On Saturday morning during Synod the Norwegian Church Council started its first plenary treatment in the issue of gay marriage. The majority want a new wedding liturgy for gays.
8:30 am Saturday morning the Synod started the discussion on the issue of same-sex marriage, a difficult issue that has received much attention in advance of the meeting and during the church elections last fall.
The proposal of providing two liturgies and that the Church is to have a gender-neutral view of marriage is supported by a majority of the members. 15 of 23 members request that the General Synod approves developing a liturgy for wedding people of the same sex:
– A majority of the Synod believes that in addition to the current liturgy of marriage and the prayers for women and men entering into civil marriage, we should develop similar liturgies that include same-sex couples and that may be applied to all couples, the report from the meeting reads
A minority of 8 members , however, suggest that a greater elucidation into the issue is needed. The minority wants a particular focus on the consequences of same-gender marriage for the situation of children and children’s rights, and for the church’s theology of the family
On Monday the Synod will decide whether gays will get their own liturgy and be allowed to get married in church. If the Synod decides on developing a new wedding liturgy, this could be adopted at the next meeting, which is in January 2017.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
One of the greatest Biblical truths is in Romans 1:16-32. No honest person can disagree with the passage because it is being fulfilled before our very eyes (for example: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools”, “vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened”, “uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts”, “God gave them up unto vile affections”….and verses 28-31 describes most of our politicians perfectly). There is plenty in the passage that talks about “dishonour(ing) their own bodies between themselves” and “for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly”…..hmmm….it’s not hard to work out what it says.
As a Christian, my awareness of a Creator God in my life is as real as the people I meet and the computer I am sitting in front of now – just because non-Christians have not experienced the same thing doesn’t make it less real, it just means that they are missing out on part of life that is available to them, but they don’t want it. That is why the Bible is so important is because it provides us with the knowledge of reality as the Creator God made it and it gives us supernatural insight into human nature by explaining the good and the bad – it acts as the reference point (or measure) to determine “right from wrong”, “good from bad”, “moral from immoral”, “lust from love”, etc….without a reference point, you cannot possibly determine these things other than “what you make them up to be”. The logical implication of making truth whatever we want it too be (ie. “progressive moral relativism”, is that we all contradict ourselves as we all believe that “my truth is better than your truth”. This is the best proof yet that a Creator God exists and that His Word is truth. As creator, God then has the authority to do what He wants with creation including laying out the rules for living. I will therefore never be ashamed of my faith in God and my trust in God’s Word, the Bible. Homosexuality is unnatural because it doesn’t align with the natural order of the biological world as God created things and no “wishing” this away will change anything. God warns us of ignoring Him and He displays great pity on those who rebel against Him – that is why Jesus prayed (and I follow Jesus’ example): “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”.
The Rome Empire that had rampant hedonism and debauchery in the 1st-3rd centuries were not Christian (they killed Christians for sport in the “circuses” where lions would eat Christians) and the Emperor Constantine turned to Christianity as a way out of the horrors going on in the Roman society. So there is a perfect example of how we must also avoid the same horrors of rampant hedonism and debauchery by following the Christian teachings. In other words, we can be “saved from ourselves”.
btw, I am loving to homosexuals (the people), but I hate actions that are deceptive, hurtful to people and unnatural (including homosexuality). There is a difference…….I love the person, but hate the sin. Plus I am talking about the “same sex lobby group” and not individual homosexuals. I have met many homosexuals who don’t want same sex marriage laws because they don’t want the association with marriage – it is the same sex lobby group that are stirring the pot and causing so much trouble.
More than ever, we need the message of Jesus and the Gospel – there is less and less hope in the world as we decline into the abyss of hedonistic humanism/atheism that glorifies human intellect and fallible “science/chance” – with nothing but mythical theories as a result. Such religious views dressed up as “truth” is causing humanity to act selfishly and sinfully, with no thought for the consequences. What a tragedy!
Even though many marriages end up in divorce, or have extra marital affairs, neglect their children (or have no children) and even though many non-marriage people live together, it doesn’t mean that adding same sex marriage to the list won’t therefore make any difference – well, it is not marriage that is the cause of all these problems, it is married people not living up to their marriage vows. Just because half the people who currently get married end up neglecting their marriage commitments and subsequently trash their marriages, doesn’t mean that we should go all the way and trash marriage completely by letting “anyone do anything they like and call it marriage”. This is what same sex marriage is all about and where the same sex marriage “logic” leads to – of course, there is all the other marriage “options” that will inevitably follow as the years pass. the SSM people conveniently fail to mention that same sex relationships have a far higher rate of multiple sex partners, group sex, relationship anxieties, health issues, child neglect and self-inflicted problems than heterosexual marriages (even the failed ones). Of course, the other halve of marriages that are successful, have every right to maintain the integrity of the “marriage” definition because, after all, they have a special view of marriage as a binding, procreation, family building activity which is a proven, millennia-old foundation to successful civilisations. If marriage is such an important goal to attain for same sex people, then why do you think it became such an important goal?….it’s because marriage is based on a wholesome, decent heterosexually committed relationship based on heterosexual love and devotion (not lust and sex-driven selfishness as is the basis of same sex attractions/relationships/marriages). This is why heterosexual people get married in the first place otherwise they wouldn’t bother. What you are suggesting is to trash marriage completely so that the word loses all it’s meaning and marriage will end up being an embarrassment rather than a blessing. Clearly you skew your views to push an unnatural, hedonistic agenda so that our society will lose all it’s moral bearing and the millennia-old concept of a decent marriage (between a man and a woman) is flushed down the toilet as a result. The solution to the half of marriages that fail, is to honour their marriage vows and not trash them. The SSM people are trying to fool us with manipulative ranting using socially engineering techniques at the expense of free speech and liberty….they are targeting young people who are naive about such tactics and broadcast “feel-good” propaganda slogans to try and fool people.