Happy National Coming Out Day, everyone!
What? You didn't know today was National Coming Out Day? or that October is GLBT History Month?
Well, neither did I, until about an hour ago, when the whole school was treated to a presentation by its Gay-Straight Alliance group. It was uncomfortable.
Honestly, just looking at what I just wrote, I really don't like the snarky attitude that comes across. This is an issue that, the more I think about it, the less sure I become about my beliefs. Actually, that's not entirely accurate; there are a few things that I just can't NOT believe, but believing them all at the same time is a challenge:
So I struggle with fitting these pieces together. It's not easy for me. But I still don't feel like this honest struggle I have would get any respect around here. Maybe I'm wrong. But in any case, it does make me uncomfortable (in a setting that I otherwise am really enjoying).
EDIT: Great, I try to be serious, and our template turns my bullet points into flowers.
What? You didn't know today was National Coming Out Day? or that October is GLBT History Month?
Well, neither did I, until about an hour ago, when the whole school was treated to a presentation by its Gay-Straight Alliance group. It was uncomfortable.
Honestly, just looking at what I just wrote, I really don't like the snarky attitude that comes across. This is an issue that, the more I think about it, the less sure I become about my beliefs. Actually, that's not entirely accurate; there are a few things that I just can't NOT believe, but believing them all at the same time is a challenge:
- God loves homosexuals (contrary to what that great philosopher of our times Fred Phelps says).
- Just like any other sexual behavior outside a marriage between a man and a woman, homosexual relationships do not glorify God, and should not be condoned or encouraged.
- While people choose their behaviors, they do not choose their sexual orientation.
So I struggle with fitting these pieces together. It's not easy for me. But I still don't feel like this honest struggle I have would get any respect around here. Maybe I'm wrong. But in any case, it does make me uncomfortable (in a setting that I otherwise am really enjoying).
EDIT: Great, I try to be serious, and our template turns my bullet points into flowers.
posted by Matt | 8:26 AM
2 Comments:
To me it seems like the one throwing the wrench in the works is that you don't believe sexual orientation is a choice. Which then opens up the gummy works of why did God punish a city of people who He made that way (Sodom) as sinners? Isn't that tantamount to punishing people born with only one leg, simply because He caused them to be born with one leg in the first place? If sexual orientation is not a choice, then God is cruel for condemning the natural expression of that makeup as a sin, since ultimately He created us and all our variations. Thus, if He created some to be homosexual, then why would He then call its expression sin?
This then opens up the floodgate of people who claim they had no choice in their sin - they were wired that way (look at the serial killers who use this, pedophiles (hetero or homo), etc.)
I understand that it's tempting to want to straddle the line of "sexual orientation" isn't a choice, but acting on that "innate wiring" is the sin - and certainly I can see how you could extrapolate that anyone's besetting sin might be the thing they were "wired with" that they spend their life combating (the inclination to kill or lie or blaspheme), but I don't see these as part of our make up, they're a manifestation of sin in the world that has nothing to do with who God made us to be and everything to do with the fall. Thus just as we are able in Christ to overcome the sin of lying or swearing or what have you, so are homosexuals able to overcome their "sexual orientation" and the sin that arises out of that choice.
So Beth, you're comparing sexual orientation to "lying or swearing"? That analogy breaks down pretty easily. I think it's incredibly hard for us to imagine what it would be like to be told that who we are attracted to is somehow "wrong". Surely you can see how controlling one's tongue is different from controlling urges that seem to come from nowhere.
This all being said--I'm pretty sure we're essentially on the same side here. I agree that it's a slippery slope toward excusing a lot of things. I'm not budging on any of these things anytime soon. But... prior to now, my amount of regular contact with homosexuals has been pretty scant. Now I'm faced with, how do I relate to/with them? I mean, obviously I'm pleasant with them--and they're pleasant back--but beyond that... True, it's a workplace, and relationships typically don't go too deep. I don't know, I guess I'd rather figure out what I'd say to a homosexual wanting answers before it actually happens, rather than hem and haw on the spur of the moment. And it helps me try to figure out exactly where I stand, and why.
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