Ah the Bible...
Recently there have been a lot of goings on about Prop 8 and Gay Marriage, so i decided this morning to look up some of what the Bible says about marriage, and sure enough there was at least one place where it says man and woman... but rather than stop there, after having found a few short verses to support "traditional marriage", i went a little further to find out what the bible thinks about other aspects of living a "traditional biblical life".
On marriage being a man and woman from Corinthians 1 Chapter 7
1 Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. 2 But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
There it is, one man one woman... here's the kicker:
10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
So I hope when you do get married it's happily ever after, because you can NEVER EVER GET A DIVORCE, you'd pretty much be going against god's word. If you did that, then the whole argument for that man/woman thing goes right out the window (because why follow one part of the bible and not another?). I haven't checked in a while, but if you go against the word of the lord, don't you get to burn in hell for all eternity or something?
Other fun facts from this passage:
Interfaith marriages between a man and a woman? nope. (12-13)
Consensual sex with someone of any gender? nope, if you want that you should get remarried, but this brings up another problem, because Deuteronomy says if she's not a virgin, bring her out and we'll stone her to death. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21)
And that's only from Corinthians, once we start bringing in other books of the bible things get even more twisted around.
Guys, if we're going to live according to the bible, why would you want a wife anyway? according to Revelation 14: 4 women are dirty and if you defile yourself with them you don't get to follow Jesus.
But should you follow the other verses of the bible and get your man/woman marriage on, the bible does have some advice on how to raise your children. Beatings: Proverbs 13:24, Proverbs 22:15, Proverbs 23:13, Ecclesiasticus 22:6, Ecclesiasticus 30:11.
But, say you don't want to raise your child, or it's too much work, the bible sets forth guidelines on how/where to purchase slaves who i assume could take care of your kids (Leviticus 25: 44)
... but if that's too much work, you could always sacrifice your daughter. (Judges 11: 39)
...or say you have an unruly daughter, you could always sell her as a sex slave. (Exodus 21:7-8)
... and say you buy said sex slave, and she doesn't make you happy, according to the bible, you can beat her to death, and you'll be absolved of all wrong doing, so long as she lives at least a day or two after your severe beat down. (Exodus 21:20-21)
There is some of what i've found, and based on that, there is no way that i'm going to use the Bible as the end all be all of anything, because, quite frankly, some of it is severely F'd up.
Just as we have moved away from all of the other "traditional" values of the bible, the beatings, the sacrificing, the slavery, I don't feel the slightest bit worried about "traditional" marriage going away either.
Please, on November 4th, if you live in California, Vote No on Proposition 8,
-Andrew
P.S. Everyone else, please vote Obama 08!
