Re: Gay Marriage/Homosexuality

----- Original Message -----
From: "gordon brown" <gbrown@euclid.colorado.edu>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 3:51 PM
Subject: RE: Gay Marriage/Homosexuality

>
>
> On Thu, 10 Jun 2004, Cameron, Leslie wrote:
>
> > I conclude from this that homosexuality is about as much a "choice" for
gay and lesbian people as heterosexuality is for straight people.
>
> Why is this made such a central issue? The gay community wants to make it
> that way, and a lot of their Christian opponents want to focus on it too.
> These people have a temptation that the rest of us don't. Is having a
> certain temptation proper justification for yielding to it? Does the
> reason for being tempted make it right to yield? Is it all right for an
> alcoholic to get drunk? If we spend our time debating whether the
> orientation is a "choice", we detract from the really relevant issue of
> whether the "choice" of yielding to the temptation is sinful.

        Again, heterosexuals are offered a way to deal with the sexual
urge - marriage. Homosexuals aren't. & even if homosexuals are able to
resist the temptation to engage in homosexual activity, they are still
subject to the same types of fantasies &c that Jesus referred to in Mt.5:28.
It's all too easy for heterosexuals - who may either have a gift of celibacy
or are sexually active in marriage - to tell homosexuals just to take cold
showers. That may not be the best way for the church to be helpful in this
situation.

        I have already said this a couple of times but the point doesn't
seem to have gotten through. I am not claiming that this is a drop-dead
argument for same sex unions but it's a reality that has to be taken into
account. FWIW, the same type of argument does NOT apply to the equally
debated question of ordination of active homosexuals. Nobody needs to be a
pastor to help deal with his or her sex drive.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
Received on Thu Jun 10 18:13:47 2004