Trying to understand the debate. . .
Submitted by Webster on January 25 2001 06:45:50
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I was always very active in my church, from worship, study, and service on the local level all the way up through the national level. One thing I remember is a chart drawn by a session leader at a conference when I was a teen. He had us each mention one "sin" or another, and then we all brainstormed where it should be plotted on the graph, relative to the other sins mentioned. The lower the dot, the worse the sin. The higher the dot, the lesser the sin and, presumably, closer to God's will and perfection. When we were done, he placed the sheet of newsprint on the floor and unfurled 15-20 blank pages of newsprint on top of it, all taped together making one very tall, but narrow graph. All the sins were down on the first page, with many blank pages above. The group leader said, "Now see, we like to 'rank' sins, so that we can claim to be better than the next person, whose sin was 'worse' than ours. But if we consider that all of the sins we mentioned are so far from the top of the graph that they all fall short of perfection and God's will, we can see how futile and foolish it is to try and 'rank' sins." With that understanding, I don't comprehend all the effort and energy some people put in to attacking homosexuality. Regardless of how one interprets scripture, homosexuality is still barely mentioned in the Bible. Where is the similar effort and drive against divorce, war, secularization of the sabbath, yada yada yada? Methinks those who too much ponder the "evils" of homosexuality are generally insecure in their own sexual identity. I can't otherwise comprehend the venemous words of hate spewed at gays by so-called "good and loving Christians." There is no other "sin" against which people react so strongly, with the possible exception of abortion. (I have to keep putting sin in quotes because my church, while hating to see abortion used as birth control by those too lazy to use contraceptives, asserted a pro-choice stance. Interestingly, research showed that the same folks who were so anti-abortion were also the people who kept contraceptives out of the hands of those who needed them, but that's another issue.) I realize boylove is not the same issue as homosexuality, and is bound to be more controversial, ever for some boylovers. But I did not choose to be a boylover, I simply *am* one. And my sexuality, like anyone's, is a gift from God. So I don't really struggle with my orientation from a religious standpoint. My faith seems rather clear on who I am and on how I became that person. What I struggle with most is how society views boylove and boylovers, and how to live as God created me without endangering myself or a young friend for whom I care deeply. I'll stop there. I have a feeling I've opened a can of worms, but we'll see. Love, Webster |
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