A trip to Olympia [Guest Post]...

I was in the midst of making a nice long for ya'all but decided against it, mainly because I saw how much time it would take. So I postponed that post and decided upon this one instead. This is written by a good friend of mine named Matt, on a topic we should all be aware of and he makes an excellent point at the end. I hope you enjoy! 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When we arrived, (around 10:00) we went to the Capitol Building and listened to the opening speech

for Senate Bill 6239 by some pro-equal rights politicians (pro homosexual marriage). Essentially, the

bill will legalize homosexual marriage completely in Washington State (right now we have domestic

partnerships)

In response to the opening speech, many people came up and stated why it was wrong.

Pastors Ken Hutcherson and Joe Fuiton made some REALLY good arguments against the bill as well a

woman from San Diego who has an organization that argues against same-sex marriage.

For example, in the actual text of the bill, Section 7 says that there will be exemptions for religious

groups from being forced to marry homosexuals.

But, in response, antagonists to the bill said that Gregoire could simply "Partial VETO". Which is

exactly right. Because of our state constitution, the governor can accept parts of bills while vetoing other

parts. If the bill was passed all she would have to do would be to partial veto that WHOLE section. And,

because those things said in Section 7 are not really stated anywhere else in the bill, pastors would

essentially be "forced" to marry gay couples. This is a major problem going on in other states. For

example, an Arizonan photographer was sued because he refused to take pictures for a gay couple’s

marriage.

Another argument that antagonists brought up was Civil Liberties vs. Civil Rights as well as "bigotry".

But both of these arguments are too long for me to explain (though they ARE REALLY good).

After listening to the Senate hearing, we went to a rally on the Capitol Building steps. It was cool (we

sang and listened to speeches) but not very many went to that, maybe 500-1000. This may seem like a

big number, but is actually rather small compared to previous rallies we've gone to where some 10,000

people came.

After that, we went into the "House Building" to listen to yet another bill on Homosexual Marriage.

(though this was like exactly the same as the Senate bill; it even had the same people speak for the bill!

) Even though many protestors for the bills came, the advocates for the bills got enough votes in the

houses, and will most likely vote next month to make it law.

If it becomes law, we will have to get around 250,000 votes around June in order for it to make it on

the 2012 ballot for the people to vote on.

One of the scariest things about this was exemplified by an eighteen year-old girl. When she went

up to state her reasons why she was for gay marriage, she talked about gay marriage saying along the

lines, “Why not have homosexual polygamy etc…?”

It’s not going to stop at just marriage rights. Eventually, it will become polygamous etc... And even

then, it won't stop. Like a proponent for the California gay marriage fight said, after winning the battle on

redefining marriage, "It’s not over until people totally accept what we believe."

To make matters worse, there was another bill we heard about. This bill is called HB2448. Essentially

this bill says, "Public and private early learning providers may apply so long as the program is free from

religious instruction, activities or symbolism, control or influence." So that means the nursery, "kids

church", and day care can't be provided by the church if it uses ANY religious teachings or symbols (like

having a cross in your room)

But anyways, away from the negative. Yes, there may be much against us, we, as Christians HAVE to

stand up!! After all, it says whoever is not with Jesus, is against Him. Yes, the numbers may sound really

bad, but God is not a God of numbers!!! Dozens of battles, for example, in the OT, were won by the

Israelites even though their numbers ere few. Look at Gideon, God gave him victory over the Midianites

with just 300 men. (Judges 7) Or look at Sampson who killed a thousand men with a donkey’s jaw bone,

and at the end of his life, killed more than he had in his whole life combined!

God is ready! He is waiting for us to make that move like Gideon did when he saw the angel. He

wants us to GO OUT/STAND UP!!!! He is OUR VICTOR/our God/our King. As Christians, we don't need

to fret or fear, because GOD HAS THE LAST SAY! not congress, not Washington, not even the U.S.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since this was written the State Senate passed the bill and Governor Chris Gregoire signed it into law. Washington is now the seventh state in the nation to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed. The law will take affect on June 7th, in order to get a referendum put on the ballot for November we have to get 120,577 signatures by June 6th. "God is ready! He is waiting for us to make that move.....he wants us to go out/stand up!!!!"