Daily Archives: June 17, 2004

CPE-6: Are we doing some good or not?

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I really do need to spend more time proof-reading these posts. I am embarrassed, but not really enough to make all things perfect. Oh well…
I have visited “C” in the ICU twice more. Her niece and 83-year-old sister were not there either time. Her hand was wrapped yesterday, so we could not even communicate through her squeezing my hand. That was distressing! She opened her eyes, but I had no idea whether she was actually responding to me or whether her eyelids were simply opening and closing involuntarily. How do we communicate? How do we know if what we are doing is helping or causing more harm or distress?
I told her I was simply there to be with her. I stayed about 1/2 an hour. I prayed for her and read more Psalms to her. I wish I knew whether she had some favorite scriptures to could read to her. As I read from the Psalms, I kept thinking that if her mind was still aware and active even in her physical condition, then I might actually be causing her more stress by reading of praising God and of God always being present with us, and the like. If she is in the place of distress with God right now, reading such things may cause her much distress, or reading such things could cause her great relief and comfort. I just don’t know which it could be. A tear did come from her eye. I cannot image the kind of distress and fear, and possibly anger and bitterness that must be felt by someone in her situation.

Blessings of marriage

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Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink is eliciting responses from Christians concerning their feelings and experiences of family – of family defined by a marriage between one man and one woman and their children. They have posted on their website a sampling of the responses received thus far:

Be Sure to See Our Special “Why Marriage Matters” Report
A few weeks ago, we asked you to submit your thoughts about why marriage matters — to society as a whole, and to you and your family. We received more than 500 responses — some of them humorous, some of them heartbreaking, all of them heartfelt.
We’ve compiled the top 25 responses, and urge you to read them by clicking on the link below. We hope they each shed a little more light on why this God-created institution must be protected.
http://www.family.org/cforum/extras/a0032519.cfm

Of course marriage matters. For this group of people, gay-marriage demands the destruction of the institution of marriage. Their conclusion, seen in the proof of the testimonies given by people as posted above, is untenable because of the belief that anyone favoring gay-marriage does not believe that marriage in fact matters. The institution of marriage will collapse if gay people are allowed involvement in the institution, according to anti-gay prohibitionists.
I have not read all the 25 responses. From what I have read, the conclusions drawn by anti-gay-marriage people do not necessitate exclusive male-female relationships. As more and more gay couples become visible and as more and more rational, stable, and mature children are raised in these relationships, people will see that the claims made by Focus on the Family and the anti-gay-marriage forces are not true. There may very well be differences, but even if there are differences, they cannot be known at this point. Will there be dysfunctional children raised in dysfunctional gay-relationships? Yes, of course. Does that then mean gay-relationships are always wrong and destructive to children and the men/women involved? No more then the relationships of dysfunctional straight-families producing dysfunctional children means heterosexual marriages are always wrong and destructive.
The lines of argument being used by anti-gay-marriage forces are simple untenable when seen in the light of reality – reality as determined by God as revealed in Scripture and humankind.