Whoops

Okay, I did a dumb thing. In my last post (an article I pasted from a newspaper because I was too busy to post a real entry, but wanted to keep some amount of consistency in the blog) I promised "my own thoughts" in a few days. That was before I actually stopped to consider that any thoughts on the issue of homosexuality are explosive - much less "my own thoughts." But, when you make a promise, you have to keep it.

It seems you can't go very far in today's Christian circles before you're asked your opinion on the topic of homosexuality. Homosexuality has become the "abortion of the 90s." But it's a much different issue than abortion, and than almost any other moral issue the Church has had to answer in the past several centuries. It's certainly not my intent to give a complete solution to the discussion, but I do have some random thoughts about the issue that I don't hear a lot.

1. Before we can address the question of homosexuality in the church, we have to first understand that from a gay person's perspective, the issue is of identity, not behavior. Before we can talk about behavior, we have to address identity.

2. No one has ever gone to hell for being gay.

3. Attraction is completely different than action. It is one thing to be attracted to something and something completely different to act on that attraction.

4. Simple attraction is a moral neutral. People are attracted to people and things all the time, both for good and for bad.

5. Most gay people I know tell me they would not choose same-sex attraction if they got their choice.

6. Genetic predisposition does not condone a behavior in God's eyes. We're all predisposed to do things God doesn't condone.

7. You cannot hope to have an intelligent discussion without a discussion that assumes both sides' unintelligence about the other side.

8. "God Hates Fags" is not a Christian apologetic.

9. Sex outside of a God-ordained marriage will always be sex outside of a God-ordained marriage.

10. I'm a hypocrite if I enter a discussion about someone else's sin issue without making a regular honest attempt to deal with my own.