My argument concerning homosexuality would be that it damages the vessel of man's being which was created for God's purpose.
It is a kind of idolatry. It is kind of making of an idol in which the humanity of the person is damaged in the making. The confusion of going against the creation of the purpose of the male and the purpose of the female which is destroyed in homosexuality damages humanity.
No, it is not the only sin that damages humanity.
It would be difficult for me to make this argument without the statements in the Bible which I take to be God's word.
Originally posted by jaywillIt would be difficult for me to make this argument without the statements in the Bible which I take to be God's word.
My argument concerning homosexuality would be that it damages the vessel of man's being which was created for God's purpose.
It is a kind of idolatry. It is kind of making of an idol in which the humanity of the person is damaged in the making. The confusion of going against the creation of the purpose of the male and the purpose of the female which ...[text shortened]... r me to make this argument without the statements in the Bible which I take to be God's word.
And that—setting aside the question of Biblical interpretation—is the crux of the matter. Because you take the Bible as “God’s word,” it becomes the moral template which you overlay on reality in order to make judgments (using that word “judgments” in a strictly neutral sense).
The world either conforms to the template, or it does not. There is no need to address such niceties as the particular character of a relationship (e.g., loving or exploitive) or human sexual tendencies (e.g. genetically determined or a matter of preference).
I think this commits the error of judging the territory according to the map, rather than the other way around. You think the map reflects a higher reality (a “divine territory” ) to which human existence ought to, in all cases, conform.
The impasse (again, setting aside the question of whether yours, or someone else’s, interpretation of the template is the correct one) has nothing to do with homosexuality, or any other behavior, per se. It has to do strictly with what template one imposes on the world in order to judge (decide) such things. Different templates = impasse. (Even if one person’s “template” is nothing more than conscious observation of the world as it is.)
Templates (maps) can be useful tools, since they perform a function of abstraction; they can also be valuable from an aesthetic point of view. But they are not themselves beyond judgment—even if human judgment is fallible.
I have a lesbian or at least leaning that way, person in my family.
I do not have a personal problem with people along these lines in general.
I do not consider myself to be better than lesbians by any inherent goodness of my own. I am only a sinner saved by grace. I know where I can recieve more and more grace to live. I know where to receive more and more grace from God to even live from one moment to the next.
I would share this good news with anyone. I'd share it with a lesbian or a heterosexual who is too greedy. I'd share the good news of the love of Jesus with anyone.
Jesus loves us. He looks beyond our faults and sees our needs.