More thoughts

Just finished Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz). Wow, it was really good. He talks about a lot of things, but mainly he focuses on a relational gospel. Treating the gospel less like a checklist you go down to insure your salvation, and more like a love story between a completely holy and pure creator, and a filthy, lowly peasant who keeps turning his back on the only thing that can complete him.

Do we treat the gospel that way? As I get older I look back and think the reason I became a Christian (besides having grown up in a Christian home) is because I didn't want to go to hell. That's a good reason, but it's missing the most beautiful part, that even though I am covered in the dirt and grime of sin, God loves me, and wants to be with me, wants to walk with me and comfort me, and that because I want to be with him too we're united for eternity. The more I walk around congratulating myself for not being hell-bound the more I miss out on a beautiful relationship with God and with those around me.

Yowsers, much more serious than usual

Here is a tough question, but it's an issue people of faith have been ignoring (or worse) for too long. Where do homosexuals fit in Christianity?

There is no denying that there are people out there who are struggling with homosexuality. There is also no denying that there is nobody who can be outside the love of God.

I think there are people who develop homosexual tendancies throughout their life, and that there are people born with these tendancies.

I believe that same-gender eroticism, as Tony Campolo put it in an interview found here (http://www.beliefnet.com/story/150/story_15052_1.html), is wrong. It's a sin. But where does the sin begin? And what should Christians do about it?

Here are a couple of things that I think should definitely not be done. Withdrawing fellowship. Why is this so much worse than any other sin? Ignore the problem. I don't know what the best way not do this is, but I know you shouldn't just ignore it. As you can see I have no remarkable words to share on this subject, but I thought I would pose the question, and see if anybody has the guts to share what they believe. More posts to come on this subject.