Gay "marriage"(ii)

The trouble with the notion of gay "marriage" is that the terminology is all wrong.
From a high Christian point of view marriage is something more than the recognition of any old relationship. It is God's way of ordering society. Many wedding services say something like..."this is the way God orders society, so that children can be nurtured in safety and security."
This notion does not say that procreation & nurture is the only distinctive feature about marriage. We tie ourselves in knots if we say that this is the only purpose for marriage.

It is also a relationship of mutual edification and support. It is a God-ordained relationship in which a man gives himself completely to a woman for life so that she might be fulfilled, and a woman does likewise. Far from a relationship of domination and submissive obedience, it is mutual and voluntary submission one to another. This is hard and challenging stuff, and the high divorce rate indicates at the least that most of us find this really hard.

Christians of my tradition call this a "sacrament", a mysterious sign of God's commitment to act in our lives. People who are or have been married understand a little fo this mystery. It is, in my opinion, hard for those who have not been married to fully understand it.

My question then is that if the main business of marriage is about strengthening your partner through mutual submission and love then why can two men or two women not commit themselves in the same way? That is the question of debate at the moment.

My leaning is that Christians should do what ever they can to promote stable relationships. This for the good of society and as part of pastoral responsibility to people. It is not I think good pastoral care to say to homosexual people...get married to a person of the opposite sex. Though some, even many, have done this it doesn't solve the homosexual orientation, and can be a most destructive element in a relationship leading to secrecy, lies and deception and ultimately great unhappiness for all concerned. It doesn't have to be, but it can be.

I am inclined to believe too that most homsoexuals do not choose to be so, it is curious to make this sort of claim. As though some people are so wilfull that they would choose to ostracise themselves. Many, many homosexuals claim to have been born that way...I have no reason to doubt that claim. I am sceptical about claims of "healing" homosexuality, and I am concerned about the sort of glasses this causes us to view sexual orientation through.

Where does this leave us? I suggest with a curious view of God. If we think that some how God has created 5, 6, 7 up to 10% of the population with an orientation that is going to, in the opinion of the (self) righteous, permanently trap them in a life os sin. I know it is true of all of us,but why should God victimise that sector of society by giving them a greater than average burden of sin. Doesn't sound like the God of love to me!