No big prognostications or throwing patriotism in peoples faces today. Just some meandering thoughts.
In writing a story of mine a few years back (need to finish it, dernit), I had to have one character explain the nature sin to another character. Particularly, I needed one woman, Sara, who is a Christian, to explain how she can believe in Christ, follow Him, and stand against sins like homosexuality, when she herself is attracted to women.
Chloe, the other woman in the scene, doesn't understand how Sara reconcile her natural desires and the belief in a God who would have her deny those desires. How is that a loving God?
The problem, of course, is that for Sara to adequately explain this, I have to be able to adequately explain it. Oh, joy.
In the end, I came up with a somewhat odd theory.
Some people are born with physical deformities. Some or benign, if a little odd. Dwarfism, comes to mind. Nothing wrong or bad about dwarfism, it's just not the norm. Having a sixth finger. Purple eyes. All benign, just... different.
Some are not so benign. Siamese twins, with the possible health and social consequences, autism, children born missing part or all of limbs, born with cancer already riddling their bodies, heart conditions, etc. These threaten the very lives of the ones who have them, and if they are not killed, they can still suffer tremendous hurdles in their path for the rest of their lives.
The same is true for us spiritually, I believe.
Some of us are born with benign spiritual deformities. I like puns. A lot. :D I have a hard time feeling a connection to a given place or object the way other people do. Others have a hard time relating to others emotions. Generally benign, they are the little quirks that make us unique.
And some are as dangerous as physical conditions. I have a temper that sometimes gets me in trouble. I have a innate fear that everyone at some point is out to get me, and have a very hard time trusting people because of it. There are people who have a spiritual mutation that causes them to desire things they should not. Sex outside of God's intention, premarital, extramarital, homosexual, bisexual, bestiality, etc. Some are masochists, some are anorexic, and some are suicidal.
Many of the strange ideas I have seen that I know are against the Word of God is, quite frankly, unfathomable to me. Bestiality, for one, makes me want to puke. Ditto for male homosexuality. I guess since I am attracted to woman, I can understand how a woman would be attracted to a woman. *Shrug*
But just because I don't understand the desires many people have, doesn't mean I can't recognize the source of those desires. From the time Adam and Eve sinned and God Cursed them, our spiritual mutations have been passed on the same way our genetic ones have.
Does this mean I am ok with Gays living a gay lifestyle? After all, they were born with the desire, it is a part of who they are!
Am I ok with letting an infant grow up with cancerous growths? After all, he was born with it!
We as men are blessed to be able to fight and cure many diseases. We cannot, however, cure spiritual ones. We can try and mitigate the symptoms, discipline and train ourselves to overcome them on a daily basis, but only God can cure us.
To the LGBT community who may be reading this, I am not attacking you. I am not saying you are horrible evil people who should be beaten or killed or what not. Nor am I saying you should be silenced from speaking out on your beliefs. I am simply stating my beliefs.
To the Christian community who may be reading this, my goal is this: remind ourselves that we ALL are sick. We all have mutations in our souls that only God can heal and cure. And to be honest, He may choose not to cure them. Give us strength to live with them, yes. Cure, unlikely. But before we go and launch an attack on the ones we see as sick, remember, so are we. We simply have had the blessing of knowing the loving and kindness and discipline of the Father. If we are to really serve as His hands on this earth, we need to show the same attributes to our brothers and sisters.
Do I give up one inch on saying homosexuality is wrong? No. But "Gay bashing" is not right, either.
Do I give up one inch on saying masochism is wrong? No. But attacking masochists as freaks is not right, either.
We has a Christian culture have failed to correctly identify the target of our arguments. We must strike against the idea that just because we are "born this way" it is alright to live that way. Some people are born as sociopathic killers. We don't say it's alright for them to live that way!
The counter-argument of course will be that how do we know that heterosexuality is the way to are supposed to be born. We can't just pick and choose what we like being born with, after all!
Fortunatly, we don't have to. God has done that for us. We must hold God's word as the standard. If we have a doubt on something, go to the Word in prayer. The Word, and a reliance on our Faith, is the only way we can make a change in our culture. If we try and argue on a worldly basis, we will lose. Not because what we say isn't true, but because worldly "truth" is not grounded in God's truth.
Anyway. That's my thoughts.
Eric.
