California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a same-sex "marriage" bill on Friday, giving pro-family groups a second win in the battle to protect traditional marriage in the state.
The measure, if signed, would have defined marriage as a union between "two persons" rather than a man and a woman, granting homosexual couples the same rights and benefits as married heterosexual couples. Schwarzenegger said voters and the state Supreme Court, not lawmakers, should decide the issue.
Schwarzenegger turned down a similar bill in 2005.
Gay rights advocates denounced the veto and accused the governor of hypocrisy.
"We find it shocking for the governor to say he opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation and then veto a bill that would have ended discrimination based on sexual orientation," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California, a gay rights group, according to The Associated Press.
In his veto message, Schwarzenegger wrote that Californians "should not be discriminated against based upon their sexual orientation."
The governor expressed continued support for domestic partnership rights and said Friday that he would continue to "vigorously" defend and enforce those rights.
The California Supreme Court is likely to decide next year on the constitutionality of Proposition 22, which defines marriage between a man and a woman and bans homosexual "marriage."
Schwarzenegger said it is up to the state Supreme Court and then, if necessary, voters to alter Prop. 22.
Pro-family groups have stated earlier that Californians already and clearly decided on the issue of same-sex "marriage when they passed the ban in 2000, which was to protect traditional marriage.
Although the majority of voters passed Prop. 22, Kors said voters have changed their stance over the years and polls indicate California is nearly equally split on the issue now. According to a poll last year by the Policy Institute California, 48 percent oppose homosexual "marriage" – down from 55 percent in 2000 – and 46 percent express support.
Kors' pro-gay group is currently running a multi-million-dollar TV advertising campaign throughout California to sway undecided voters toward support for same-sex "marriage."
While pro-family groups applauded Schwarzenegger’s veto Friday, they are still disappointed over two bills signed the week before. One of the bills, SB 777, bans teacher instruction or school activity that promotes a discriminatory bias because of gender of sexual orientation, while the other, AB 394, requires each school district to have a process to investigate "harassment" or "discrimination" incidents.
Conservatives argue that the measures will ban any moral viewpoint contrary or unfavorable to the homosexual, bisexual and transgender lifestyles and demand that they be portrayed as normal and acceptable. They further argue that these alternative sexual lifestyles will be promoted "under the guise of 'safety'" and, through increased exposure, will normalize them in front of young children.
Comments
Only the Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can cleanse us of all unrighteousness and filthy sin - this does include many other things, but as it pertains to this article - adultery, fornication, and yes, homosexuality. Too many in today's church want to cover up sin, and be politically relevent to today's "culture". They water-down the Wrod of God, and twist it to make it seem more "pleasant" to the ears. Many people want to hear what feesds their ego; they don;t want to hear the truth that transforms lives for their own good and for God's pleasure.
The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None of us are without sin. The Good News is that Jesus Christ became God in the flesh for us! He decended from his exalted heavenly place, and willfully shed His Prescious Blood and gave up His life so that we may have a relationship with God the Father our Creator.
We need to first acknowledge that we are all sinners; we need to repent - that is to literally and willfully choose to turn away from our old life of living in sins; we need to ask for forgiveness and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior of our lives (this means we hand over our free will to Him, and choose toi obey His commands and teachings). We must put our total trust and confidence ino Him, and then follow Him.
The question is, have we trully repented, and turned back from our sin. That is to say, if we're willfully, and rebelliously living in sin, have we made a conscious choice to turn from that sin, die to ourselves, pick up our crosses daily and follow Christ?
None of these sins are unpardonable, but God has given us a free choice. We must choose this day whom we will serve. Are we going to choose to gratify our flesh and live in sin, or are we going to die to ourselves, and choose to follow Christ Jesus?
Whoever doesn't truly know Christ on this site, please give your life to him. You will not regret it. He will never bring up your past. We all have pasts, but God can make you a new person, and as you continue to seek after Him and as you surrender your life to Him, He will continue to mold you and make you into the vessel of honor He wants you to be. I hope this touches someone out there, and may the Lord turn your heart to repentance. God Bless You.
I'm trying to understand what you are trying to say with "blood sacrifice of an innocent for ancestral blood guilt" and "enternal torture." Also why this is two "options" offered by my God?
The Watch: What is so difficult to understand about this?
Citizen,
"The Watch: That's right, blood sacrifice of an innocent for ancestral blood guilt or enternal torture are the two options offered by your god, and either makes him an unjust tyrant. "
Once again.......Huh??
What are you trying to say?
The Watch: That's right, blood sacrifice of an innocent for ancestral blood guilt or enternal torture are the two options offered by your god, and either makes him an unjust tyrant.
Citizen
"the character of the god you all believe in, forcusing specifically on the doctrines of original sin and hell as evidence of the injustice and tyranny of your god. "
Huh???
JC: Pardon me, I have had so many conversations around here that they are starting to blend together. You were the one who told me that you had entered a church and felt all warm and special, if I'm not mistaken. Since that conversation, I have shifted the emphasis of my critique from lack of evidence. Its still true that there is no evidence, but I've come to realize that that doesn't matter to people who want to believe anyway, so I have decided to discuss what you all do care about:, the character of the god you all believe in, forcusing specifically on the doctrines of original sin and hell as evidence of the injustice and tyranny of your god.
Sorry, mistake ".....by hanging on a cross. "Father, forgive them for they know now what they do".
Correction: "...by hanging on a cross. Father, forgive them for they know NOT what they do".
Citizen,
You are absolutely correct when you say that the burden has been on His followers, and always has been. This is nothing new. Moses, Isiah, Jesus, etc., all ran into this particular problem. But, in the end, it is still the individual's choice to "attend the party", regardless if they believed there was ever a "party" to begin with.
You already know the answer to your question on why I want to be with God, forever. We've talked about this before. He pulled me out of an extremely bad situation. One that if I hadn't called upon Him, this conversation would not be taking place now. This ordeal lasted a very long time.
But, even worse, I was already a child of his, and I still rejected him, as have you. He had every right to ignore me, because I already knew the truth. But, he didn't ignore me. Since then, God has richly blessed my life, more so than I could have ever imagined.
Citizen, dear one, He will not ignore yours, or anybody else's call either. He loves us very much. He gave us life. He gave us an eternal existence. He even proved his love by hanging on a cross. "Father, forgive them for they know now what they do".
Have you ever heard "We have not because we ask not"? I'm sure you have. The point is, have you ever asked God to make Himself real to you? He will, but you have to be as sincere as you can be, God isn't into parlor tricks. He will, and we know that He will because the Bible is filled with example after example of God making Himself real to ordinary people. These weren't special people, they were ordinary people, living in the belief that He exists.
Oh, and yes, I remember you saying that it was actually I that pulled myself out. You are incorrect, and I can say for sure. I was there. I lived it, I didn't dream it.
As intelligent, presumably somewhat educated people, are we really using the "normal" argument yet again. That poor and ignorant horse has been beaten to death. Imposing a personal definition of normal on other people is prideful! Move on and please find something original.
JC: the burden of persuasion is, and always has been, on those who believe, not those who do not. If you can't carry that burden, I do not have to prove god doesn't exist. I simply don't believe you.
Why would you want to "be with" such as entity as your god? He is corrupt and unjust. A serf in the manor house may have a better life than a serf in the field, but best of all is to not be a serf in the first place.
It's "his covenant" only because you arbitrarily choose to believe that it is. Otherwise, its book just like any other, with no more authority concerning the supernatural than star wars or lord of the rings.
You claim to love me, but that's not really me. Its an vague abstraction in your head. Love comes only with knowledge. Not only that, but if you were really a loving person, you'd recognize the harsh injustice, corruption and tyranny of what you believe, and rejoice that there was no evidence that compelled you to believe it. The doctrines of Christianity reek of self-loathing.
To Citizen:
Dear one, do you not understand what His covenant is? His covenant is an invitation, to live with the Most High, the creator of it all, the author and the finisher, forever and ever.
This should be the true goal of a Christian. The real prize is not the streets of gold, or the mansions that Jesus spoke of, or even peace/harmony/riches while on Earth. The real prize is being with Him forever. Anything else wished for, one truly does not know the Him.
But His covenant is HIS invitation. Not ours. It's HIS guidelines. Not ours. Jesus spoke of this in a parable you will find in Luke 14:
16 But He said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;
17 and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.'
18 "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'
19 "Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.'
20 "Another one said, 'I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.'
21 "And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'
22 "And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'
23 "And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
24 'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'"
Dear one, it doesn't have to be this way. You told me you once believed, you once were a regular attendee at church, but the fact that you did not find any physical proof led you away. But I ask you, can you find any physical evidence that he does not exist?
The fact that I don't even know you, but still love you, is proof that God exists. Without God, this love would not be possible. Other true Christians on this site feel this as well, otherwise this conversation would not be happening. We wouldn't care.
JC: Actually, if you were using faith on a cloudy sky in the same way that Christianity uses faith, you'd believe that there were dragons above the clouds.
As I've explained in detail elsewhere, the doctrines of original sin and blood atonement which are at the core of Christianity demonstrate injustice and corruption on the part of the god they are attributed to. It is not love to threaten me with eternal damnation if I don't believe and obey; its the morality of a mafia protection racket. Would you believe your spouse loved you if he or she threated to shoot you if you left, and had, in fact, done that to their former spouses? Would you trust a judge who sentenced you to the death penalty for jaywalking because your ancestor was a murderer, unless you became the judge's servant? Is that justice?
Faith is like a cloudy night, you know the stars are there, but you can't see them. You'd bet your life that the stars are still there. You walk, talk, and even sleep knowing that the stars are still there. One would only have to climb above the clouds to see them. This is what His word does for us, takes us above the clouds.
Faith can bring you to conclusions that bring about the proof of God's love. For example, one night I was in the backyard when I heard "Look up". I looked up and saw the Big and Little Dippers. I then heard, "This is to show that I will pour My Spirit and Love on all the Earth, both great and small". Some may say at this point that I was possibly imagining the entire event, or maybe "wishful" thinking, or maybe "suggestive thought process", and on and on. I say, whatever, I know what I heard, and I stand upon his promise that he will never leave me nor forsake me. He will not give me a stone when I ask for a fish. He that has an ear, let him hear.
What a coincidence that in the Southern Hemisphere, we have the Southern Cross too, to show that Jesus was Savior over all the Earth, not just the Jews.
Scientists can only prove what is given to them to work with. Without faith, they too are confined to this existence, its laws, properties, attributes. Faith is the avenue that stretches into the realms where man cannot go.
The funny thing, I've seen, is that it takes very little faith, to know God's love, power, and majesty. Remember the mustard seed. Yet, we humans, sometimes even refuse to muster enough for a mustard seed's worth. Myself included. We are all guilty of this.
Brethren, please look to His word, His son. For in the Book of Revelation, one of Jesus' names given to Him is "The Word". If you doubt the word, than you are doutbting Jesus. If you deny the word, than you deny Jesus, they are one in the same.