BlackGoldAg2011 said:
Quad Dog said:
So then my next logical question is: If people getting remmaried is adultery (a sin), but many churches these days allow that remarriage and therefore allow that sin of afultery, why is the sin of homosexual marriage so much worse that it is not allowed? What decides which sins are allowed/forgiven and which aren't?
I may be speaking out of turn, but I would guess that most here who believe that homosexual relationships are a sin will say they also believe the allowing of the remarriage you speak of is also wrong and would equally be against a church allowing this remarriage and allowing homosexual marriage.
I think it's more subtle. Let's use another example. Two couples walk into a church and one wife has visible bruises and burns while the other has none. For this example both women are being abused. It's obvious that sin (abuse) is present in the life of one but not the other. In order to say the church permits abuse in the case of no visible signs, you have to assume a great deal about how involved in the congregation the couple is and how much people know about them, including elders and the pastor. That's what makes this argument a bit dishonest, it assumes and attributes much to any church that permits remarriage.
It's obvious that a homosexual couple is sinning and there's no way to redeem the relationship (Jesus clearly defines marriage by quoting Genesis), so it is always sin. But how does one tell with any random heterosexual couple? Abuse takes many forms, including neglect and abandonment. To litigate whether we permit remarriage we must know the extent of the abuse, the attempts at reconciliation (if possible), and a lot about the individual situation that is simply unknowable for the majority of the congregation. To assume you know enough to conclude hypocrisy by virtue of knowing a remarried couple in the church is to be intimately familiar with all the facts.
My parents divorced when I was very young and I still don't understand it. The closest I get is that my dad may have just quit on us, made no effort to get a job after he lost his, sat around watching tv all day, and spent a lot of time fighting with my mom who worked to pay all the bills. Is that abandonment? I don't know. Neglect? Maybe, but is it bad enough? Is it sin for my mom to remarry? No idea, though I'd love to know for sure so that I work through my feelings eventually. My dad hasn't remarried and thinks it would be for him to remarry. These questions are all much harder to answer than something that is pretty clearly stated.
Edit: let's not forget that work on the sabbath was parsed to asking God about the intent of the man building a fire because they couldn't decide. Some rules are quite clear while others are harder and require insight we'll never have. One may cry unfair all day long, but ultimately submission to scripture, tradition, and the Word is important or church is just a social club.