"A Very Odd Thing"?
It is interesting how that, with a slight twist of a phrase, one can make an
issue into something that it really is not. One can take almost any
controversial issue and, with skillful use of language make things appear to be
different than it really is. Political and social spokesmen are often called
"spinners" because they put a "spin" on the facts to make them look favorable to
the politician who's interests and causes which they serve.
There are lots of items on the social agenda today, and so it is not surprising
that controversial subjects receive their fair share of "spin". Take the
following as a case in point:
Most of us are familiar with California's "proposition 8" which states that
marriage is to be between a man and a woman. That is precisely what God
appointed in the beginning (Genesis 2:23,24) and is not a new or strange concept
at all. It passed by popular vote, thus making it the law of California in
addition to being the law of God.
The California Supreme Court recently upheld the law. That ruling brought this
reaction by David Hyde Pierce (the actor who played the brother of Dr. Frasier
Crane on the TV sitcom "Fraiser"), who had married his long time partner (and
the court ruled that such "marriages" could remain in force). He called it a
"very odd thing" that strangers have a vote on his private decision to marry.
Now, that is not what the vote was about at all. It was not about voting on
anyone's private decision to marry. It was about whether California was going to
recognize the traditional (as well as Scriptural) definition of marriage or
redefine it into something new. The issue is not "who can marry who?" but rather
"what is marriage?" It is not whether Pierce and others of his community can
live together and make a home together. It is not about whether deviant sex practitioner
partners can have the same legal rights as married people with reference to
estate, insurance and so forth. Anyone can contract those things with others. It
is about what constitutes a marriage. It is Pierce's private decision as to his
lifestyle and with who he is going to live. It is not his private decision as to
what constitutes marriage. That is what the people of California voted on when
they went to the polls.
.
By Jon W. Quinn
The Front Page
From Expository Files 16.6; June 2009
