The purpose of government is to provide a Rule of Law—a system to protect the Natural Rights of all citizens which includes their posterity. In Natural Law Theory—duties always come before any “rights” and that was the philosophy of our Founders who adopted Natural Law Theory and where the term “Natural Rights” comes from, which presupposes a Supreme Being. (why the laws of nature and nature’s God exists in Declaration and our Rights come from the Creator).
You can’t get much clearer than that.
Just Law which is defined by Cicero as “Right Reason according to Nature”. That is where our government’s idea of Justice comes from—right reason assumes there is a “wrong” reason.
All Just Law has to be based in Right Reason which is governed by the laws of nature....(God’s design)....which is the foundation of reason and logic and science (Newtonian). Cause and effect in nature assumes there was a Creator since all of nature points to a cause. This is the philosophy that was incorporated into the Constitution and as such guarantees our “Natural Rights”. There is a teleological design to man..proven by nature....that is easily knowable to all human beings....and the best, most equal system for human beings to flourish and be productive in the emotionally safest and most flourishing model is marriage which promotes the long term nurturing of their own posterity—the connectivity of the past with the future which gives genetic interest to both and a reason to sacrifice for others. Marriage assures selflessness since there has to be sacrifices made because of the possibility of children. Selfish societies are always destructive societies. Christianity teaches selflessness....and sacrifice...it is why it was so perfect for flourishing, creative, productive societies....and science...it teaches delayed gratification—perseverance which is crucial to intellectual development.
In Natural Law Theory which is the underlying principle of our Constitution, human beings have duties of caring for their biological offspring....which is where the right to personal property originates. It is necessary to ensure the survival of self and offspring. It is the basis of Natural Rights and as such the government has the “duty” to provide a system where human beings will be able to flourish and care for their biological offspring...it is the purpose of government. Marriage is essential to the emotional and physical survival of children....the importance of a mother and father to all children has never been in dispute until marxist studies similar to the global warming ones...to manipulate “feelings” and worldview and promote agendas..... I’ve studied child development and worked with children for decades.
It only started to become “controversial” because of the feminist movement which was developed to remove the mother from her children and destroy patriarchy—destroy the trust that children have in parents. It used to be considered extremely evil to have strangers watch young children up until the Feminist movement—than all the agitprop made “daycare” a good, AFTER they renamed it “preschool” so mothers would fall for the ruse and abandon their young (primates would never do it) to strangers to form the children’s worldview. BK Eakman writes and documents decades of intentional destruction of “fixed beliefs” of children so children will believe up is down etc....there will be no logic—the laws of nature won’t exist. Marx’s design of utopia....where no biological relationships exist so that loyalty and dependence is only for the state.
First off, I want to THANK YOU for the polite, open, and informative exchanges! I wish others in this thread would take your example and learn from it...
I do understand the issues with Natural Law, and the Rule of Law. However, my concern is that we - as a nation - are turning away from the source of our Rights (the Creator, as identified in our foundational documents) and towards Man. So rather Natural (which is to say, God-based) Law, we are moving toward Man’s Law. And so we see the legalization of things like gay marriage.
I contend that society is going to be more damaged by a legalization of gay marriage - which, at this point, I believe is not only inevitable but required as one of the signs of the future return of Christ - than the elimination of State-sanctioned marriage. A marriage commitment at this point, from a legal/Government standard, is no more than a simplified contract with implied clauses of property divisions.
I believe that if we are to maintain the sanctity of marriage as God intended it, we need to take it back from the State. Make it a Christ-centered thing only. Let the Government offer its civil ceremonies to man and woman, man and man, woman and woman, man and man and woman, man and phone, whathaveyou. Let it descend to the level of what the Government functionally considers it to be today - a simplified contract between parties with some implied conditions.
Take marriage back from the State, and keep it holy in the Church. What two people pledge to each other before God and their fellow believers has no less import because the State does not recognize it. Much of the early life of America saw such religious marriages lasting for years before they could be “legally” registered, yet it made those marriages no less valid in the eyes of God.
If the gays want to get “married”, and the Government and legal system has sunk to the level where such an abomination is their right, then remove the entire religious aspect from the act. Do not let it be defiled by such deviant applications. Strip Government out of the marriage business, let it deal with the secular and legal ramifications of a union of people.
Put marriage back in the hands of the church and God.
Anyway, that’s my opinion, and thank you again for your kind, courteous, and expressive posts!