A hot-button topic today on all the national news stations is the vote on the "same sex" marriage amendment. I don't expect it to be approved, but I'm still praying for a miracle.

*WHAT DID SHE SAY? OH MY GOODNESS!! THIS CHICK IS A BIGOT! J.J. IS A GAY-BASHER!*

No, I'm not. Sorry to burst the bubble. I love all men equally because that is what Christ has asked of me. I am a Christian. I love my neighbor: enemy or friend regardless of their choices. I am not without fault, sin and regret... I have no place to judge. I used to hold grudges, hate and carry distain. What a heavy load that was! SO, I dumped it. I love my friends because they're good people. I love my friends because they're true to me, and most of all because Christ instructed us to love each other. I love my friends whether they are gay or straight, and yes, I have gay friends. Yes, they know my beliefs. Yes, they know I love them.

A Christian cannot, in good faith, protest the sanctity of the religious institution of marriage in being defined by man as being for one man and one woman.

If "man" chooses to allow "same sex unions" or "civil partnerships" or HOWEVER you define whatever the relationship is, then that's "man's" law. I prefer to live by God's law, and He spelled it out fairly simply for us. God left us a survival guide. You should check it out. It's the best selling book of all time.

"You shall not lie with a man as one lies with a woman. It is an abomination." Lev. 18:22

MARRIAGE is a Sacrament instituted by Christ:
"From the beginning of creation God made them male and female. This is why a man leaves his father and mother, cleaving to his wife and they become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one. Therefore what God has joined together let no one separate." Mr.10:6-9, Mt.19:4-6
I respect my friends and know that we all have a free will. Regardless of how anyone uses his free will, I love him and respect God's creation of him. I expect their respect of me as God's creation in return, as I expect their respect of God's institution of marriage which I entered with my husband about 1 year ago. It's an insult to my husband and to me that our holy union, the vows we took to God that we'd love, honor and obey/cherish each other, the Sacrament we administered to each other, would be made so common as a generalized union. "Common law marriage," maybe. "Marriage," hardly.

WHY IS IT AN INSULT, J.J.?
Simple. Look at God's REASONS for instituting the Sacrament of Matrimony and your question is answered.
The Bible gives three purposes of marriage: (1)Procreation & bringing up children, (2) mutual spiritual help among spouses and (3) morally regulated satisfaction of the urge for sexual activity.
The first purpose is established just after God created man and woman. It was his first command of them: "Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth." (Gen. 1:28)
The second purpose is the mutual journey toward spiritual perfection; the couple's mutual love and unity. It is the primary purpose of marriage; the ascertainment of Paradise is life's ultimate goal. "Let us make him a help like unto himself." (Gen 2:18)
The third is found in 1 Cor 7:2, taught by Paul: "For fear of fornication, let every man have his own wife, let every woman have her own husband."

May God bless you. May God's Graces shower you. May He bless me, and shower me with graces as well as the courage to spread His message that seems to be so very "un-politically correct" and unpopular in our secular society.