of 38 bills
so bill C-38 has officially passed through parliament. in a short month, it will be officially endorsed by the senate, and Canada will be the 3rd country in the world to support homosexual marriages....hooray!! now maybe the church can move onto more important matters, such as reaching out, loving and guiding those struggling with their sexual orientation instead of condemning them all to hell. hoowee, do i sound cynical or what? sorry.
i tend to look at the positive in situations. in this situation, here is the positive that i see: the government has remained true to its terms that it will not force the church to perform homosexual marriages. awesome! the church should be celebrating that its government supports religious freedom in this country, not condemning the government for turning its back on the church (isn't there something called the separation of church and state in this country?). obviously, this could be taken to the extreme. i hope the government doesn't separate from the church to the extend that the 10 commandment law to not murder will be deemed 'too religious', and therefore should be banned from Canadian law (despite the fact that there are a number of 10 commandement laws that are not recognized in Canadian law). i think that Canadian churches have gotten to the point that, since their money is going to missionaries in foreign countries, they can sit back and relax and enjoy the fact that their money is being put to good work -- that they are 'evangelizing by donation'. unfortunately, that breeds comfort in our church community to the extent that the only way churches feel they can reach out to their neighbour is through politics, not through actually talking to their neighbour. more cynicism. sorry. but i wonder if this trend of our government freeing itself from the church will force the church to be uncomfortable in its own country to the extent that it is forced back to the basics of Christ's teaching that changed people's hearts, not anti-political scheming...something Christ never really got into.
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8 comments:
Well, it is good to see that at least you have an opinion, if not a forum.
You've got to love a self righteous Christian, huh Matt? I take my earlier comment back..it would appear that you do in fact have a forum. Now if only there was an intelligence pre-requisit before comments could be posted. If the country will mourn when evil is leading...I wonder...what will happen when ignorance sits at our helm? Keep up the blog, I very much enjoyed it.
anonymous #2: By all means, voice what is right and wrong. But don't tell it to a government that is slowly freeing itself from its religious foundations (and not for the church's lack of trying).
My point here (and I'm trying to be careful in my wording) comes down to the question: why is our government freeing itself from those roots? I believe it's because the Church is not doing its mission in it's own country. Our elected government is in place for the purpose of protecting the rights of all its citizens, and that is what it is doing (whether the Church, a growing minority, likes it or not -- unfortunate, but true).
The Church is in place to preach the gospel and turn people's hearts to Christ. Is the Church accomplishing this through it's top-down method of telling a government what it should or should not do? I doubt that anyone has turned to Christ by hearing on the news that the Church is against homosexual marriages...not in an era when everyone has their own truth. In order to change its country, the Church needs to get back to its roots, and work from the bottom up. Start living and teaching the Truth to the sexually confused, the druggies, the greedy, the Pharisees, the 'tax collectors' at the grassroots level and watch as a government formed by a people of changed hearts starts reconnecting itself to its religious foundations -- and watch a country in mourning turn from evil.
*CORRECTION*: "The Church is in place to preach the gospel and turn people's hearts to Christ."
Only God (or the holy spirit if you will) has the power to "turn someone's heart." However, you are 100% correct; it is our calling to preach the gospel and reflect the love of Christ to our neighbors.
On Government: I don't want to start a political debate, but I love your notion about democracy. The government is there to represent the PEOPLE, not the CHURCH. If the church can reach out and share truth as you suggest, then "radical" ideas like the 10 commandments might indeed filter from the bottom up.
On bill C-38: The fact that the vote was NOT a landslide, and the fact that several Liberals even voted against the bill, gives me hope that there is still a strain of morality in our government somewhere.
thanks for the correction, anonymous #5...i completely agree with you...and with you anonymous #6...it is the morality of individuals within government that will make change, not an entire governmental structure...assuming their choice is made out of personal conviction and not for the sake of politics.
Well said, Matt.
For those of you who question why Canada would make such a decision, I encourage you to read our PM's comments regarding Bill C-38, which can be found here. If Canada hopes to be a beacon of equality in the eyes of the world, it, frankly, had no choice but to pass this legislation.
thanks for the comments, guys. it has definitely caused me to think about my stance and what i can do besides writing a blog. despite all that is going on, Canada is an awesome country...and i am proud to be one of its citizens.
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