{"id":236,"date":"2015-05-22T17:57:18","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T21:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northernway.org\/ordainedminister\/?p=236"},"modified":"2015-05-22T17:57:18","modified_gmt":"2015-05-22T21:57:18","slug":"same-sex-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northernway.org\/ordainedminister\/same-sex-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister Asked to Perform a Same-Sex Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"
We have been ordaining ministers, rabbis and other clergy (both gay and straight)\u00a0for decades as part of our church and seminary’s mission to provide compassionate, skilled, spiritually nurturing alternative clergy to every community.<\/p>\n

\"ordainedAlternative clergy is one thing, but what about alternative lifestyles? One of our recent ordained ministers asked what the Esoteric Interfaith Church’s policy is regarding gay marriage, aka same-sex marriage. He has been asked to officiate a same-sex wedding next month.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

The church has always believed that ordination does not mean we control your every move, in fact we encourage autonomy and the\u00a0founding of\u00a0your own church. If you are asked to officiate a same-sex\u00a0wedding in a state where it is legal, that is fine. As long as you are not breaking the laws of the land, you are in good standing with the church \/ seminary. But what about the laws of the Bible?, some have asked.<\/p>\n

Doesn’t\u00a0the Judeo-Christian Bible\u00a0say homosexuality\u00a0is an abomination?\u00a0How can a church or synagogue allow gay marriages to be officiated\u00a0and claim to follow the Bible?<\/p>\n

Below\u00a0are some links proving that the Bible does NOT condemn homosexuality, does not call it an abomination. As you read the proof, keep in mind these facts from the scientific and medical fields:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Some animal species have homosexual members (swans, wolves, penguins), proving it occurs naturally in God’s Creation. \u00a0Only 5 to 7% of humans are homosexual and this rareness leads to humanity’s complete misunderstanding of it.<\/p>\n

Homosexuality sometimes runs in families, as LGBT people will tell you.\u00a0 Science has proven\u00a0it has genetic elements. Just google “gay gene”.<\/p><\/div>\n

Teenagers and pre-teens\u00a0who have never been sexually active\u00a0realizing\u00a0they’re gay\u00a0when they constantly have crushes on members of their same gender proves\u00a0humans are born with their sexual orientation. It is not a “learned” behavior.<\/p>\n

Here are the links:<\/p>\n

The Bible Does NOT Condemn Homosexuality
\nhttp:\/\/notalllikethat.org\/taking-god-at-his-word-the-bible-and-homosexuality\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Six Reasons Why Christians Should Embrace Same-Sex Relationships<\/span><\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.religioustolerance.org\/ashford01.htm<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
The Bible & Homosexuality on Wikipedia<\/span><\/div>\n
http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Bible_and_homosexuality<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have been ordaining ministers, rabbis and other clergy (both gay and straight)\u00a0for decades as part of our church and seminary’s mission to provide compassionate, skilled, spiritually nurturing alternative clergy to every community. Alternative clergy is one thing, but what about alternative lifestyles? One of our recent ordained ministers asked what the Esoteric Interfaith Church’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,24],"tags":[71,49],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-become-ordained","category-performing-wedding-officiating-marriage","tag-lgbt-clergy","tag-same-sex-marriage"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t