one of the most insane conversations i have when i am out of the country is trying to explain the right wing in this country to people
people in Australia REALLY didn't understand it
i am asked all the time how a group that says they are Christian (predominantly in the eyes of people outside the country) can support the death penalty, be on the side of big business, not be on the side of the workers and the poor, be pro gun, pro war, against welfare and helping kids that are born into poverty and think locking up drug users is the way to go. for starter topics of the conversations i have had
i don't think a church should be forced to marry someone
a church i went to as a kid wouldn't marry my sister and her husband cause they lived together before marriage.
...got married in Jamaica in a secluded location.
i am asked all the time how a group that says they are Christian (predominantly in the eyes of people outside the country) can support the death penalty, be on the side of big business, not be on the side of the workers and the poor, be pro gun, pro war, against welfare and helping kids that are born into poverty and think locking up drug users is the way to go. for starter topics of the conversations i have had
And that is terrible. I can understand your resentment.
I think Catholics are like that, but they didn't say anything to my wife and I. Also we did not marry in the church either because of that, but we did something better than the church ever would...got married in Jamaica in a secluded location.
Eww, I'll bet that was really tough, huh? LOL
Why is it terrible? Why does a couple shacking-up want a church wedding? If they were professing Christians, and the Christian ethic holds that sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong, and if Christians are making holy vows before God, then why is it terrible for a minister or church to say, "hey, your lifestyle isn't matching your profession in this very public way, we really want you to be married, but we want you to repent and take these vows seriously. Stop engaging in premarital sex, don't live together (if possible) and then let's get you married."
A part of the reason the church has so little credibility in this matter of same-sex marriage is because it has winked at shacking-up and no-fault divorce.
We are all sinners - but we (professing Christians) are to be sinners that are seeking to repent of our sins and trust Christ even when his teaching seems counter to what we want.