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.
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.
posted by mattr_pinson at
2:09 PM
1 Comments:
I had a kid in my youth group who embraced is homosexuality about two years ago. He had been out of the YG for about two years before he came out. Prior to that he was a leader and sincerely devoted to his faith.
I had no idea that he struggled with this. Even through all of my "sex and dating" classes he never said a word about his true sexual feelings.
I have since learned that he felt like he was faced with a choice of church or his natural orientation. He didn't feel like the church would take him if he embraced his homosexuality, but he felt like he needed to be true to himself.
Well he embraced a permiscuous homosexual lifestyle and has sinced contraced HIV.
I wish I would have told him that just because he is gay it doesn't mean that sex won't have the same emotional and physical dangers that are present in heterosexual sex. I wish I could have told him that we could take time to work out a theology of his sexuality, but in the meantime sleeping around with everyone would leave him just as empty and open to hurt as it does the heterosexual. Sex for the gay person is emotional and physical just like it is for the heterosexual person.
We do need to deal with issue better in the church. We should probably start by ceasing to phrase it using terms like "issue" and "problem." That just further emphasizes the idea that the church can't handle a sin as BIG as homosexuality.
Perhaps a start would be to better understand sexuality in general and how that manifests itself in our own identities. Perhaps then we would see people who are homosexual more as brothers and sisters struggling to reconcile their sexuality just like heterosexuals do, instead of viewing them as pagan sinners who better get right or get out.
I too like Campolo's theological deconstruction of homosexuality. I feel like it's one of the view fair and compassionate takes on homosexuality.
By
J-Wild, at 8:03 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home