Let's see if this'll preach, ROMANS 14, with a twist:
<As for the people who are weak believers, welcome them into your fellowship, but not to criticize their opinions or pass judgment on their scruples or perplex them with discussions. One person’s faith permits her to believe same-sex couples may marry with God’s blessing, while a weaker one limits his definition of marriage to opposite-sex pairings. The person who believes in marriage for all should not look down on, despise or pass judgment on those who have not yet reached that understanding, and those who have not yet reached the understanding of full-inclusion where marriage is concerned should not criticize and pass judgment on those who have; for God has accepted and welcomed all. Who are you to judge the servants of someone else? It is their own Master who will decide whether they succeed or fail. And they will succeed, because God is able to make them succeed.
Some people think a certain day is more important than other days, while others think that all days are sacred. We each should firmly make up our own minds and be fully convinced and satisfied by our personal decision. Those who think highly of a certain day do so in honor God; those believe in marriage equality for all do so in honor of God, because they give thanks to God for the love they have been offered in this life and wish to formalize their union publicly and be recognized by their government as equal to other marriage couples in all ways. Those who refuse to believe in same-sex marriage but are married themselves also do so in honor of God, and they give thanks to God as well.
We do not live for ourselves only, and we do not die for ourselves only. If we live, it is for God that we live, and if we die, it is for God that we die. So whether we live or die, we belong to God. For Christ died and rose to life for this very purpose, in order that Christ might be the God of the living and of the dead.
You then, who believe only in opposite-sex marriage—why do you criticize and pass judgment on others? And you who believe in marriage for all—why do you despise other believers? All of us will stand before God to be judged by God. For the scripture says, “As surely as I am the living God, says God, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God that God is God and acknowledge God to honor God and to praise God." Each one of us, then, will have to give an account to God about our own dealings and our on journey and our own life, not anyone else’s.
So then, let's stop judging one another! Let’s stop being critical and stop blaming one another and passing judgment on one another. Let’s instead decide never to do anything that would make others stumble or hinder another’s progress. I know and I am convinced and persuaded as one who lives in union with God and in the Lord Jesus that NOTHING is forbidden as essentially unclean or defiled or unholy unto itself. But it is unclean to those who believe it is. Whatever you look for you’re going to find it … so look for the blessing, the beauty, the gift from God in all things and in one another…>
No comments:
Post a Comment