So. I don't often post about things that are completely unrelated to books and movies and general-life-happenings on here. That is, Yet Another Period Drama Blog isn't the place to visit if you want social commentary on current events. However, I've been thinking a lot lately about a particular subject that does fit into the "current events" genre, and that combined with a question I got from a reader a couple of weeks ago inspired me to write this post. Not interested? Don't read it. You've been warned.
{And another note... I shall be as discreet as I can possibly be in this post while dealing with a rather delicate topic, but even so, I recommend that younger readers skip this post. Or, if you're quite curious as to what it contains, ask a parent to read it first and determine if it's appropriate for you. M'kay? I do have your best interests at heart, I promise. I'm not just being mean and telling you you're too young-- only trying to protect you. :D}
It would probably be easiest to start this by quoting the comment that made me decide to write this post. I recently received a comment from an anonymous European reader who said, "I have been following your blog for quite some time, and I have noticed that you and many of your blogger friends are extremely religious. While I don't think that that's a bad thing at all, it definitely is a bit strange for me, as I am European and have never met anyone in real life who is even near as religious as you are.
Now basically what I wanted to ask is how your views are on the subject of homosexuality. Do pairings like Enjolras/R disgust you/make you think less of the author/etc...? I am just asking because I don't know any other religious person I could ask."
Sooooo... let's take this step-by-step.
First of all, with no disrespect intended to the young lady who wrote the comment in question, I don't consider myself to be a religious person. Religion, in my mind, is an adherence to some form of belief that requires a person to follow a list of rules and/or customs in hope of an eternal reward. It's a works-centered concept that focuses on man, not God. (And I'm not saying calling someone religious is a sin or anything, nor am I annoyed at anyone who uses the word to describe me. Don't take this the wrong way. :D) Rather than calling myself "religious," I identify myself as a Christian: a follower of Christ, saved by grace through faith in Jesus' atoning death for me.
I don't think I've ever concisely outlined my statement of faith here on this blog, so perhaps this would be a good time to do so. In brief--
~I was born into this world a sinner in need of salvation, and as such cannot possibly get to heaven on my own-- my soul is flawed and anything "good" I do in my own strength cannot ever be pleasing to God.
~I can never do enough "good works" here on earth to earn a place in heaven.
~God, the creator of the universe, is righteous in condemning all sinners to hell (that includes me. And you.) However, God has provided a perfect Righteousness in Jesus Christ to save His people.
~God sent His one beloved Son (who is fully God and fully man) to the earth, born of a virgin, to die a painful death in our place. God is love, but God is also justice, and in order for justice to be served, blood had to be shed. Someone had to pay the penalty, and because God is love, He sent His Son to pay that price--in our place. "Without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin."
~Salvation is by grace alone, through faith given by the Holy Spirit.
~All those whose hearts have been turned to God are fully righteous in His sight. When He looks at His saved people, He sees them through Jesus' robe of righteousness. Those who are redeemed are saved eternally, and when they die will go to be with God in heaven forever.
~All of the above can be found in the Bible, which is the infallible Word of God, written by men who were divinely inspired by God Himself. Every bit of it is true, and that includes the parts about creation, the flood and the tower of Babel.
(And that was a really, really brief summary. If you want more details or have questions, don't be shy. Leave a comment and ask, and I'd be happy to elaborate! If you don't know what "elaborate" means, ask Melody.)
Now, where were we.
Right. The question about... erm... the whole "marriage equality" issue. Am I using too many quotation marks in this post? I feel like I am. I have a friend who gets excessively annoyed over unnecessary quotation marks and is skilled in pointing out instances (like this) of quotation mark misuse. Hence, I'm rather careful about using quotation marks. This post, however, has already failed in that respect. Eh, whatever, may as well be hung for a "sheep" as a "lamb."
Shall we do a statement of faith in bullet points for this subject, too? (Only they're not really bullet points, are they... more like little squiggly points. Which are cuter than bullets. Also less harmful.) In brief--
~I believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman for life.
~I believe that physical intimacy between two people should exist only in marriage and that any violations of the seventh commandment. (I'm being discreet here, and I'll ask that if you choose to comment on this post, you keep your comments discreet as well. If you're interested in discussing this topic, you're obviously old enough to understand what we're talking about without having to be explicit. Thanks!)
~I believe in biblical marriage, not "traditional" marriage.
....Aaaaaand the title of this post finally makes sense.
See, my reasons for strongly disagreeing with the idea of same-sex marriage don't stem from an outraged sense of propriety or a desire to take America back to the good old days when people didn't talk about such things. (Much as I think it might be fun to live in the 1950's when clothes were cuter and movies were cleaner, I don't labor under any delusions that life was picture-perfect back then, or indeed at any time in history.) My reasons for believing that it is morally wrong stem from my belief that God's Word is infallible, and that God's Word clearly forbids the-thing-that's-making-such-a-brouhaha-in-the-news-of-late.
Because this isn't about tradition. It's about the fact that God says no. And God's commands trump man's customs any day. We're treading dangerous water when we start backing our arguments with, "but it's tradition!" Look, are we teaching for doctrines the commandments of men or of God? If we're basing our beliefs on a convention observed by humans for centuries, then we really don't have much to stand on. For centuries it was generally believed that the earth was flat, or maybe pear-shaped, or maybe a floating purple people eater. (Hey, there COULD have been someone who believed the earth was actually a floating purple people eater. There's a nutcase in every generation, and often more than one.) Does that make it true? Nope. Now, I'm not saying that just because something's traditional, it must therefore be unfounded and wrong. Not at all. I'm only saying that we have to have a lot more basis than mere custom if we're going to take a stand.
In case you're wondering where I'm getting my basis for advocating one-man-one-woman-no-exceptions, let's take a look at what the Bible says. (Remember, Acts 17 tells us that the Bereans were "more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.") Many people cite Leviticus 18:22 as the be-all, end-all command against homosexuality--however, many people also disagree with the usage of this passage because it's part of Old Testament law. While it's true that we are no longer bound to the Old Testament civil laws now that Christ has fulfilled the law, if something is commanded in the Old Testament and then reiterated in the New, you can be pretty sure that it still holds. I'll wait while you go look up Romans 1:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9.
Some would protest that Jesus never actually addressed this topic and therefore if He didn't find it offensive, we shouldn't either. But Paul the apostle clearly denounces this practice as unmitigated sin in Romans 1, and lists this sin alongside idolatry and adultery in 1 Corinthians 6. Sure, Paul isn't Jesus, but Paul was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who is God. (See 2 Timothy 3:16--
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.") This is what God says, not what Paul says.
Really, I think this all comes down to a simple question. Where do you put your trust? Is it in the ideas of men or in the commands of God? Because if you frankly don't believe that the Bible is true and that it is the standard by which we should live, then you and I are talking at cross-purposes and will not be able to come to a conclusion. If I believe one thing and you believe another, we can argue until we're blue in the face (and trust me, I can hold an argument for a loooooooong time) and still never change the mind of the other.
I can't change your mind by writing a blog post. I can't make you believe what the Bible says; only God can do that. Sure, He might choose to use me or any other human being as His instrument in turning you to Him, but it would still be all His work and His alone. Why? Because God is all-powerful. He is God. "And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?" (Daniel 4:35)
And those are my long-winded thoughts on a sensitive and controversial topic and I hope I didn't bore anyone. I can't truthfully say that I hope I didn't offend anyone, because a) I KNOW someone, somewhere is going to be offended by this post and I can only pray that I'll have the grace to respond in the right way if a nasty comment shows up and b) because my motive in writing this isn't to avoid offending people. Obviously I'm not trying to offend anyone, but if taking a stand for what I believe in offends someone, I'll just have to take the consequences. I've tried to be courteous and gracious in writing this post and I hope I succeeded... I definitely don't want to give anyone the impression of hatred or small-mindedness, because that would be completely contrary to the kind of testimony a Christian is supposed to have. (Which is why the very idea of protesting at funerals and wearing t-shirts that say "God Hates Such-and-such" is absolutely sad and pathetic. That is not speaking the truth in love, folks. That's just despicable.)
Oh, and to answer another aspect of the question at the beginning of the post-- I'm not sure if "disgusted" is the word I'd use when it comes to people pairing Enjolras and Grantaire (that's what E/R means for all you non-Mizzers), but I certainly don't condone it in any way. Does it make me think less of the person promoting that kind of thing? Um... hard call. It definitely doesn't impress me favorably--let's just put it that way. I try to avoid all that as much as possible and I definitely don't think that's what Victor Hugo had in mind when he wrote about those characters. I'd be happy to write a post on Grantaire's (extremely complex) character at some point if anyone's interested... and if anyone's also interested in a post on Enjolras, I might possibly be persuaded into doing that too. If you twist my arm.
So... we've reached the end! Thank you right now for bearing with me through this excessively wordy post and thank you in advance for not reporting this post to the Society for the Prevention of Unnecessary Quotation Marks. Y'all are the best.
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