Opinion : What marriage is, and what it ain\'t

     Regarding Mr. Jason Clayworth's report on gay marriage and civil unions in the Des Moines Register, on Feb 1, 2011, Page 3A.

     I have read the article.  My position is as follows:

     Genesis 2:18-25  I don't expect you to look it up so -- from my paraphrased Catholic Living Bible -- thus:

     And the Lord God said, "It isn't good for man to be alone; I will make a companion for him, a helper suited to his needs."  So the Lord God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them: and whatever he called them, that was their name.   But still there was no proper helper for the man.  Then the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and took one of his ribs and closed up the place from which he had removed it. and made the rib into a a woman, and brought her to the man.  "This is it"  Adam exclaimed.  "She is part of my own bone and flesh!  Her name is 'woman' because she was taken out of a man"  This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife in such a way that the two become one person.  Now although the man and his wife were both naked neither of them was embarrassed or ashamed.

     Then of course the story of the serpent and the tree.

In the book of Matthew where Jesus speaks:

Matthew 19:4-6: "Don't you read the scriptures?"  He replied.  "In them it is written that at the beginning God created man and woman, and that a man should leave his father and mother, and be forever united to his wife.  The two shall become one ---- no longer two, but one!  And that no man may divorce what God has joined together."

     I do not believe there is ever a reference to a like sex union.

     If however, the state wishes this type of union --- although I would disagree, and I think our creator would also --- there is nothing I can do to prevent this paganism.  I do object to this ungodly union having the same name as my own union with my wife Sharon.  Believe me she is all woman.     
     Call it something else.  Marriage it ain't.

Regards,
John Stiegelmeyer
Vinton, Iowa 52349