I wanted to share with all of you a letter I composed and sent to my state (Tennessee) governor, Lamar Alexander. I wanted to get your thoughts about what I have written and the points I have expressed. Please, feel free to share what is on your heart regarding this letter.

Ritchie


Dear Governor Alexander,

I wanted to address the national migration towards legalization of same-sex marriage with my own personal experiences in life:
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I am a 41 year old male who has dealt with the issue of homosexuality the majority of my life. I was sexually abused as a very young child (approximately age five) by another male and grew up believing homosexual behavior was a normal and acceptable expression of sexual desire. After I was molested, I exhibited many flagrant, self-abusive and suicidal behaviors that signaled I had severe mental, emotional and spiritual problems stemming from my abuse and false beliefs. These behaviors continued until I accepted Jesus Christ in my heart as my Lord and Savior (approximately age thirty-five.) During my pre-teen childhood, I also engaged in many promiscuous sexual relationships with both male and female partners of approximately the same age as myself (what some would deem as bi-sexual behavior.) After becoming a teenager and on into the present day, I never engaged in another homosexual relationship. But during my teenage years and my young adult life, the problems were far from over. The false beliefs I had engrained in my heart – concerning homosexuality being a normal and acceptable behavior – would prove to haunt me for the rest of my life.
Even at the young age of five, before my mental conscience had been firmly established, I knew in my heart homosexuality was wrong. I have always known it is wrong and an unacceptable form of behavior. When I chose to believe in my mind that this unnatural behavior was natural and a good thing, I set myself up for a lifetime of heart-ache. By doing this, I effectually put myself in a state of denial. This triggered more choices to believe more lies that would support the ones I already had. By the time I became a middle-aged adult, I had built the foundations of my own sexuality on a mountain of lies. I have remained mentally, emotionally, and spiritually sick for the duration of my years simply because I built the core of my own sexuality based upon false beliefs.
This brings me to the point I want to get across. Pro same-sex marriage laws will not only condone and support this unnatural behavior, but will teach the rest of our societies to base their beliefs upon moral ideas that do not correspond with the actual truth about human sexuality. Every law supporting homosexual behavior will be encouraging, teaching, and protecting lies as truth. This would be quite similar to legalizing theft or murder. Parts of our country are now declaring laws that state that which is morally wrong is actually morally right. Some of the laws in our country are contradicting the very constitution which America was originally founded upon. This should not be!
Over the course of my entire life, I have encountered multitudes of people that taught the false belief that homosexuality is a normal, naturally occurring condition in humans. I have personally witnessed many homosexual relationships, and have yet to see one that is successfully functional and healthy. I do not personally believe any homosexual relationships will ever be functional or healthy at all. Even when you leave God out of the picture, the natural order of human sexuality dictates the primary function of sex is procreation. We all know procreation is not possible between people of the same sex.
Even though humans are sentient beings, we are all part animal with animal characteristics. How many animals have you ever seen committing to a homosexual relationship lately? Even the animals know this isn’t natural!
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In conclusion, I would like to offer a small bit of Biblical scripture, which describes the cause, effects, and solution to the problem of homosexuality. Though some in our government may discount the Bible as offering any truthful solutions to life problems, I have personally come to know that the following scripture is EXACTLY why homosexuality exists, and EXACTLY how to repair the problem of same-gender relationships:
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Romans 1: 18 - 32 (NIV)
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The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God, nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather then the Creator – who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.