Ok, so here's the deal: The bible, being the most interpretive book ever written, is also the book that causes the most heated debate, for the aforementioned reason. Also, homosexuality is, admittedly, in the bible. However, nowhere does it say anything about marriage! it talks about homosexual sex, which is what some people think all homosexuality is. No one talks about the other rules that have remained in the bible, which are most definately faux-pax in today's "society."

Spoiler: long post ahead

I looked up over 800 references. Exempting the references which are narrative (e.g. "Adam named his wife Eve" Gen 3:20) or metaphorical (Christ's marriage to the church, Rev 21:9), I was able to distil those 825 verse references into 12 general principles: 12 Biblical "rules" or guidelines regarding marriage which encompass the gamut of scripture. I hereby present the list, with the applicable references.
12 Biblical Principles of Marriage
1. Marriage consists of one man and one or more women (Gen 4:19, 4:23, 26:34, 28:9, 29:26-30, 30:26, 31:17, 32:22, 36:2, 36:10, 37:2, Ex. 21:10, Judges 8:30, 1 Sam 1:2, 25:43, 27:3, 30:5, 30:18, 2 Sam 2:2, 3:2-5, 1 Chron 3:1-3, 4:5, 8:8, 14:3, 2 Chron 11:21, 13:21, 24:3).
2. Nothing prevents a man from taking on concubines in addition to the wife or wives he may already have (Gen 25:6, Judges 8:31, 2 Sam 5:13, 1 Kings 11:3, 1 Chron 3:9, 2 Chron 11:21, Dan 5:2-3).
3. A man might chose any woman he wants for his wife (Gen 6:2, Deut 21:11), provided only that she is not already another mans wife (Lev 18:14-16, Deut. 22:30) or his [half-]sister (Lev 18:11, 20:17), nor the mother (Lev 20:14) or the sister (Lev 18:18) of a woman who is already his wife. The concept of a woman giving her consent to being married is foreign to the Biblical mindset.
4. If a woman cannot be proven to be a virgin at the time of marriage, she shall be stoned (Deut 22:13-21).
5. A rapist must marry his victim (Ex. 22:16, Deut. 22:28-29) - unless she was already a fiancé, in which case he should be put to death if he raped her in the country, but both of them killed if he raped her in town (Deut. 22:23-27).
6. If a man dies childless, his brother must marry the widow (Gen 38:6-10, Deut 25:5-10, Mark 12:19, Luke 20:28).
7. Women marry the man of their fathers choosing (Gen. 24:4, Josh.15:16-17, Judges 1:12-13, 12:9, 21:1, 1 Sam 17:25, 18:19, 1 Kings 2:21, 1 Chron 2:35, Jer 29:6, Dan 11:17).
8. Women are the property of their father until married and their husband after that (Ex. 20:17, 22:17, Deut. 22:24, Mat 22:25).
9. The value of a woman might be approximately seven years work (Gen 29:14-30).
10. Inter-faith marriages are prohibited (Gen 24:3, 28:1, 28:6, Num 25:1-9, Ezra 9:12, Neh 10:30, 2 Cor 6:14).
11. Divorce is forbidden (Deut 22:19, Matt 5:32, 19:9, Mark 10:9-12, Luke 16:18, Rom 7:2, 1 Cor 7:10-11, 7:39).
12. Better to not get married at all - although marriage is not a sin (Matt 19:10, I Cor 7:1, 7:27-28, 7:32-34, 7:38).

How many of these Biblical principles are followed by Christians today? Not a single one [with the possible exception of number 3 - some Christian women may still have no choice in their marital partner]!
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that "marriage is the God-ordained covenantal union of one man and one woman;" in fact, it says explicitly to the contrary! The Bible lists at least 15 polygamists (not including Herod, who is known from the historical - but not Biblical - record to have had 9 wives), and in not a single place does polygamy carry with it any sense of opprobrium. Unfortunately, the pastor mentioned above would have been far more correct to say that "the Bible teaches that marriage is a covenantal union of one man to as many women as he might want and can afford."
So the next time your favourite politician or preacher claims to use the Bible in support of

traditional marriage, ask him or her which of these 12 principles he or she is actually advocating. Probably none. Anyone who claims to use the Bible in support of a strictly monogamous union of one male and one female based on love, mutuality, and commitment will be hard pressed to find 2,000 year-old Bible verses in support of that very modern position. In fact, I daresay they cannot. The Biblical view of marriage is not monogamous: it is not necessarily based on love, nor on any amount of mutuality.

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True, but when they use it as a way of turning someone into a demonic disease because they can't practice what they preach, how credible do you think someone is going to take their source?

That's the person, not the book. They're misinterpreting it way too much.

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Originally posted by Shade:

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People who use religion to make arguments against anything are just ignorant of it and afraid of it.

That's not entirely true. You must remember, the Bible is proof to many people, as much proof as they need for anything. It's like someone quoting a scientific journal to prove something. It's their resource, sometimes the only one they have.

True, but when they use it as a way of turning someone into a demonic disease because they can't practice what they preach, how credible do you think someone is going to take their source? Just because it was written 2,000 years ago doesn't mean it can or should be used to throw around hate because no one has the balls to be the first one to try and understand and accept something that goes beyond the boundaries.

That's fair enough, but it doesn't mean you need to distrust the members of religons.

True, but I have always distrusted religions.

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People who use religion to make arguments against anything are just ignorant of it and afraid of it.

That's not entirely true. You must remember, the Bible is proof to many people, as much proof as they need for anything. It's like someone quoting a scientific journal to prove something. It's their resource, sometimes the only one they have.

Ah, it's always nice to see the scriptures and holy writings/thoughts of any religion thrown back in their face. People who use religion to make arguments against anything are just ignorant of it and afraid of it.

Ah well, that's okay. I see too much of it, maybe that's why I thought it.

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Originally posted by Shade:
I know about homophobia, and transphobia, first hand, but.. Ah, as much as I'd like to make each and every one of them suffer, what would that accomplish? You can't fight hate with hate, misunderstanding with misunderstanding. It's admirable that you're fighting to keep these programs in your school; if I were there, I'd support you one hundred percent, but don't become guilty of the things you accuse them ( Christians ) of doing.

let me reword, I use their arguments against them, with tack-ons to try and let them see my side. I didn't mean to come off as a pro-gay zealot, got too many here already. I try to present both sides of the issue, and then give my side again, to emphasize why one should consider an alternate train of thought. I'm sorry if I made you think that I fight anti-GLBT predjudice with predjudice against people who DON'T believe, i'm not really like that at all.

I know about homophobia, and transphobia, first hand, but.. Ah, as much as I'd like to make each and every one of them suffer, what would that accomplish? You can't fight hate with hate, misunderstanding with misunderstanding. It's admirable that you're fighting to keep these programs in your school; if I were there, I'd support you one hundred percent, but don't become guilty of the things you accuse them ( Christians ) of doing.

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Originally posted by Shade:

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I just prefer to use the same weapons against them, with my own modifications/interpretations.

This isn't a war.

Exactly, Euterpe.

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If anything, you should be telling that to Christians who do actually use the Old Testament in their (flawed) arguments against homosexuality and other such "abominations."

I do, thank you.

If you had seen any of the homophobia at my school, you'd probably put on a helmet in class. They (the admninistration) stop pride meetings and GSA club because of pressure from students and parents; We're also trying to put on hte LAramie Project as our final show, and because of pressure from the PTSA and PARENTS, we cannot put on the show. We decided we would ask our principal straight out, because she's cool and understanding, and she said we should never consider a play about homosexuality, no matter how latent it is, because she could loose her job. That is the lower levels in the school system (not including how nasty kids can be). I know that isn't nearly as bad as other places, but in a small southern town filled to the brim with Baptist churches, it gets precarious.

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I just prefer to use the same weapons against them, with my own modifications/interpretations.

This isn't a war.

Exactly, Euterpe.

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If anything, you should be telling that to Christians who do actually use the Old Testament in their (flawed) arguments against homosexuality and other such "abominations."

I do, thank you.

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He's the one who really matters here.

Matters to whom? Obviously few non-Christians are really going to care about Jesus or what he thought about the matter (if that's even known). If anything, you should be telling that to Christians who do actually use the Old Testament in their (flawed) arguments against homosexuality and other such "abominations."

I still wonder why the majority of the Old Testament is even included in Christian Bibles these days. I mean, the prophecies and stuff I can understand, but not the outdated "cultural" stuff that no Christian follows. Then again, it should be pointed out that few Jews even follow those principles, and they're the ones who would pay most attention to the Old Testament.

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Originally posted by Shade:
If none of them were by Jesus, I wouldn't pay them as much mind as you do. He's the one who really matters here.

That's because none of the admonishments towards homosexuals are spoken by Jesus, ever. It's his groupies. For those who claim to live by the Lord, they're really living by the words of his fans.

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Originally posted by Shade:
Dude, most are them are old testament.

If none of them were by Jesus, I wouldn't pay them as much mind as you do. He's the one who really matters here.

True, I do pay too much to the scriptures for someone who "doesn't like to use them." However, I guess I use them because that's what I usually have put against me. I just prefer to use the same weapons against them, with my own modifications/interpretations.

Dude, most are them are old testament.

If none of them were by Jesus, I wouldn't pay them as much mind as you do. He's the one who really matters here.

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Originally posted by Shade:
The Old Testament shouldn't be used like that, Jay. It's there to point to one thing: Jesus. The stories on the way are just to praise god and all his wonderful acts of power and love (uh huh).

Many of those things were just culture. Obviously we don't do it now. Times have changed, and we must move with the times. Do me a favour, and could you reference me to which ones were the ones Jesus said? I don't want to go through all of those new testiment verses.

True, I do admit that some are old testament. The thing about it is though, that none of these were really by Jesus Christ. If the bible way truly infalliable, it wouldn't have been written by man. The scriptures, as you know, are based on the observations of the Apostles, and those are bound to have differences in text, let alone the Roman Empire taking out and writing texts. That's why I have no inhibitions on stating these because they were written by man, and they're too interpretational in that right.

The Old Testament shouldn't be used like that, Jay. It's there to point to one thing: Jesus. The stories on the way are just to praise god and all his wonderful acts of power and love (uh huh).

Many of those things were just culture. Obviously we don't do it now. Times have changed, and we must move with the times. Do me a favour, and could you reference me to which ones were the ones Jesus said? I don't want to go through all of those new testiment verses.

I found this on another post on the forum:

Cor.7:2 (KJV): "Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband."

So that seems pretty clear, but I'm sure the other principles you stated also seem pretty obvious in the context. The Bible is so vague and symbolic.. I can't keep up. Christianity's never made sense to me anyway.

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Originally posted by Jaymeister:
sorry for attacking, guys, but i'm sick of hearing that it's God's decision against gay marriage

Hem.
I'm not any religion.
But you should be sick of it.
I mean, good grief!
People always find an excuse in God.