Just reread my previous post to you and realized it was a good deal most positive than I had intended.
In practical terms there is a great deal of overlap between symbols, such as words, and their referents.
What I was trying to say was not that your post was wrong, which is how I think I came across, but rather that it’s not as simple as that.
The term “marriage,” for instance, describes an astonishing variety of human customs across the planet and across thousands of years of history. What it means to you or to me is not what it meant to King Solomon or Genghis Khan, or Henry VIII for that matter.
Our own personal perspective is not necessarily that of the universe.
I confess, as a Libertarian, I can’t get upset about gay marriage, since I really value personal freedom and the separation of church and state. If someone belongs to a religion that forbids it, then that’s their choice, and if another religion allows it between consenting adults, then go for it. I don’t care about gays in the military, getting married, etc., so long as it ain’t mandatory that I participate, because that doesn’t happen to be my thing.:)
I agree that the definition of “marriage” has changed vastly through the centuries. What’s the quote I read recently? “The fact that you can’t sell your daughter for three goats and a cow means we’ve already redefined marriage.”
Kinda true, no? If what some other posters say is true, that “marriage” is only valid based on what God says, then let each religion have their ceremonies before God, let the legal part be something separate, and then come the afterlife we’ll find out who was right.
That’s my LIbertarian view on it, FWIW.