I don't mind at all if someone purely disagrees with me. In fact, I welcome the discourse, as I know without a doubt there are others who simply don't hold the same standards I do. But I also realize that I'm inviting what will surely be little more than out and out ridicule because of some ill-perceived prejudice.
With that, I want to address Ohio Republican Representative Rob Portman's decision to now support gay marriage, a decision that is a reversal from his previous stance to oppose it. For years, Rep. Portman has supported the conservative charge to protect the sanctity of the Biblical definition of marriage -- matrimony between a man and woman. One can only assume that he supported those views because they were his convictions, based, one would hope, on years of Biblical teaching and knowledge. As a Christian conservative, I would hate to think he just randomly chose that position on no real substance, or just on an off opinion, or worse, for personal or political gain. And it is that assumption that makes his new revelation so unsettling.
So why did he change his stance? Because his son is gay.
At least his son believes he is. The only reason given for Portman's reversal of opinion is because his son told him he was gay.
Now, the point of this blog is not to try to convince you gay marriage should or shouldn't be legal. I do not support it -- so there -- but that's not the point of this writing. In fact, I don't even think the gay marriage debate is the most pressing issue facing our country today and am quite frankly bothered that it gets so much press when the US faces far more dire problems. No, this is not a gay marriage debate.
Rather, I am bothered by the reason for his change of mind and the message it sends.
Again, if was can assume the good Rep's stance on gay marriage was based on a lifetime of convictions, then the fact that he changed his mind simply because his son violated those convictions is truly troubling. What kind of message does it send to our children when we tell them we have a certain set of standards, only and up until they choose to violate them?
In other words, Rep. Portman could just have easily have said, "I've been against armed robbery my whole life, but last night, my son held up a liquor store with a gun, and I just don't think we should punish people for that anymore." How would that have gone over in the media?
Or how about this? "I've always thought child-molesting was wrong, but ever since my son molested that 10-year old girl, I just don't think its all that bad anymore." Think Brian Williams would have let that slide from a conservative politician?
You may think I'm taking this to an extreme. Am I? We're not talking about some casual observer who had a change of heart one day. We're talking about a guy who had such moral standards that he was able to convince thousands of people to vote to send him to Washington to advance those beliefs. This is a man who felt so strongly about the issue and felt he had enough education on it that he actually voted for laws against it! He felt strongly enough about it he wanted to outlaw it. That's extreme!
And what changed his mind? His son violated those beliefs. And all of the sudden, he thinks he's been wrong all these years.
Some people would see that as enlightened. That he was able to see through the darkness and realize the error of his ways and be big enough to admit he was wrong and come clean. I see it as cowardly.
I have children. Two boys. I'm not speaking out of ignorance. I know what it means to support your children, and to want the best for them, and to love them unconditionally, and to sacrifice for them, and to believe in them and to want what's best for them. But there is a line. If one of my children should break a law, I've taught them that there are consequences for that and that they would be punished. I would not expect the authorities to change the laws to accommodate them.
In the same way, I've raised them with a certain set of standards. I've raised them to believe a certain set of morals and ethics I hope they will adhere to as they grow up. I've taught them that if they violate those beliefs, bad things can happen. While I'm not naive enough to think they will never adjust those standards to their own lives based on their own experiences, or even violate them sometimes for any number of reasons, what I haven't taught them is that if someday they should choose a different path, I'll just abandon my own convictions and support them blindly.
Worse, those standards and ethics and morals and beliefs, and even some of the laws, are based on something that never changes: the Bible. We get our belief structure based on a belief in Jesus and his Holy Word. We didn't just make this stuff up. I was raised with those beliefs and I passed them on to my children. It works for us.
But if someday my child should decide it no longer works for him, I'm not just gonna drop everything I've ever believed in and support him. I'm going to love him, but I'm also going to be clear that I believe his decisions will have dire consequences and that I cannot support actions that violate my convictions.
A year or so ago, I read an article on FoxNews.com by a lady named Shari Johnson. Never heard of her before (or since, for that matter) so I don't know anything about her. But her article bothered me -- a lot. She claimed to be a lifelong Christian, she wrote, with a lifetime steeped in Biblical teaching. Turned out, she's got a lesbian daughter. Without boring you with all the details (you can read it here) she basically said that now that her daughter was gay, she musta been wrong all these years about the Bible.
Remember, she called it just fine when her kid was straight. But even though she'd been a Christian her whole life and believed homosexuality was wrong based on the Bible, now that she had a lesbian kid, she's had it all wrong. Surely being gay can't be all that bad after all, so the Bible must be wrong. Without any actual analysis of Scripture in the article, she just concludes that she's misinterpreted it forever.
In other words, she couldn't bring herself to condemn her own daughter. So instead, she changed a belief system that had been in place for decades. The Bible is OK until it condemns someone we love. When it does, then it can no longer be the standard. She even makes this statement: "When I asked a wise friend how she reconciled the scriptures with her daughter’s homosexuality, she said, “'I can’t. So I just let God sort it out.'”
Rep. Portman has done the same thing. He has compromised his own beliefs all because he can't fathom his son as a sinner. His son, for all we know, is probably a good guy, and Rep. Portman can't comprehend that God might actually one day punish his son for this. So, easier to just change his views and be done with it. No sense standing by your convictions.
That's cowardly, and indicative, I believe, of the overall moral decline of our society. Rather than holding each other accountable, it's easier to overlook the indiscretion, and even worse, just say that it wasn't really all that bad to begin with. We all watch the news every night and complain about how the world is going to hell in a handbasket, but then wilt under our own pressure instead of standing up for what we believe is right.
And our kids grow up thinking its OK to just do whatever they think feels good at the time, because there really are no consequences.
Liberal progressives have been pushing that baloney on us for years. Now we have Republican conservatives succumbing as well. When will it stop?
Support gay marriage, or don't support it, I really don't care. But for crying out load, grow a pair and stand up for what you believe in and stick to it. Teach your children that there is a difference between right and wrong and that if you make bad decisions, bad things come of it. Because if you don't, things will only get worse.
No comments:
Post a Comment