It's legal to lie but I choose not to.

This whole Chick-fil-a thing has really struck a nerve with me. It is so drama packed and people have gotten so nasty over it. Let me start by stating that I am a Christian, the kind that reads the Bible but doesn’t believe that it’s my duty to chase others and beat them with it. I believe that Jesus asked us to love others and that judgment is not my job nor does he want to see me doing it. So, I do my very best to stay out of peoples business unless it directly affects me. I do believe what the word tells us but I also am also very careful not to listen to other peoples interpretations of the word. I trust that God will put on my heart what I need to be concerned with and what my convictions are. I am aware that the same verse can used to prove both sides of an argument and people use the Bible to support what they personally believe to be right or wrong and that is ok by me, as long as God placed that on your heart and it didn’t come from your personal opinions. I believe that God gave us freewill. By this I mean that he allows us to make our own decisions, good or bad, and expects that we will focus on our decisions and not others. I believe that God does want us to bring others to him but not out of condemnation but with love. We are to show others Gods love. We aren’t to immediately tell them what they are doing that God wouldn’t like but we are to show them Gods love. Bring them into our homes and churches and introduce them to this incredible love by introducing them to the Bible. They will read it and if they don’t then your life will be a testament. If they ask questions about God and the Bible or sin you go straight to the good book. Point out the sections that speak about what they are asking about and let God do his work. Your opinion does not matter because you have something better, THE BIBLE. Notice that the original Bibles did not come with footnotes. I don’t trust footnotes, they are only peoples interpretation and it shows lack of faith that God will move into your heart and head and help you understand. You know, I think it’s okay to have study partners and Bible study groups but it is to be looked at as a conversation. It is a forum to speak about what meant to you and how you felt about what you read, what God showed you this time. There have been times where I read the same verse weeks apart and it has shown me different things. I believe this is why the Bible will never be a one time read. Be careful what you read and who you listen to. Faith is not easy and it shouldn’t be. You should do more than just read the Bible but feel it as well. Feel Gods presence. I am a firm believer that all people were created equally by God. Therefore, I believe that all people must abide by the same laws, be afforded the same benefits, and given the same rights. What you do with them is your business (there’s that freewill thing). If you are unable to give everyone the same rights then no one should be given those rights. I do believe in a separation of church and state. Vote for what you believe in, you should. But segregating people or taking rights away from people is not what I read in the Bible. I suggest that we take the benefits away from the married; tax breaks, insurance benefits, etc because they aren’t given to everyone and not everyone is eligible. We should not need to inform the Government of our marriage status because it should not matter to them now that some are not given the rights to the benefits. Keep marriage in the church where it was developed and each church can determine if they choose to recognize the marriage or perform it. In the Bible divorce is not really an option so the rates will go way down and adultery is also a sin so we won’t have to worry about those things either since we will be following the Bible. You might be wondering about the assets that two people acquire when they share a life together. If people choose to separate or simply not marry and just share a life together the courts will look at it like a business. Sign some kind of business contract at the beginning (a prenup of sorts) so that, if you part ways you will get what is owed to you. It’s really that simple. Or, you can just allow Gay marriage and give everyone the same rights. We will discontinue the phrase GAY MARRIAGE and just call it marriage. You will continue to follow the Bible, live your life well according to his word and love others. If you believe being Gay is a sin then you won’t get a “Gay Marriage” just like you don’t cheat, get drunk, steal, lie, judge, murder, divorce, ect. We will continue to love everyone and not (publicly) exclude them. Whether they pass gay marriage or not my faith will not change. My heart hurts that this has become a public exclusion and in some cases a witch hunt. I can promise we have gained zero new Christians in this ordeal. Sadly, this has not brought out the best in us Christians. Non-gay, non-Christians see this debate and want to steer clear of us because of how nasty and mean it’s gotten. What would Jesus do? I don’t think he would be standing in line at Chick-Fil-a. Even if he supported it he wouldn’t be standing in line, posting pictures of him wearing a Chick-Fil-a shirt, bragging. He would be acting, continuing to spread the word. This would not faze him. He would not be standing on this soapbox, this would never have been his style. Love More!! I pray for Equality. What is good for one must be good for all. XoXo! M