Just wanted to send a "blog" card to Christoph & Lisa for reaching another year in what will be a lifetime together for the Glory of Christ. Your lives honor God, and I am sure are an example in your new community of what it means to have a marriage grounded in the only True love that exists. Marriage is not a social matter, it is a way for mankind to experience in a diminished way, the union that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have with eachother.

Congratulations from a couple who is about 5 months behind you ;). Thanks for forging the way.

Tonight, the president comes out hard against same-sex marriage, and emotions are rising as the debate heats us. With us tonight, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom. He brought this issue center stage earlier this month when he ordered the city and county to issue same-sex marriage licenses; nationally syndicated Christian broadcaster Pastor John MacArthur of California's Grace Community Church; Chad Allen, the actor and producer who starred in TV hits like "My Two Dads" and "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman," became an activist after he was outed by tabloids in 1996; and Representative Marilyn Musgrave, Republican of Colorado.

The issue of gay marriages has been spewed over the airwaves. Two diametricaly opposed points of view are battling over this issue. On the one hand we have the homosexual/liberal communities fighting the law, or circumnavigating it. On the other hand, there are those who are appalled by the idea of gay marriage. Perhaps there is a group of fence straddlers who don't care, but they are so meek as to be beneath our ridicule. Where do you stand?

John Mellencamp, the ex-cougar, sings: "if you don't stand for something, then you'll fall for anything." I stand for morality, Biblical morality. But there is a problem which Christians, indeed anyone with a moral compass, must be keenly aware. Though we may take an active role in pushing our agenda, we must carefully choose our tactics.

With the recent spotlight on "gay" marriages, it seems necessary to look at the nature of marriage itself. The question really is, what is marriage?

The answer, I believe, is two fold. The first, though not the most important, is the legal view of marriage. Interestingly this is not anything more than a domestic partnership. That's right, it is a social contract, historically based on the idea that a man would financially support a wife who would domestically support him, and raise any subsequent children.

Secondly, marriage is a religious contract. Similar in motive, but with the endorsment of a deity (I will be speaking generally for a while).