Quote:
Originally Posted by Pablo Rafael
I think the principles brought forth in the Bible are of importance. To me the key principal is that God loves us and for some strange reason wants to be close to us. Flowing from that love is our love for each other. To me the best summation of marriage in the Bible is the statement, "Submit to one another".
My opinion is that the Bible is fairly silent on relationship issues not because they are unimportant, but because each person and each culture has a different way of looking at relationships. God has given us a picture of love and how it works in our lives. God has given us freedom to make our own choices. I think God loves the diversity he/she sees in humanity. What the relationships are is not so important; how we love others and what our motivations are is important.
So are same-sex relationships a part of God's plan? If they are based on a love for each other with selfishness cast aside, I am sure that God is overjoyed.
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Thank you for this post, Pablo, it is very thoughtful and I agree with you 100%. Another essential principle or theme of the scripture is "Covenant". The Hebrew word is "Chesed" which is often translated as "Steadfast love" God is portrayed throughout both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures as a covenant making and covenant keeping God. God is portrayed as one who keeps up his end of the deal even when his partners (human beings) fail to.
When Jesus celebrates his last Passover with his disciples the night before his death he says "This cup is the new covenant, sealed in my blood". In ancient times, solemn covenants were often sealed by sprinkling the blood of sacrificial animals onto an altar.
So what does this have to do with a Biblical model for marriage? Seems clear to me that relationships that are pleasing to God are characterized by "Chesed" or covenant making and keeping -- steadfast love -- rather than by the presence or absence of a particular number of penises.
In other words, to answer Rick's original question, a marriage between a man and a woman, between two men, or between two women is Biblical if it is covenantal.