How do you respond to people in regards to PROP 8 when they say PROP 8 = HATE and think this proposition is Christian's expressed hate towards homosexuals? Now this is the tricky part of the question because I know that one could easily refer to the Bible and God's design for marriage, but for those people that instantly are turned off as soon as God or the Bible are brought up, are there ways one could answer this question from a secular point of view to express that it is not "hate?"
If yes, then how would one go about answering this?
Or, since this is a societal moral issue, does one still bring God into the answer and hope that the listening receipient does not take it as having the Gospel crammed down their throat? It is invitable that people are not going to like any answer but the one that tells them "they can get what they want," but then what is the best way to answer this question?
Something that I heard in a discussion today was maybe first start off by asking what that person's definition of "hate" is and then go about answering it that way. Which is a good idea, but then how do you continue it from there...
Hmmm...this is such a sticky situation. Like Pandora's Box was just opened and now who knows what is going to happen. I feel like this proposition will definitely make it to the ballots again. I want to be prepared in my answers and not sound like the "hypocritical" Christian. What are your guys' thoughts on this...
4 comments:
interesting friend. obviously on a very real level there are things that will never make sense to those outside of Christ because the Spirit isnt actively working to remove the love for the world or things of the world (ie personal preferences) from their vision. I do agree with you that we have to avoid being the typical Christian who responds claiming "love" but comes across more "hateful". I do think that we have to keep God as the ultimate and final authority in the matter, but i think it's wise to pursue creative ways of doing that...
Yeahh I definitely agree with what you said in that God does need to kept as the ultimate authority, I guess I am just struggling in trying to think of the "creative ways" that you mentioned. I don't want to come across as "hateful" so I was just wondering if anyone has already had an experience that worked, or didn't work for that matter in a conversation with someone that felt the opposition to YES ON 8...
This is a very interesting question that needs to be answered. I’ve been thinking about it the last week and this is what I’ve come up with. Its hypothetical but it makes sense to me. Firstly when someone accuses you of being hateful for holding that a marriage is to be between a man and a women I’d ask them why. They might say something like they have rights to, or Christians are being intolerant, doesn’t really matter, but try to understand where they are coming from and the foundation of their belief. I would then tell them that their position that gay marriage is perfectly okay is hateful to me. Hopefully that would catch them off guard. Then you can explain why. Use the bible as your authority and reference that marriage is to be between a man and a women as God ordained it. Now you have two different opinions or “truths” if you will. Both truths can’t be correct so how does one determine truth. Is it the majority? If the majority of people hold to a certain idea, then is it truth? If that is the case then they should not be arguing for the majority voted for the definition of marriage between a man and a woman. They might say that it is their right and your views are an infringement upon theirs. You are being intolerant. Just reverse it back to them. They are being intolerant of your view, why is their view better than yours. What I’m trying to illustrate is that as a Christian our beliefs are founded in truth, the word of God, but those who hold to gay rights probably hold to some form of relativism and if you strip their arguments down to their core there is nothing for them to stand upon. It is not necessarily an argument of marriage but of two clashing world views.I hope this helps.
Alex, I do appreciate that you took this past week to think about your answer to this question. Your answer is very much parallel to the one that my pastor emailed me when I posed the question to him. Thank you so much for your input, hopefully, this issue won't be coming around again, but it is rumored that in January there will probably be a re-vote; lets hope that's just a rumor.
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