Can We Talk?, In My Opinion

Supreme Court, or Supreme Law of the Land?

So I was sitting in the pit at work, answering phones, like I always do when I’m not in clinic with my doctor, when my gay co-worker burst into the room, shaking, laughing and smiling.

“The Supreme Court just ruled same-sex marriage legal! Now I can get married whenever and wherever I want to!”

I blinked, absorbed what he was saying and then forced a smile in a silent form of congratulations. Thinking to myself, The Supreme Court did what??

That’s how I found out that same-sex marriage is now legal in every state.

I’ve been thinking about writing this post for the past 48 hours. How I wanted to write it. What I wanted to write about this subject. And it’s a toughie. It truly is. Let me see if I can first break my thoughts down and secondly try and make it as fair to all parties that I can.

Yes. I work with a gay man. He is the sweetest and most likable person I’ve ever known. I’ve liked him from the very moment I met him. And we get along famously. In fact, his sense of humor reminds me so much of my brother that I sort of SEE and TREAT him like a little brother. Yes. I’ve told him that before.

So I’ve had to be very careful in how I approach this subject at work because it would kill me to hurt this guy’s feelings. I truly like and care about him and I’m a lot of things, but I’m never intentionally cruel to someone – I have too much respect for the people in my life, or the people I like, to go out of my way to be deliberately nasty to them.

But I don’t agree with the gay lifestyle.

WAIT. DON’T GO. Hear me out, please.

I don’t believe God intended men to be with men. Or women to be with women. And no matter how we sugar coat it, or think of different ways to redefine it, marriage is between a man and a woman. Period. I’ve never understood why the gay community insisted on redefining that word. That word belongs to the heterosexual, get your own damn word. Call it a civil union, or a gay union, or whatever else you want to define two gay people becoming legally/contractually obligated to each other, but marriage is OURS.

Or it was until the Supreme Court stuck their high and mighty noses into it.

So, no. I don’t agree with the gay lifestyle. I don’t think it’s natural or beautiful or any other label you want to attach to it. I don’t believe you’re born a homosexual. I believe it’s a conscious/subconscious choice that is influenced by outside factors. I think people are born with a homosexual tendency, like a person is born with alcoholic/drug addiction tendencies and those people have to work that much harder to resist the temptation, but no, I don’t think there’s a special “gene” that makes a person gay.

This is what I believe. Disagree if you must. But here’s the thing – I really don’t care if someone *chooses to live that sort of lifestyle.

No really.

I. Don’t. Care.

It’s really none of my business how a person lives his/her life. I figure the gay community will be judged at some point and that at some point they will have to look God in the eye and explain their behavior.

I say, “good luck with that.” *SALUTE*

God granted humans the gift of free will – if one chooses to live by the rules that God has set forth in His Word, then that person will be rewarded when Christ comes back to get us. If one chooses NOT to live by the rules that God has set forth, then that person will not be rewarded. But it doesn’t really matter how a Christian lives his/her life, God loves us no matter what choices we make. If a person has accepted Jesus Christ into his/her heart and confessed with his/her mouth that Christ is Lord and was raised from the dead, then that person is a child of God. And just like our flesh and blood children sometimes disappoint us and/or don’t live their lives like we would like them to, they are still our children and we still love them.

The same principle applies to God’s children.

So a gay man may be a Christian and God will still love that man, but he will be disappointed and like a naughty child, that man will not be rewarded for his choices.

For with the gift of free will comes consequences of that free will.

If I choose to hold up a liquor store and steal all of their money, that was my choice. Granted, it was a poor choice, but mine, nonetheless. And the consequences of that choice is jail time.

I won’t pretend to know what God’s consequences will be for not choosing to live by His rules, but I’m sure there WILL be consequences. How can there not?

So honestly, who cares what my opinion is? Who cares if I disagree with a gay person’s decision and/or lifestyle. It’s ultimately none of my business how that person lives his/her life as it’s none of that person’s business how I live my life. WHO CARES WHAT ANYONE DOES BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.

I think my biggest beef with this whole legalizing a gay union (because I REFUSE to call it marriage – marriage belongs to HETEROSEXUALS), is that the Supreme Court turned my voice, my vote, null and void. They spoke FOR the people. They completely ignored the constitution, the states’ rights and basically said, “Fuck you” to everyone and made our decision for us.

They put on their emperor’s crowns and simply made a decision for everyone.

And the scariest part? This is just the beginning. The ice has been broken. Because now that they’ve done it this once, it will that much easier to do again. And again. And again. And before long? We will become a nation of robots that are TOLD what to do, how to live and how to think. And if we dare color outside the lines, WE WILL BE PUNISHED.

And the end begins …

I don’t want to scare anyone, or sound like some crazed religious person, but now would be a good time to start thinking about the afterlife. Because it’s all downhill from here and Christ WILL come back – are you ready? And I know what you’re thinking, “you’re crazy. Whatever.” What if my beliefs are right?

What if?

And let’s not be naive and think this decision, this turning stone, stops here. Guess what’s next?

Pedophiles want same rights as homosexuals

Using the same tactics used by “gay” rights activists, pedophiles have begun to seek similar status arguing their desire for children is a sexual orientation no different than heterosexual or homosexuals.

Critics of the homosexual lifestyle have long claimed that once it became acceptable to identify homosexuality as simply an “alternative lifestyle” or sexual orientation, logically nothing would be off limits.

“Gay” advocates have taken offense at such a position insisting this would never happen. However, psychiatrists are now beginning to advocate redefining pedophilia in the same way homosexuality was redefined several years ago.

Van Gijseghem, psychologist and retired professor of the University of Montreal, told members of Parliament, “Pedophiles are not simply people who commit a small offense from time-to-time but rather are grappling with what is equivalent to a sexual orientation just like another individual may be grappling with heterosexuality or even homosexuality.”

He went on to say, “True pedophiles have an exclusive preference for children, which is the same as having a sexual orientation. You cannot change this person’s sexual orientation. He may, however, remain abstinent.”

When asked if he should be comparing pedophiles to homosexuals, Van Gijseghem replied, “If, for instance, you were living in a society where heterosexuality is proscribed or prohibited and you were told that you had to get therapy to change your sexual orientation, you would probably say that that is slightly crazy. In other words, you would not accept that at all. I use this analogy to say that, yes indeed, pedophiles do not change their sexual orientation.”

The ripple effect begins.

And before you pooh-pooh this “ridiculious notion” away, consider this:

This article from the Greeley Gazette was originally published in 2011. But now, there’s actually a constitutional argument that can be made in its favor.

And did anyone think gay unions would be legal in every state 30 years ago?

And if you’re interested in what Christianity has to say about homosexuality, please watch the following videos: Teaching: Christian’s View on Homosexuality – Parts One / Two, Three / Four, Five / Six.

The slippery slope just got a whole lot slippier.

Abundant Life

Audio Teaching: The Christian Hope: Part Three

Click for Parts One and Two here.

I hope you’ll take time to listen to these audio teachings, if not here, then perhaps you’ll consider downloading them and taking them with you?

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What the Bible really says about Death, Judgment, Rewards, Heaven, and the Future Life on a Restored Earth. God originally planned for mankind to live on earth, and His plan, though postponed by sin, will not be thwarted – it will come to pass in the future when a new earth is created. The Christian’s Hope shows from Scripture that each Christian will be rewarded in the coming world in direct proportion to the quality of how he lives for God in this world.

Click the arrow to listen to the Hope of Israel.

A Biblical Look at “Hope”

In order to properly understand the Christian’s hope, it is important to examine the exact meaning of the word “hope.” “Hope” means “a desire for, or an expectation of, good, especially when there is some confidence of fulfillment.” It is used that way both in common English and in the Bible. However, the Bible often uses the word “hope” in another way—to refer to the special expectation of good that God has in store for each Christian in the future. This includes the “Rapture,” receiving a new, glorified body, and living forever in Paradise. Today, the ordinary use of “hope” allows for the possibility that what is hoped for will not come to pass. However, when the Bible uses the word “hope” to refer to things that God has promised, the meaning of “hope” shifts from that which has a reasonable chance of coming to pass to that which will absolutely come to pass. To be a useful anchor, hope must hold fast.

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Cruise 13 - Alaska

The Statendam

So. Alaska.

We went in 2013. I’m behind – deal.

If you’ve never been on a cruise, well first of all, you NEED TO GO ON A CRUISE. It’s awesome. It’s our preferred vacation for sooo many reasons. I’ll have to write a blog post sometime: “tips from a veteran cruiser.”

Anyway. Whenever you go on a cruise, you have to do a safety drill. It’s mandatory. You HAVE to participate. If you do not, they will hunt you down and MAKE you participate. Everyone hates to do it, but it is nice to know what to do and where to go in case of an emergency. This picture is me at our lifeboat station. Only, we went to the wrong lifeboat station and we were the last ones to get in line and it was embarrassing because they don’t dismiss you until everyone has gotten into line and been checked off the list.

We got a lot of dirty looks from fellow cruisers that cruise.

Kevin and I still laugh about our stupidity to this day.

We sailed on Holland America’s Statendam. It was an older boat with even older people. I think we were the youngest on that cruise.

One of the first things we do whenever we go on a cruise is put our luggage away in our rooms (once they’re ready – a lot of times, they are loading up the boat and cleaning your rooms whenever you first go on board so you end up hauling your carry-on luggage everywhere with you until your room is ready. Annoying, but it is what it is), and then explore the boat. We like to walk from bow to … whatever the back of the boat is called (you’d think I would know that by now). This gives us a chance to get our bearings though we usually end up getting lost or turned around every single day. We usually get the hang of the boat by the end of the cruise.

One thing I consistently forget to do is take pictures of the inside of the boat. We’ve been on some TACKY boats, but the Statendam wasn’t that bad, really.

This was the library. We spend a lot of time in the library on the boats. Mainly because that’s where you can hop onto a computer and access the internet, which, I might add, is ASTRONOMICALLY expensive. But we have to access it because Kevin needs to be able to check into work and make sure Blake has things under control.

Which, I might add, he does a pretty fantastic job of keeping things running. We did have a bit of a scare though on this cruise. Kevin couldn’t reach Blake online and his phone was getting spotty service so he couldn’t call him. Kevin saw that our brother-in-law was on Facebook, messaged him and asked him if he could call Blake and make sure he was okay. Blake was supposed to have delivered some paychecks to a client and the client contacted Kevin and said that Blake hadn’t made it in yet. That didn’t exactly sound like Blake so we began to worry. Our worry was compounded whenever we couldn’t reach him. Our brother-in-law connected with Blake, asked him to sign on and everything was fine – he had overslept. He got a little bit of a butt chewing for that one but it all ended on a positive note.

(And in case I haven’t mentioned it before – Blake is Kevin’s bookkeeper at his office).

The food is always pretty good on cruises.

In fact, that’s always one of our favorite parts. You can always get something to eat and you don’t have to even think about where your next meal is coming from. That’s always a pain whenever we go on vacation.

Come to think of it, I hate thinking about food, period. It’s a good thing Kevin likes to cook or I would have starved my family a long time ago.