Biblical Definition of Marriage (Video)

[Professor S]

Dyflon, the correct response to ridicule or hateful/ignorant speech is not more hateful/ignorant speech. When we "respond in kind" we simply keep the cycle of unreasoning attacks going instead of talking to each other like human beings. Also, arguments based on ridicule do more damage because they attract the ignorant and emphasize ignorance, rather than promoting learned responses and socratic methodology.

Also, there are a lot of arguments aginst gay marriage that are not religious based, but socially based. Basically they view traditional (one man/one woman) marriage/family as the foundation of civilization, and are concerned that to alter the traditional form of marriage may undermine that foundation. While there is history of success with oneman/one woman, thats an argument FOR traditional marriage, not against gay marriage. Their concerns are mainly based on conjecture based on "what might happen" and "society acceptance vs. governmental acceptance". It's an interesting and I think considerable argument when it comes to public policy, much more so than a biblical one that is ruled out because of theocratic implications, but in the end not the correct one, IMO.

But thats just my opinion of a social contract. My view is that social laws should be up to the states to decide as they are the best way to determine what their community wishes to recognize or not recognize.

[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Also, there are a lot of arguments aginst gay marriage that are not religious based, but socially based. Basically they view traditional (one man/one woman) marriage/family as the foundation of civilization, and are concerned that to alter the traditional form of marriage may undermine that foundation. While there is hostory of success with oneman/one woman, thats an argument FOR traditional marriage, not against gay marriage. Their concerns are mainly based on conjecture based on "what might happen" and "society acceptance vs. governmental acceptance". It's an interesting and I think considerable argument when it comes to public policy, much more so than a biblical one that is ruled out because of theocratic implications, but in the end not the correct one, IMO.

What would happen if we allowed homosexual marriage? It wouldn't infringe of the rights of heterosexual marriage....gay couples could adopt kids desperately in need of families...it would stimulate the economy....

I can't really think of any cons.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

What would happen if we allowed homosexual marriage? It wouldn't infringe of the rights of heterosexual marriage....gay couples could adopt kids desperately in need of families...it would stimulate the economy....

I can't really think of any cons.

The arguments revolve around gender confusion, devaluing man/woman marriage more than it's already been devalued, and much of it is based on the belief that sexuality is more based on choice than a inherent state of being.

There is some truth to the choice aspect and some data to back it up, but not for the majority of homosexuals. Most homos identify as being strictly homos. They are as they were born. Because quite honestly, if you realy had a choice why would you choose to be gay considering how they've been treated in the world?

Also, I think if sexuality is really a choice, we would see more fluxuations in the percentages of those who identify as gay, increasing as it has become more acceptable over time (some even think fashionable) and I haven't seen that in any data over the last 30-40 years.

EDIT: This is a pretty good debate on the subject from both sides, with the ever too rare reasoned response in opposition. A response I disagree with, but respect.

[Dylflon]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Dyflon, the correct response to ridicule or hateful/ignorant speech is not more hateful/ignorant speech. When we "respond in kind" we simply keep the cycle of unreasoning attacks going instead of talking to each other like human beings. Also, arguments based on ridicule do more damage because they attract the ignorant and emphasize ignorance, rather than promoting learned responses and socratic methodology.

Also, there are a lot of arguments aginst gay marriage that are not religious based, but socially based. Basically they view traditional (one man/one woman) marriage/family as the foundation of civilization, and are concerned that to alter the traditional form of marriage may undermine that foundation. While there is hostory of success with oneman/one woman, thats an argument FOR traditional marriage, not against gay marriage. Their concerns are mainly based on conjecture based on "what might happen" and "society acceptance vs. governmental acceptance". It's an interesting and I think considerable argument when it comes to public policy, much more so than a biblical one that is ruled out because of theocratic implications, but in the end not the correct one, IMO.

I feel like you're confusing satire with hateful and ignorant speech. And I don't mean this as a dig at you, but you've never seemed all that down with satire in my opinion. I agree with your points about the proper way to argue things but I feel that an absurdist approach to an absurd argument is sometimes necessary if only to make you laugh at the absurdity of it all. In essence, if people can gay-bash, light-hearted biblical fun-poking should also exist within our realm of discourse. I wouldn't use that video in any serious argument, and I don't think it's the serious argument that they're going for. And I feel like you're a wise enough person to not see it as a threat to reasoned argument.

The one man/one woman family societal stability argument can be seen as equally ludicrous as the biblical argument. The nuclear family is an invention of the 50's and 60's and it wasn't until then that this was talked about as "the traditional family unit".

Now, don't think I'm arguing that this model hasn't been the norm for centuries, because it has.

However, it hasn't been until recent centuries that polygamy has been outlawed and historically, polygamist marriages have been present all over the place (including the Bible). So it hasn't always been just one man/one woman.


The insecurity that a union between two members of the same sex could undermine the foundation of society just plain sounds silly. Think about it for a moment. Let's take our current society for example:

Now, imagine we live in a world exactly how it is. Except: gays can now marry. Let's follow the subsequent sequence of events.

1. Two dudes get married.
2. They continue living their lives as normal, having as much homosex as they please within the confines of their own private domestic life.
3. They open a bank account together and pool their incomes (not saying that they can't do this already)
4. They buy a house together and both get their names on the mortgage.
5. They live in their home together, enjoying the governmental advantages that hetero couples enjoy.
6. When one of them gets sick, the other visits their spouse in the hospital because they are family: which is the only thing they've even wished to be and thank God for gay marriage allowing that.

Alternate course: they have marriage troubles like everyone else at one point get divorced and look for love elsewhere.

So what here has toppled society?

I am going to sum up that foundation argument in three steps:

Step 1: Gays get married
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Society crumbles

Nothing in gay marriage inherently challenges societal stability.

While there is hostory of success with oneman/one woman, thats an argument FOR traditional marriage, not against gay marriage.

You're wrong here. In any argument that argues there is only one way things should be done, it's both an argument for that thing and an argument against the other.

Ex: Only white people should be allowed to exist because historically white people have the best civilization and it's been proven that they are the best kind of people.

Not only is that an argument based on no factual evidence (much like there is no evidence that gay marriage could not work) but it is discriminatory against other races.

But! It's okay. It's only an argument for why white people are better, not against any other type of people.

It doesn't matter that the one man/one woman marriage works historically. That's not the issue. Who cares if it works? It will keep going. Nothing is challenging that institution. The issue is about letting people who aren't fortunate enough to be born straight (irony), enjoy the same basic benefits as their heterosexual counterparts.

I don't feel like that is a valid argument to discount gay marriage.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Dylflon

I feel like you're confusing satire with hateful and ignorant speech.

I think today most satirists have used satire as a means to propogate hateful and ignorant speech in order to get away with saying hateful and ignorant things. When you can laugh it off as "comedy", no one can call you out on your misinformation. Anyon who calls out the "satirist" is then accused of not having a sense of humor and their argument is dismissed.

To me, true satire is Orwell and Huxley who were both intellectually honest and creative, not some biased, spiteful bitch on YouTube who only has one goal: destroy the other side through ridicule and dismiss it as comedy.

You should Google the 13 Rules for Radicals, though. I think it helps explain where my side of the argument is coming from. I think there are a lot of those ideals hiding in today's version of "satire"

Step 1: Gays get married
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Society crumbles

Nothing in gay marriage inherently challenges societal stability.

I agree. I simply am willing to consider and respect the opposing view that has respect for mine. I'd encourage you to watch the video I posted if you haven't already. It's an example of respectful opposition.

You're wrong here. In any argument that argues there is only one way things should be done, it's both an argument for that thing and an argument against the other.

I know, we agree completey. Thats exactly what I was pointing out. The fact that there is history that one man/one woman marriage has been successful does not conclude that gay marriage would be unsuccessful. It's never been tried so we don't know, and I'm not willing keep people from marrying based on an argument that uses the unknown as it's foundation. Thats the main reason why I am for gay marriage and would vote for it in my state.

[Dylflon]

Thoughts on the Prager argument as I watch it:

I find that too often people hide behind the word marriage as a way to deny gays the right to union. It wouldn't alter the world in any way to change the definition to 'a union between two people'.

And nobody would EVER have to ask a child if they were going to marry a boy or a girl. That doesn't make sense. Most kids aren't even aware of their sexual orientation at a young age (though there are some who are).

Oh man...this guy is sexist too...but then his sex argument doesn't make sense. All he's saying is men and women are different. But what does that matter?


Prager's arguments didn't make any sense and didn't address the issue of equality. However he established in the end that men should be allowed to exclude women and vise versa. So I don't feel he argued anything intelligible.

[Dylflon]

Well I'm glad to hear that, Professor.



However, I'm interested in hearing where the misinformation is coming from in that video as I am not too well versed in the bible. I'd agree to an oversimplification of matters being present.

But I guess my question is: where does comedy become not okay in the matter of exploring an issue? I don't feel like that video has the capacity to hurt anyone.

And I am of course speaking of a specific circumstance, not arguing that fact omission is an acceptable practice in debate or that flat out mockery is either when it comes to dealing with a subject fairly.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Dylflon

However, I'm interested in hearing where the misinformation is coming from in that video as I am not too well versed in the bible. I'd agree to an oversimplification of matters being present.

I suppose that comes down to whether or not you feel the oversimplifcation (and complete misunderstanding, quite honestly) is purposeful, meant to argue a point of view instead of get a laugh, and if so, if facts are purposely omitted because they do not fit in with their point of view.

Also, if a "comedy" show regularly gets as much applause for their political satire as laughs, I think there is a problem. The correct response for humor is laughter. The correct response to someone espousing favorable beliefs is applause.

But I guess my question is: where does comedy become not okay in the matter of exploring an issue? I don't feel like that video has the capacity to hurt anyone.

Hurt? No, not anyone's feelings, but it completely misinterprets and misinforms biblical text. I explained this a little bit in the first part.

Also, as a comedian, I think once you enter the realm of real ideas, ou can absolutely use humor to illustrate your point of view. But I also think there needs to be a little intellectual honesty present, and also, if you enter the realm of ideas those who respond back to those ideas should not be dismissed as "humorless" when we are simply approaching an argument on the rhetor's terms.

Moreover, my specific complaint is that I think satire/ridicule is being usedvery heavily as a political tool for the specific reason it is nearly impossible to respond to because the audience doesn't respect the counterargument because the original argument "was just a joke".

So it always ends as a one sided debate. I hate those, as anyone knows who posts here. I love a good argument.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Dylflon

And nobody would EVER have to ask a child if they were going to marry a boy or a girl. That doesn't make sense. Most kids aren't even aware of their sexual orientation at a young age (though there are some who are).

Well, thats not necessarily true. We don't know. His expanded concern is having gender confusion as a part of sex education in pulic schools and their effects. I don't agree with him, but I can see what he's saying from his perspective of sexuality being fluid and not fixed. Thts the real lynch pin in both persepectives, IMO.

Oh man...this guy is sexist too...but then his sex argument doesn't make sense. All he's saying is men and women are different. But what does that matter?

I listen to him pretty regularly, and he is not a sexist by any means, he simply recognizes the inherent differences and his tagline is "equality does not mean the same"

Well, in respect to his opinion, he believes that the male, female dichotomy is the best environemnt for raising a child, and the male/male and female/female aren't bad, but they're not the ideal, and society should encourage the ideal. I understand his opinion and even agree that in an ideal world male/female is likely the ideal to raise a child, but this is not an ideal world and if abusive assholes can get married and have kids, so should a healthy gay couple who will likely raise the child much better.

Prager's arguments didn't make any sense and didn't address the issue of equality. However he established in the end that men should be allowed to exclude women and vise versa. So I don't feel he argued anything intelligible.

In defense of the reasoning of his argument argument, he doesn't believe that a name is a barometer of equality, pragmatic rights are. Myself, I think the marriage issue us too often used as a wall or separation instead of a positive establishment for all people.

If you want to make anything stronger, you don't do so by excluding people, you invite them in.

[KillerGremlin]

I thought the debate was surprisingly mature, it was pretty good. I think Prager was stretching his argument a bit though and at the end he and Perez both agreed that gay couples should be afforded equal rights.

I think it's an interesting argument, mothers can provide things fathers cannot, and vice versa. I don't think it is sexist, but definitely dated. Nowadays both parents are capable of working or staying at home, and roles are no longer assigned to a single gender. Some longitudinal studies that show that homosexual couples can raise normal children would help argue against the ideal "male/female" parent that we have decided is the social norm.

Also, the "ideal" 1 male/1 female aka mommy/daddy is a somewhat modern standard for raising families. No? I thought anthropologists and biologists pegged us and our distant ancestors as being polygamous.

As far as gender confusion or sexual confusion....4th and 5th graders should just be taught basic sexual mechanics. This is a penis, this is a vagina, masturbation is normal, etc. You don't need to really delve into the social dimension of sexuality. But certainly by middle school I think children should get the full rundown with sex education. By then you're not going to "change" a kid's sexual orientation. Trust me. In 2nd grade I wanted to TF my sweet teacher's rack. Same with my 3rd and 4th grade teachers...then in 5th grade I got this fat loser guy teacher. I think most kids are aware (to an extent) of their sexuality. The sooner you teach kids about sex education, the sooner they can become comfortable with their sexuality. If kids aren't comfortable with sexuality it can lead to risky sexual behavior, low self esteem, and other problems. But this is a whole different discussion. The point is I think sexuality is fairly concrete by the age of 8 or 9 at the latest...but I have always felt it is mostly biological so most people are either born hetero or homo.