Carrying it further
Submitted by Bach on November 01 1999 at 10:28:21
In reply to Playing devil's advocate Submitted by Heather on October 31 1999 at 22:50:34
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Hi Heather and Mark et al, I continue to struggle with this question: "Variation. According to this paradigm, people vary in sexual orientation in the same way they vary in various physical, personality, and cognitive characteristics." Not to be inflammatory, but how far would you carry this? If a person is sexually oriented toward rape – and believe me, that's an orientation that people often don't have control over – does that mean God created him that way? I'm not saying, by the way, that the answer is necessarily no; I find the ways of God too mysterious to delve into, and it may be that he creates rapists for a special purpose (Paul's "thorn" passages might be relevant here). But I do think that we need to make a distinction between accepting that we were created a certain way and seeing that way as positive or negative. I mentioned in a post to you further down the board about my sadist friend who sees his orientation as negative (but one which can be put to positive use); I might have added that his orientation goes back as far as he can remember and has not changed over the decades despite his best efforts, so he too could argue that he was born this way. That doesn't mean, though, that he's happy being born the way he is. He's simply glad that he can put his orientation to good use. This is pretty much the "what does it mean to be made in the image of God" discussion. The companion discussion might be the "made new creatures" discussion. That we are born in the image of God and that image is renewed in Christ, that through faith in Him we are reborn as new creatures on a pilgrimage to sanctify ourselves from glory to glory. I am mixing and blending several passages here, please forgive me, it is my generalist tendancies. :) So what could this mean for the boylover, the rapist, the sadomachist, etc. If we are indeed created by God in a spectrum of human variation, then what are we to do with this "thorn in our side"? Christ came to free us in unconditional love. We are to strive to imitate this love, as best we can, to renew ourselves in the fruits of the Spirit, so that we may be more Christ-like. Now... how could this relate to our earthly desires and passions? Paul might say that we are to focus on God and set aside these desires of our own hearts. And in a way, I believe that this is the goal of celibacy. But if we are not to choose that option, and feel unable to set aside our desires, what is the boylover to do? Paul has presented the marriage option to heterosexuals. I feel that the masturbation option is a very acceptable option to boylovers who are not into setting aside desire. I know that some of my brothers do not share this opinion. If we take your "rapist" example, what would this mean for the rapist, and then how does that teach us more about how we might deal with this question. Perhaps a more accessible comparison might be depression (or other human conditions not related to sexuality). God created some of us with a capacity for clinical depression. This does not mean that we are good or evil people, but simply that we live with this "disability" and have a need to equip ourselves to deal with it. I guess I am back to Mark's disability option. While in some ways this is more palatable as far as diversity in creation goes, it does little to teach us about responsible channelling of our sexual identities. I would really appreciate some input here... Peace of Christ, Bach |