Originally posted by Craigbythesea:
Homosexuals are asking for equal rights under the Constitution of the United States. At the time of the writing of the Constitution, homosexual acts were punishable by death or other extremely severe punishments in every county in the civilized world, and it is expressly clear, therefore, that the writers of the Constitution did not intend to grant to these sexually perverted felons the same rights as law-abiding couples united together in the sight of God in holy matrimony. These sexually perverted felons should be removed from society just like other felons rather than blessed by society.
OK. Then let's give them what they want.
I say give them the "rights" they had at the time of the writing of the Constitution.
But let's not virtually dismantle society to pacify the perversions of a very small minority.
Their so-called "rights" are endowed by their Creator. Or did they miss that part? What does their Creator say about their activities? (I can't even bring myself to call it marriage)
It is clear what God thought of it and therefore if they want to howl about their "Constitutional rights" then let them have them. Those "rights" are outlined for them here:
Ro 1:27
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And here:
Ro 1:32
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are
worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Barnes:
Ro 1:27
Verse 27. And likewise the men, etc. The sin which is here specified is that which was the shameful sin of Sodom, and which from that has been called sodomy. It would scarcely be credible that man had been guilty of a crime so base and so degrading, unless there was ample and full testimony to it. Perhaps there is no sin which so deeply shows the depravity of man as this; none which would so much induce one "to hang his head, and blush to think himself a man." And yet the evidence that the apostle did not bring a railing accusation against the heathen world, that he did not advance a charge which was unfounded, is too painfully clear. It has been indeed a matter of controversy whether paederasty, or the love of boys, among the ancients, was not a pure and harmless love, but the evidence is against it. See this discussed in Dr. Leland's "Advantage and Necessity of Revelation," vol. i. 49--56. The crime with which the apostle charges the Gentiles here was by no means confined to the lower classes of the people. It doubtless pervaded all classes, and we have distinct specifications of its existence in a great number of cases. Even Virgil speaks of the attachment of Corydon to Alexis, without seeming to feel the necessity of a blush for it. Maximus Tyrius (Diss. 10) says, that in the time of Socrates this vice was common among the Greeks; and is at pains to vindicate Socrates from it as almost a solitary exception. Cicero (Tuscul. Ques. iv. 84) says, that "Dicearchus had accused Plato of it, and probably not unjustly." He also says, (Tuscul. Q. iv. 33,) that the practice was common among the Greeks, and that their poets and great men, and even their learned men and philosophers, not only practised, but gloried in it. And he adds, that it was the custom, not of particular cities only, but of Greece in general. (Tuscul. Ques. v. 20.) Xenophon says, that "the unnatural love of boys is so common, that in many places it is established by the public laws." He particularly alludes to Sparta. (See Leland's Advantage, etc., i. 56.) Plato says that the Cretians practised this crime, and justified themselves by the example of Jupiter and Ganymede. (Book of Laws, i.) And Aristotle says, that among the Cretians there was a
law encouraging that sort of unnatural love. (Arist. Politic. b. ii. ch. 10.)
(My comment: Have you noticed? A LAW encouraging it? Similar to today? Surely there is
"nothing new under the sun")
Continuing:
Plutarch says, that this was practised at Thebes, and at Ellis. He further says, that Solon, the great lawgiver of Athens, "was not proof against beautiful boys, and had not courage to resist the force of love." (Life of Solon.) Diogenes Laertins says that this vice was practised by the stoic Zeno. Among the Romans, to whom Paul was writing, this vice was no less common. Cicero introduces, without any mark of disapprobation, Cotta, a man of the first rank and genius, freely and familiarly owning to other Romans of the same quality, that this
worse than beastly vice was practised by himself, and quoting the authority of ancient philosophers in vindication of it. (De Natura Decrum, b. i. eh. 28.) It appears from what Seneca says, (epis. 95,) that in his time it was practised openly at Rome, and without shame. He speaks of flocks and troops of boys, distinguished by their colours and nations; and says that great care was taken to train them up for this
detestable employment. Those who may wish to see a further account of the morality in the pagan world may find it detailed in Tholick's "Nature and Moral Influence of Heathenism," in the Biblical Repository, vol. ii., and in Leland's Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation. There is not the least evidence that this abominable vice was confined to Greece and Rome. If so common there--if it had the sanction even of their philosophers--it may be presumed that it was practised elsewhere, and that the sin against nature was a common crime throughout the heathen world. Navaratte, in his account of the empire of China, (book ii. ch. 6,) says that it is extremely common among the Chinese. _And there is every reason to believe that, both in the old world and the new, this abominable crime is still practised. If such was the state of the pagan world, then surely the argument of the apostle is well sustained, that there was need of some other plan of salvation than was taught by the light of nature.
That which is unseemly. That which is shameful, or disgraceful.
And receiving in themselves, etc. The meaning of this doubtless is, that the effect of such
base and unnatural passions was to enfeeble the body, to produce premature old age, disease, decay, and an early death. That this is the effect of the indulgence of licentious passions, is amply proved by the history of man. The despots who practise polygamy, and keep harems in the east, are commonly superannuated at forty years of age; and it is well known, even in Christian countries, that the effect of licentious indulgence is to break down and destroy the constitution. How much more might this be expected to follow the practice of the vice specified in the verse under examination! God has marked the indulgence of licentious passions with his frown. Since the time of the Romans and the Greeks, as if there had not been sufficient restraints before, he has originated a new disease, which is one of the most loathsome and distressing which has ever afflicted man, and which has swept off millions of victims. But the effect on the body was not all.
It tended to debase the mind; to sink man below the level of the brute; to destroy the sensibility; and to "sear the conscience as with a hot iron." The last remnant of reason and conscience, it would seem, must be extinguished in those who would indulge in this unnatural and degrading vice. See Suetonius' Life of Nero, 28.
(Bold/italics is my comment and/or emphsis)
If they want what is "rightfully" theirs, then we ought to give it to them. Death and or imprisonment for their crimes against nature.
In HIS service;
Jim
. We cannot effectively legislate morality.
