Politics before faith

  I heard on the news yesterday that Pope Francis endorses civil unions. Now I'm not a Catholic but I do read the same Bible. It says homosexuality, at least the act of having homosexual relations, is a sin. Yes, it says that in a few different places. In the Catholic faith matrimony is one of the sacraments of the church. It's true the Pope didn't advocate for that, but rather the civil union thing. You don't have to be a theologian to see the conflict there. Just changing the name of sin doesn't make is not a sin. And that is the  politics I'm talking about. The Pope has just given tacit approval of committing sinful acts. We all know that civil union is just the politically correct way of saying, we are having marital relations.

 I have heard every reason, every explanation, attempting to justify this concept. I never expected to hear any of that from the Pope. As I said I'm not Catholic, I don't believe the Pope is infallible, he is just a man as far as I'm concerned. Yes, he is supposed to be an example, the leader of the church, a speaker of the truth and doctrine of Christianity. Thing is, he is, and always has been a very important, very powerful, political figure. And in all fairness Pope Francis isn't the first Pope to put politics before faith, the examples are numerous throughout history. I'm not writing this piece as a condemnation of Pope Francis but rather as an explanation of my thoughts on the matter. For me, according to my Bible, to my religious belief, homosexuality is a sin. It's immoral, unnatural, and as it says in Leviticus, detestable. 

 That being said I understand that not everyone is a religious person, not every person reads the Bible, not everyone agrees on that. It also doesn't mean I hate anyone, would cause harm to anyone, or discriminate against anyone because they disagree with me on that topic. I will never agree that something I believe to be wrong is right, because you believe it is alright. No different to me than you telling me you love lima beans, I don't and you will never convince me they taste good. It doesn't mean you can't enjoy them, it means I don't. See how simple that is. You see, it's politics, same as what the Pope just said. You can't tell me on one hand that you are a man of faith, a follower of Christ, have belief in the words of the Bible, but that it's alright to ignore whatever part of that faith you choose. That's the problem I have with that, a bit hypocritical don't you think? An example I like to use is when Jesus saved that woman who committed adultery. What did he tell her? Go and sin no more was the instruction. It wasn't go ahead and sin some more, it's alright I forgive you. No, the instruction was really, I forgive you this time but don't do it again! Jesus also told that to the man he healed. He told him, stop sinning or something worse may happen to you! Sounds like a warning to me, not that it's alright to sin. No where in my Bible does it say, well people are going to do it anyway so it's alright as long as they ask forgiveness every time they do that. The Catholic church, during the middle ages, practiced indulgences. That was where you could just buy forgiveness and get your dearly departed out of purgatory. You could also buy forgiveness for yourself, a sort of eternal salvation savings account. That was when the church was running short of cash. 

 Okay so what if you don't believe any of that. Well that's on you in my feeling. I will, if asked, tell you exactly how I feel about that. If you don't want to hear any negative comments on the subject don't bring it up. Civil unions are in the realm of civil law. Whereas my personal feelings are different I can see the legality of that. Given the choice I would just change the tax code removing any advantage traditionally married couples may enjoy. That would be my solution to the legal inequity. Government has no role to play in morality, only legality. That's the premise behind the separation of church and state. The fear being the church could start imposing all sorts of things on citizens whether they believed in the state religion or not! Best to keep those separated. And that is my problem with this ruling by the Pope. His job is to lead the faithful, not to pander to those that aren't. For me it's a matter of integrity. The Bible says homosexuality is wrong, I believe what the Bible says, I won't change that to suit you. I will not say, it's alright as long as you say you don't believe in the Bible. Call that sin by another name and then endorse that sin. Nope, I still believe it is wrong in my area, faith. What the civil authorities have to say about all of that is an entirely different topic. 

 1 Timothy 1:8-11 8We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers-and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.