Recently, I saw a great documentary on CNN, titled "In America: Gary and Tony Have a Baby." It's a one-hour special on a same-sex couple who want to have and adopt a surrogate child. It was really nice to see on TV an unconventional couple starting an unconventional family. The topic of same-sex marriage and adoption deserves an entirely separate post, probably even two. One of the fathers, Tony, decided to tackle the topic of Christian reconciliation of homosexuality in his own blog, something I don't think I am brave enough to do. The comments on his blog naturally turned into basic arguments about homosexuality, and some of them made me feel kinda weird inside... Angry? Jealous? Shameful? Probably all these and more. I am going to answer many of these comments as if I were speaking directly to the people who wrote them. Odds are, they won't see what I write here, but that's not the point. This allows me to have a voice against the majority that tells me I am a menace to society.
Ok. On to the comments.
One brave person decided to start it all off with: "Unfortunately many orthodox Christians still follow the dictates of the OT to include those found in Leviticus." This is what started the battle:
"Why go to the Old Testament? Romans and Corinthians pretty much say the same thing. Homosexuality is gravely sinful. This topic is like saying reconciling stealing and Christianity. They are irreconcilable. Sorry." ~gerald
You do have a point, Gerald. The current translation of the bible says that homosexuality is a sin, just like all the others. Stealing. Being drunk. And oh yeah, muuurdderrr. That's right, loving someone of the same sex is just as bad a murdering that person in God's book. But the difference between these sins and homosexuality is choice. A person can choose to steal, to get so drunk they don't know where they are, or to shoot someone in the street. Spoiler: a person can't choose to be gay. They CAN choose to commit homosexual acts (having gay sex a.k.a. sodomy), a big difference. In fact, this is all the bible speaks against. Christian scholars who remain strict to translations agree it is possible for a homosexual person to remain a follower of Christ as long as they essentially remain celibate, and this is what many Christian counselors suggest many homosexuals should do. This in itself is an interesting concept to me. For one, any bible scholar will tell you that the bible's "homosexual" is not the same as the one today. For starters, simply the word "homosexual" didn't even appear in print until the late 1800's, when psychologists and doctors were just starting to understand and define not just homosexual behavior, but sex in general. Considering separate orientations didn't even come until later. How then, were the authors of the bible able to completely understand the human psyche of sex before they did? How can the word "homosexual" even appear in the current translation of the bible? This is something I'll post on later, but I'll leave it at that for now.
Back to my point. A thief is someone who is in the act of stealing or has stolen in the past. Thankfully, Christianity allows for the redemption of their sin through Christ. So, can a person who has not had sex with the same sex yet be gay? Absolutely. Remember, the Church tells homosexuals to abstain from sexual contact. However something that doesn't leave is the thought of Lust:
"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into HELL." -Matthew 5:28-29.
This is very interesting. Simply thinking sexual thoughts is sinning so is sex evil? Hopefully I can expand on this later also.
What is a homosexual to do? They are sinful, just like everyone else of course. But it's almost on a whole different level of sin. After all, a person is either heterosexual, or not, right? Gerald, I want you to try something. Go back in time to whenever you were having the holiest of holy sex in your life (you were only doing the missionary position right, since any other form of sex is adultery? And you didn't use a condom right, because God would strike you for not spilling your seed in a woman to get her pregnant - the only reason for sex?) Now, all of a sudden, imagine that woman you are having sex with as a man. Grosses you out right? You'd probably have to stop. What do you know: you're a heterosexual. Period. Just how you will always be heterosexual, if a homosexual isn't having a gay-sex-thought, that person is still inherently homosexual. Even if they are praying at church, singing in the choir, or having sex in the bathroom. That's what separates the sin "homosexuality" from "stealing." Homosexuals are inherently an "abomination."
But: "...God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him..."
Why then, would God make a person gay, or even allow something like homosexuality to be possible? This is the first among many contradictions I have found in my journey. I will have to leave it here for now, hopefully I will post more tomorrow.
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