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She explained the reason that they cannot get married in the first post. Go back and read it slowly, until you get it.
Personally, a pastor would be about the last person I would consult about anything. Especially if the pastor is anything like the "Christians" who are harassing her. Most people who act like she is describing have a astor or minister who is weekly stirring the hate.
A church ceremony need not invalidate one's SS income if one doesn't get the marriage license. I didn't see anything in the OP that would indicate my question was answered.
And I'd suggest the OP find a pastor that is willing to talk about it. I'm sorry if they've only experienced judgmental ones.
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Funny, but I had predicted that type of response sooner or later on this thread. Metamorphosis, a few posts up, made an observation of certain fundamentalist sects and Bible belt religions. And in walks the very caricature of a Bible Belt Baptist, the very ones who daily tarnish the image of otherwise mellow, loving Christians....
Nothing I said was judgmental. Perhaps you should reevaluate your attitude.
A church ceremony need not invalidate one's SS income if one doesn't get the marriage license. I didn't see anything in the OP that would indicate my question was answered.
And I'd suggest the OP find a pastor that is willing to talk about it. I'm sorry if they've only experienced judgmental ones.
Nothing I said was judgmental. Perhaps you should reevaluate your attitude.
Perhaps you should re-evaluate how you sound. At least 2 of us mentioned it, and I got several reps for my post about that.
Not all Christians are judgmental only the fundies. Many American Christians keep telling me on CD that you must believe, but it's a little hard to believe when you don't feel God in your soul. I suppose I never will.
Not all Christians are judgmental only the fundies. Many American Christians keep telling me on CD that you must believe, but it's a little hard to believe when you don't feel God in your soul. I suppose I never will.
"You must believe" or "just believe" are oxymorons in my view. Belief is a natural and organic product of possessing evidence in favor of the belief. If your definition and understanding of what evidence consists of is faulty, you might believe for what I'd regard as wrong or invalid reasons, but you can't believe on command or by throwing some sort of switch in your brain. This conflation of belief with will rather than evidence is the basic error of religion.
Scriptures, personal experiences or feelings or yearnings, teachings, etc. are not evidence, they are claims. This fundamental confusion leads people to think they believe based on evidence but what they are affording belief to are claims that they very much want or need to be true, and are willing to suspend disbelief around. That can work, for some people, for some time. It worked for me -- until the abstraction started to leak too much. For others the abstraction holds sufficiently, although many of those need to maintain quite a wall of denial to keep the "belief" "strong". The belief is actually very weak, and is founded on sand. That is why so many Christians seem more impressed with the imagined power of satan or sin than with the imagined power of god or righteousness. They will go on about righteousness flowing like a mighty river but for them really it is a trickle easily overwhelmed by something as simple as a mud dam, metaphorically speaking.
Not all Christians are judgmental only the fundies. Many American Christians keep telling me on CD that you must believe, but it's a little hard to believe when you don't feel God in your soul. I suppose I never will.
It's dangerous to label any group as the source of one's problem. I have worked with professionals who were observant of their beliefs, and they never attempted to recruit anyone. If you asked, they would tell you about their beliefs, they treated same-sex persons like everyone else, and no one expected them to correct/police other people of faith. Some people are mentally lazy and prefer to shoot fish in a barrel no matter who gets hurt as long as it's not them getting injured or killed.
Why is it surprising that older people who log into a specific themed forum attempt to persuade each other? Many researchers have concluded that after age 35, most people are solidified in their ways and thinking.
"You must believe" or "just believe" are oxymorons in my view. Belief is a natural and organic product of possessing evidence in favor of the belief. If your definition and understanding of what evidence consists of is faulty, you might believe for what I'd regard as wrong or invalid reasons, but you can't believe on command or by throwing some sort of switch in your brain. This conflation of belief with will rather than evidence is the basic error of religion.
Scriptures, personal experiences or feelings or yearnings, teachings, etc. are not evidence, they are claims. This fundamental confusion leads people to think they believe based on evidence but what they are affording belief to are claims that they very much want or need to be true, and are willing to suspend disbelief around. That can work, for some people, for some time. It worked for me -- until the abstraction started to leak too much. For others the abstraction holds sufficiently, although many of those need to maintain quite a wall of denial to keep the "belief" "strong". The belief is actually very weak, and is founded on sand. That is why so many Christians seem more impressed with the imagined power of satan or sin than with the imagined power of god or righteousness. They will go on about righteousness flowing like a mighty river but for them really it is a trickle easily overwhelmed by something as simple as a mud dam, metaphorically speaking.
The bold is spot on! However, I would obviously disagree with you about personal experience as evidence. It IS evidence for the one having the experience since there is no other way for us to make such judgments. Expecting it to be valid for others is the issue.
... I would obviously disagree with you about personal experience as evidence. It IS evidence for the one having the experience since there is no other way for us to make such judgments. Expecting it to be valid for others is the issue.
I actually don't disagree with this statement. If I have a personal experience I'm certainly free to take that on board as evidence as I see fit, as is everyone else. What I am not free to do is to expect it to have any validity for anyone else.
Perhaps you should re-evaluate how you sound. At least 2 of us mentioned it, and I got several reps for my post about that.
You getting "reps" for attacking a Christian? Wow
Can't IMAGINE that there would be those around here that would rep a guy for chastising a Christian regardless of the validity of the post. Good grief. Maybe that's your issue. Maybe instead of posting to try to get cheap reps you should worry about things like truth.
Can't IMAGINE that there would be those around here that would rep a guy for chastising a Christian regardless of the validity of the post. Good grief. Maybe that's your issue. Maybe instead of posting to try to get cheap reps you should worry about things like truth.
I must have missed something. What post did phetaroi make in this thread that was chastising Christians or was untrue? What made you think he was trying to get reps?
Not all Christians are judgmental only the fundies. Many American Christians keep telling me on CD that you must believe, but it's a little hard to believe when you don't feel God in your soul. I suppose I never will.
That's not true.
As soon as someone is labeled a "fundy", it's a backhanded judgment on that person.
You just judge in a different direction.
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The bold is spot on! However, I would obviously disagree with you about personal experience as evidence. It IS evidence for the one having the experience since there is no other way for us to make such judgments. Expecting it to be valid for others is the issue.
