You guys keep telling everyone what their reasons for attending are. As if you know the thoughts of another person.
You keep saying things like "the only reason you'd attend is..." Or "there's a specific reason you'd be there.." I personally wouldn't go so far as to tell someone what their reasons for doing something are. How foolish of me to presume to know what their motives and intentions are.
Kat you said you would not want to do anything that would make it appear that you support homosexual marriage. Why care about appearances? I'd gladly appear as a fool to the whole world if I knew my motives were clean.
Like I said, I'd go. And it would mean very little to me to be judged by men as to why they think I'm there.
Ok I'll stop now.
Are you really trying to say that we are wrong to presume that somebody that attends a wedding ceremony is there to congratulate the couple on their marriage? You must be grasping at straws to hold that view... I mean what else would somebody be there for?
To attend a gay marriage would most certainly appear to be supporting that lifestyle... so I guess maybe if you are determined to attend and don't want anybody to misunderstand, you could go to everybody there and make sure they know you do not agree with it? That would be totally ridiculous, because somebody with that attitude should not attend in the first and certainly would not be welcomed there.
Well I'm going to be more presumptuous and say it sounds like you are trying to straddle the fence on this issue, not willing to make a stand that you are not for homosexuality, because you would want to celebrate their wedding with them, what did Christ say about being lukewarm.
Rev 3:15 "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!
v. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
Here is an email about what appearances mean.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,6212.0.html -----------
I am curious about this passage. In the NIV it reads Avoid every kind of evil. This appears to imply that we should not do anything that is wrong. Similar translations can be found in a number of other translations. For example:
hold aloof from every form of wickedness - Darby
abstain from every form of evil - American Standard
Stay away from every form of evil - Holman
But now let's read this same apparently unremarkable passage in the King James Bible, where it reads: Abstain from all appearance of evil. This is so different. It seems to imply not merely that we should not do anything wrong, but that we should not do anything which could be construed as wrong. Suddenly it becomes one of the most challenging passages in the Bible.
But is the King James correct in its translation? Similar translations can be found in a few other versions:
from all appearance of evil abstain ye - Young's Literal
Keep away from everything that even looks like sin - New Life Version
The New Life seems pretty clear on this point.
My question is simply this: Which translation is correct?
Thank you in advance for your reply.
Dear Quentin: They are ALL correct. The word translated "appearance" in King James and others is the Greek word "idos" and it is translated: "shape" (Luke 3:22); "fashion" (Luke 9:29); "sight" (II Cor. 5:7); and "appearance" (I Thes. 5:22).
The Greek word "idos" is define as: " a view, that is, form (literally or figuratively): - appearance, fashion, shape, sight" (Strong's Concordance # 1491).
The word "form" means: "The body or outward APPEARANCE...." (American Heritage College Dictionary).
God be with you,
Ray