Dear Editor,
I wish to express my disappointment with Portugal’s Parliament for passing a bill allowing gay marriage. At the same time, I commend New Jersey’s state Senate in the U.S. for defeating a bill Thursday that would have legalized same-sex marriage.
Marriage is an institution that predates civilization, ordained by God, and exclusive to one man and one woman who are given the responsibility to procreate the human race, and to nurture, educate, and pass on shared values and mores to their offspring.
To redefine marriage to include same-sex couples is to strip marriage of an essential component, namely the ability and obligation to procreate. This would render marriage meaningless and open it up to endless revision and redefinition.
Dr. Francis Collins, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work sequencing the human genetic code has stated that homosexuality is not genetically “hardwired.”
Not surprisingly, every credible study supports the fact that children do better in school, live healthier lives, and become better contributors to society when raised by both a mother and a father in the same household. Society is now seeing the results of “causal divorce” from the 70’s and the “out of wedlock children” of the 80’s, as the children of this generation now have all these psychological problems.
As the basic expression of man’s social nature, marriage can only be understood as the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.
Sincerely,
Paul Kokoski
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the management and staff of Dominica News Online and its parent company.
As an evangelist who has conducted seven preaching and healing missions in the Azores I was shocked to learn that Portugal had accepted same sex marriage. I know the Portuguese to be traditional people with solid family values. Sadly, I believe that any nation that legalizes this abomination (including my own beloved Canada) is literally taking itself out from under God’s protection and should expect the worst. Homosexuality is forbiddden in the Holy Scriptures. It has been condemned by the church for 2,000 years. Every civilization that accepted homosexuality as normal has fallen. In our day homosexualiy is the greatest single reason for the spread of AIDS in various countries. The greatest danger facing the legalization of same sex marriage is simply this. There are other special interest groups waiting for same sex marriage to be legalized before they begin lobbying for their own particular domestic arrangements to be recognized as marriages. Since same sex marriage was accepted in Canada we have started hearing from those who want polygamy to be legalized. And what about adult-minor marriages, parent-child, and brother-sister marriages? Once same sex marriage is accepted on the grounds that the charter requires everybody be treated equally they have opened the pandora’s box. By making one exception to the traditional model they are making it impossible to refuse to accomdate other alternatives. It is time for polititians who care about the future of their country to say “It’s not going to happen.” History will honor those who take a stand! “Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide.” It’s time for Christian leaders to be God’s prophetical voice in this the darkest time in church history. Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. Pentecostal Evangelist. http://www.livinghopeministries.ca
Many of the comments confuse love with lust. Homosexual acts, like other perverted sex acts, that aim at snuffing out children, are lustful. Even an atheist can know this.
One writer tries to justify queer sex by ridiculously saying that “there is a greater percentage of divorce among heterosexuals”. Well no kidding – homos can’t get married in 99% of countries. In the 1% of countries that do allow queer weddings – 99% of the people still oppose them. Unfortunately they don’t get to vote on such issues like this as their governments enforce their will on the people with immoral laws written by a few queer politicians. This demonstrates that the homosexual mind is not all there.
Homo relationships end much quicker than normal relationship contrary to another writer.
Another writer says that homos are good because it controls the population. Well this is a pro-death attitude if I ever say one. Do all homos hate people? Once again we have the queer logic raising its ugly head.
One writer pretending not to be gay says that we should not discriminate against homos. Why Not? We discriminate against murders and thieves – so why not sexual misfits?
One writer says the homos have nothing to do with God. Really. Obviously if the writer does not know God how can he know what God wants. This demonstrates the vile bigotry and hateful discrimination homos have for normal people.
Normal Boy: To encourage you and for the sake of those who may read your comments in the future I would like to say this…
What you have written is written is correct. I appreciate those who know their subject and have an intelligent understanding of it as you do. So many commentators on DNO write to defend homosexuality mainly because it is a political issue. It seems they don’t have the ability to be objective and their contempt for the facts is obvious.
If you follow DNO you will know those of us who oppose homosexuality are often contradicted by the “gays” who find it nescessay to exercise their right to equal time. A few things are outstanding in their comments and will not be missed by those who are trained to analyse and evaluate.
It is rare to find facts in their comments. They make statements as if they are facts but they give no terms of reference. Those with even a basic knowlege of the subject know they are wrong.
Their refusal to consider either the religious or scientific side of the case against homosexuality shows they totally lack substance. When they are told that the Bible forbids homosexuality they unleash a torrent of abuse against the Bible by saying things even a casual church going reader of the Bible knows is taken out of context and is irrelevent. When they are confronted with the scientific evidence they bad mouth the scientists and their work without reading or considering what they have written.
Without the facts on their side they can do nothing but use words like hate, homophobia, equal rights, and discrimination out of context. The frightening thing about it is this. These very words they are using by misapplying them to themselves can – and are – already being used by those who are arguing for other deviate causes.
The greatest line of defence against militant homosexuality is the truth. Than you for your contribution.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. Pentecostal Evangelist.
People are entitled to the right to love each other. Marriage is a legal issue. 99.9% of the time the reason people can come up with for opposing gay marriage is on religious grounds. Yet most times marriages can be performed in a non religious ceremony. Its as comparable to segregation. back in the day if laws weren’t enacted to stop the lynching and unfair treatment of blacks we would still be treated like s***! in the US do you know that in some states law books it is still illegal for a white persona and black person to marry?
being gay doesn’t make your any less human it just defines who you f….
We have the right to love each other as Jesus loved us. correct me, if i am being inaccurate; “we have the right to be intimate with each other”
Being gay is burning in lust in an unnatural manner. a shameful manner.
i wonder why any other animal doesnt force its penis into the rectum of its species. (maybe cuz the couldn’t invent KY)
but maestro, you’re missing the point altogether. Although i agree with you 100% you have to remember that these people do not believe in God, Jesus, the bible, or any divine being for that matter.
The ones who go to church and believe in God will tell you that Jesus would not discriminate.
This is a lost cause in my mind. I will denounce it whenever i can, but that’s all that can be done. The homosexuals are filthy rich so they are able to buy all of our elected officials, and have laws written in their favor.
more people educated the more foolish they behave and think. HOW IN D WORLD U CAN ACCEPT TWO MEN KISSING AND MAKING LOVE! MUCH LESS GETTING MARRIED AND SAYING THEY LOVE EACH OTHER, I JUST SPOILT MY APPETITE SAYING THAT. MY BOY A WOMAN SO NICE! HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
Gay marriage is ridiculus!!!
Ok, we are all educated people here…. perhaps at varying levels.
i understand that there is a reference point for everything regardless of the subject. and we can and should go back to our reference point as often a possible in an effort to take full advantage of the subject matter at hand.
E.g there is an owners manual that comes with a new car, (would save us a lot of time perhaps trying to figure out how to operate the complicated radio it came with.)
similiarly our reference point is the Bible.
How difficult is it to see or understand that Holy Bible was written for us all to have a better understanding of ourselves.
Romans 1; later part of verse 27 speaks against these perversions.
To all of you who think this is discrimination… please read your bibles. Better yet aspire for a relationship with your Creator.
can u believe how dumb we are….. we recognise the creator of the simple things, e.g a car, television, computer and are so quick to call the creators when these machines malfunction BUT REFUSE TO CALL ON OUR OWN CREATOR.
Question; do u know the amount of people who would chose a relationship with HP or Nissan over a relationship with God Almighty??
sad sad sad.
Celus, you sound a lot like the intelligent fools in the US. You can not equate discrimination because of race with a society not wanting to allow same sex marriage. Someone who is born into a particular race did not chose to do so. Homosexuals chose to be homosexuals. And don’t rebuttal with the argument that its their “Sexual Orientation” because i do not agree with this theory either.
The fact is: humans, whether divinely or not, have an inherent desire to preserve human existence. Its just something we are programmed to do. Homosexuality does not promote or preserve human existence.
My suggestion has always been to allow a group of homosexuals to their own island nation without adding new people, males on one island and females on a separate island, return in 100 years and take a census of the population.
And another thing, just you do not believe in God that doesn’t give you the right to be disrespectful. GOD is spelled with a capital ‘g”
TO celus, You are the dumbest person on the Earth.it’s a good thing brains don’t grow with age.Remember God is not sleeping,you fool.
I really don’t see how this is discrimination……marriage is what it is…….2 men cannot make children neither can 2 women…….what is wrong is wrong and will always be wrong!!!! the same way sex out of marriage is wrong gay marriage is wrong…I don’t see that as judging or discriminating……geez….
Thank God I belong to a Church that will never accept homosexual marriage. For we believe that marriage in the Church is a sacrament- an outward sign of God’s grace.
So if people want to make their civil unions that is their business. But it will never be right in the sight of God!
Do you know that blacks were once described as three fifths of the U.S constitution and that whites had used the bible to justified their continued descrimination of blacks.You don’t have to be gay to support their right to be happy in marriage.The whole idea that marriage is ordained by god is your personal business, but once the gov’t gets in the business of picking favorites, that’s where i draw the line. Your god is yours! keep that in your house with your kids, but don’t descriminate against others because you don’t like it.Most of you who claim to know what “God” wants have never read the bible and are just blind followers who could easily be lead into the jungles of guyana like jim lones did to his followers like dumb sheep.
Thats why we got the VIRUS now to control the earth’s population?
Man is too wicked. Turning Gods way to suit them. Judgment day is coming anyway.
If marriage is the ideal between a man and woman why is there a greater percentage of divorce and infidelity among heterosexuals than any other form of relationship.?I happen to reside in a country where people are not judged by their sexual preference. What about judging people by the content of their heart rather than their choices of life partners. Gay couples happen to be very loving and dedicated parents. Take a look at gay relationship and you will notice that they last longer than the average marriage between man and woman,in addition straight couples are not interested in marriage any more.Dont you reside in Dominica? what does a European country laws or bills have to do with you?
Concerned: You say there is a higher divorce rate for hetrosexual marriages than for any other relationships. To what other relationships are you referring? Apart from hetrosexual marriages the only other kind I am aware of is same sex marriage. Same sex marriage has not been legal long enough anywhere yet to get an accurate and fair reading on what the divorce rate will be or how it will compare with that of traditional marriage. What we do know is that in the short time same sex marriages have been performed there have been split-ups and divorces. But homosexual living together pre-dates homosexual marriage long enough to give us some statistics. Studies show that gay living together is no guarrantee of fidelity. Many of these relationships are short lived. There are also statistics that show domestic violence is more common among gay than straight live-in couples. Concerned, the real problem is this. Even if a same sex couple have a happy problem free marriage (so-called) it does not make the relationship valid and justified in the sight of God. He forbids homosexuality in His Word. Please read Roman 1:21-32 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Goverrnments that approve and legalize same sex marriage are taking their countries out from under God’s protectioin and subjecting them to His wrath according to Jude vs. 7. Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. Pentecostal Evangelist. http://www.livinghopeministries.ca
Homosexaulity is a way for Mother Earth to control the population. In the animal kingdom especially wild animals, every certain amount of years you find that a disease passes thru the population to keep the balance, there has never been so many people on this planet at once so Mother Earth is doing what she knows best to keep the balance.
sir if your logic is correct, please inform me, who were the parents of the children of the 70’s and 80’s.
If marriage was the ideal which you claim it to be,why have the children rejected it, for thir own experiment.of co-habiting and single parenting. Why is the divorce rate so high,
Well i am proud of the Portugeuse government for recognising that we are all entitled to the same human rights.l Maybe the gays will show us how to stay married and raise children in loving homes.
heterosexuals have not done such a good job. heterosexual relationships are screwed up.
From the offset, let me make it clear that I am not gay and I am happily married with kids.
However, I am sick of people discriminating other people because they are different. As a Dominican and a descendent of the Negro race I have encountered discrimination at many levels throughout my travels and hate EVERY kind of discrimination! Unfortunately, some of us Dominicans cry out when we suffer discrimination but are quick to express the same towards others. We should say no to all forms of discrimination, be it gender, sex, ethnicity, gender, color, ect.
The dictionary describes discrimination as a sociological term referring to the treatment taken toward or against a person of a certain group that is taken in consideration based on class or category. The same dictionary describes marriage as a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic. Such a union may also be called matrimony, while the ceremony that marks its beginning is usually called a wedding and the marital structure created is known as wedlock.
Marriage has nothing to do with God or procreation. It is a civil agreement service, governed and legalized by the law of the land and like all laws, it should be available to all citizenry of the land! Many religions have incorporated this civic service into their own practices and offer it (with permission of the courts) to their congregation. However, as a civic service offered to all citizenry of the land, a democratic elected government SHOULD offer such services to EVERYONE. Failure to deny such to anyone or group would be an act of discrimination! I can understand and even agree if a religious group doesn’t want to offer such a service to everyone. After all, these religious groups have the right to deny membership and service to anyone they want to. However, the state/city/country/government was put there to offer services to EVERYONE.
It is time we move away from the box that we feel so comfortable and start cleansing away our many selfish and sometimes discriminating ways. As much as they may be different from some of us, gays are also people to. We are always quick to judge others and execute them to support our own personal points but we should always remember that your closet is COMPLETELY clean before you complain about someone else’s!!!
“Marriage has nothing to do with God.” I’m not surprised you did not put your name on your silly comments. The Bible speaks of those who refuse to recognize God. It says, “… as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind,…”(Romans 1:28) If marriage had nothing to do with God then of course there would be no God given laws regulating marriage. That is not the way it is. First, marriage is not an institution created by human beings for the sake of convenience. It is not a product of our social evolution. Marriage was given to the human race by our wise and loving God – for procreation, yes – but also for the mutual comfort and well being of the husband and wife, as well as the proper nurture and upbringing of children. I refer you to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. “…Have ye not read, that he (God) which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” (Matthew 19:4-6) Second, God has given us the model for marriage in these verses of scripture. One man and one woman! No human government has the authority to redefine marriage. They can recognize marriages, and register marrages, and so they should. But they cannot change what marriage is! It is not theirs to tamper with. It does not fall wihin their domain. Third, God has made it clear in His Word that sex outside of marriage is a sin. He has specifically said homosexuality is a sin. These activities bring serious and eternal consequences. Please read Romans 1:21-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9,10, 1 Timothy 1:9,10, and Jude vs. 7. Yes, God has everything to do with to do with marriage! He has built a hedge around it! Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. Pentecostal Evangelist. http://www.livinghopeministries.ca Read my ARTICLE “Things that Cannot be Shaken”.
Someone might mention to Paul Kokoski that civil marriage has ZERO to do with any god or religion. Absolutely zero.
He seems blithely unaware of that fact.
Unless he IS aware of that fact, but is hiding behind god to justify ugly bigotry.
But that would never be the case, would it? Heterosexuals would never be so vile and discriminate against their very own offspring.
Would they?
Marriage was – and is – God’s idea. It was instituted by HIM! Please read Matthew 19:4-6. Marriage is not a product of our social evolution. God gave it to the human race in the beginning.
No human government has the authority to redefine marriage. The only true and valid marriage is the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. It is intended to be a life long relationship.
A marriage is initiated by a mutual commitment of the man and woman one to the other which we call “exchanging vows”. This must be done in the presence of witnesses. The ceremony itself can be either civil or religious. The Bible does not say there MUST be a religious leader officiating or be done in a house of worship. It says “Marriage is honorable in all, …” (Hebrews 13:4). This means marriage is honorable for all people. Unbelievers also get married. Whether it is a civil or religious ceremony if it meets the Biblical requirement it is a marriage in the eyes of God.
However, people of faith usually want their religious leader to officiate. Christians like to have their pastor read the scriptures, pray, and bless their marriage. Because of this religious marriage ceremonies have developed. These are usually conducted in churches and other places of worship but I have conducted weddings in beautiful parks and in the great out-of-doors. These services can be simple or elaborate.
However, make no mistake about this. Whether it is a civil ceremony or a religious one it has everything to do with God if it is a true marriage meeting the basic Biblical requirements. This is because marriage itself is of God!
Many people who have had a civil ceremony have later had a pastor perform a religious ceremony or simply bless the marriage. This is done in nations that do nor recognize religious marriage ceremonies. Some countries recognize Catholic ceremonies but not those performed by an evangelical pastor. People will have the civil ceremony done and then go to their church for a religious service. They know they are already married but they want to acknowledge God at the beginning of their new life together and ask for His blessing.
Sincerely, Rev. Donald Hill. Pentecostal Evangelist.