hurting you? You need help?" She replied in broken English, "No, no; he's my husband", and proceeded to turn and start walking. The little girl, wide-eyed with fright, soon followed beside her mother. The man ceased roughing up his wife and walked slightly behind them. We continued to watch for her safety, and especially the little girl's, until they were out of sight.

I couldn't help but wonder if our characters' appearances that day, as male and female, didn't help a little in this particular situation. Ceil and I, as two females, would have confronted the situation all the same, but I would venture to guess that had it been the case, the abusive man would have reacted differently toward two women than he did with CL and Cammy.

The Pastor prefaced his marriage teachings with his explanation of Adam and Eve. He taught that God is both male and female. In the beginning, God created Adam both male and female as well. Then God wanted to bless Adam with a "help-mate", so God took the female characteristics out of Adam and made Eve. God intended for the man and woman, together through marriage, to be a manifestation of both the female and male attributes of God.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but most lesbian, gay, and transgendered people we know are keenly aware of both the female and male attributes we were created with. In fact, most of us celebrate that gift of versatility and diversity.

So according to this Evangelical Pastor's teachings about male and female and Adam and Eve, the impending question is... are homosexuals and transgendered people created more like God than heterosexuals?

5 comments:

Naomi said...

Bravo to two very courageous people! If, at times, it seems that you are alone, please know that you are not.

Change for the better is coming - but it is slow. And the minds and hearts of some people will never change; the struggle for Black civil rights teaches us that lesson every day, in America.

Han said...

Naomi, thanks for your words of encouragement; they certainly go a long way. Peace!

Stephen R. Maloney said...

I agree that you're courageous people. May I have your permission to reprint this piece, perhaps this weekend?

Steve Maloney
TalkTop65@aol.com
http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/

Note: I'm Catholic but regard myself as an evangelical. I adore Austin, TX, particulary Sixth St. as well as the world's only remaining hippie coffee house (Ruta Maya?)

Stephen R. Maloney said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stephen R. Maloney said...

I've been writing a lot about Ciel and Han and the subject of gay marriage. Excerpt from today (Wed.) http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/

Certainly, no church should be forced to marry a gay or lesbian couple. But at the same time, churches should not band together to prevent a state – check out the 10th amendment – from marrying a couple of any gender.

Conservatives should not be fair-weather federalists. If gay or lesbian couples want to get married – or united – we should throw rice, not brickbats.

Mike needs to rethink his position on this issue. He's a very good man who on rare occasions says very bad things.

Stephen R. Maloney