This day is being enjoyed by many, but used as a political football by others. So it is worth looking briefly at what it was originally all about, and then focus on some contemporary issues. As with so many Christian events, the secularists have managed to strip this day of all Christian content.
Christian event you ask? Yep sure is – or at least sure was. What we are really celebrating on this day is the martyrdom of a Roman priest. Valentine was beheaded on February 14, 270. He had evidently resisted the state by refusing to bow to an edict of Emperor Claudius forbidding marriage.
Valentine ignored this order, and secretly married young couples in the underground church. This was discovered, and he was arrested, imprisoned, beaten, and eventually killed. While in prison it seems he became romantically involved with the jailer’s daughter.
As the story goes, he was denied his books, so he cut shapes out of paper, and sent her notes, the last of which ended with the words, “Your Valentine”. In 496 the date of Feb 14 was named in his honour. So even though most of us are not aware of the Christian beginnings to this day, we still celebrate love and romance.
But as I said, there are many who want to twist all this, and a clear example is found in today’s press. It seems the homosexual activists have sent roses to our leaders in their twisted efforts to redefine marriage out of existence. The story begins as follows:
“Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott have been asked to open their hearts to gay marriage, with a spectacular Valentine’s Day gesture. Five hundred roses each have been delivered to the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader’s Canberra offices today by gay marriage advocates. Three thousand roses in total will be delivered to the nation’s politicians today, as they are asked to end discrimination in the marriage act.”
Here we go again with the old furphy of “discrimination”. I have dealt with this time and time again. There of course is no discrimination here. If someone wants to get married, they simply must meet the criteria. Two men or two women do not, so they are ineligible – end of story.
And as I have documented, the case being made for this sort of “love” is exactly the same as is being made for group love and other types of relationships. Once you open the door to same-sex marriage, you open it to all these other bizarre permutations. This is not love, but deviance.
And when the state says there is a right to SSM, it will demand that everyone complies with this right. Everything will change. We will all be adversely impacted by such a radical bit of social engineering. Last night in a speech Queensland MP George Christensen spoke to this very issue.
He said, “The sentiments behind the recent push by independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie to exempt churches from having to perform same sex ‘marriages’, if indeed they are legalised, are probably well-intentioned. However, it is clear from the global experience that any such sentiments, legislated, codified or otherwise, will not withstand the ongoing march of Christophobia that is occurring throughout the Western world.
“This Christophobia – this system persecution of the faithful – is not something new for Christians. In fact, Saint Paul’s second epistle to Timothy warns us that ‘all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution’. But such persecution is anathema to Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states:
“‘Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion… (including the) freedom… in public … to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching; (and) No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom…’”
He then went on to show how all over the Western world these freedoms are being whittled away whenever special rights are granted to homosexuals. He concludes this way: “At the government level, the Attorney General has released a discussion paper on proposed federal anti-discrimination changes. That paper suggests some exemptions be offered to religious organisations, except from those connected with’sexual orientation’.
“In a pre-emptive strike, Archbishop Barry Hickey of the Roman Catholic Church has flagged his Perth archdiocese will simply surrender its marriage license if they’re compelled to perform same sex marriages. Maybe this is the end result that the Christophobes are pushing for?
“Because despite cleverly concocted exemptions that seek to dull the Christian voters’ concerns over proposed same sex marriage laws, if we redefine marriage nothing will stop the advance of Christophobia, a march that, in Australia, is done to the beat of both the Greens’ and Labor’s drum.”
He is exactly right. We need more politicians who see things straight and call it like it is. As long as we have MPs like him around, we know that the destruction of marriage may not be inevitable. Indeed, you might want to send him a Valentine, saying ‘well done’.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/julia-gillard-tony-abbott-urged-to-embrace-gay-marriage-on-valentines/story-fn7x8me2-1226270662474
http://www.georgechristensen.com.au/News/Speeches/tabid/72/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/119/Christophobes-march-on.aspx
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