Love

Is everyone deserving of love? Or are we undeserving and that's what makes it love?

Marriage

As a Christian I believe homosexuality is wrong. And so as a Christian, I can't agree with the notion of homosexual marriage.

But when asked whether homosexual marriage should be legalised, I realise that I must base all my arguments, one way or another, purely on the secular.

So on this topic, I have the following questions that I feel are unanswered:

- What purely secular debate exists? Where in the public forum is that debate? Are there physical/psychological/economic benefits of one family model over another? Children are the vulnerable in society - how are they advanaged or disadvantaged by gay marriage?

- Should the church be vilified for dogmatically opposing homosexuality? Is that not its prerogative?

- If gay marriage were legalised, is it reasonable for the church to refuse to facilitate such weddings?

- Why is the homosexual community infatuated with marriage? Doesn't the civil union serve exactly the same purpose? Isn't marriage somewhat representative of an "oppressive church state"?*

- Should the decision to allow or deny gay marriage be based on the outcomes of democratic debate, or simply "reason"? If we rely on democracy, the Christian church, along with the other major world religions, will have a loud voice. If we rely on reason, we need to be presented the facts.

I guess some of these questions relate to my own curiousity, and others directly relate to determining a solution.

I'm worried that my personal beliefs on homosexuality are taken as homophobia. It's worth remembering that I don't believe in sex outside of marriage. I'm pretty sure that I'm not phobic of these people. At the same time, I've lied, stolen and cheated to varying degrees... yet those degrees don't make a lot of difference. I'm not overly phobic of myself. But I probably should be.

*This seems to me to be the reason why heterosexual couples in committed relationships no longer seek marriage.

What would you do?

I earnestly and sincerely believe. I'd like you to believe it too. I realise that you might not. That saddens me.

But if you believed, what would you do? Is it a function of how much you care about me, that would determine how hard you tried to convince me?

Maybe it's the fact that faith is required?

The pompous chosen ones

I never considered that being "chosen" or being "one of the elect" is akin to putting oneself up on a pedestal.

People seen to be putting themselves upon pedestals are considered rather poorly.

But then, it's ok, as long as I don't tell anyone/don't offer anyone else a spot on that pedestal with me and the rest of Christianity. Or maybe it is okay to offer - just don't force it. I'm not sure.

But I guess there are a lot of barriers that need to be cut through before the offer might be received. So perhaps, I'll wait til then?

Human nature

There's a petition that's going around Facebook warning that Ugandan legislation could be passed that demands the execution of homosexuals. I haven't checked the facts on this.

I was privy to a FB post relating to this where a Christian commented along the lines of "While I don't believe that homosexuality is right, please sign this petition to stop them being executed in Uganda..." What an uproar! There were a number of homosexuals and a number of Christians who subsequently commented. One particular person of a homosexual persuasion was irate that this person should have written the disclaimer, and accused the person of being homophobic. It was all a bit primary school style, as said person then went on to say "you're not my friend any more..."

That debacle got me thinking about a couple of things.

I heard a story of a gentleman who made the mistake of holding the door for a feminist. "Are you holding the door for me just because I'm a woman," she spat at him.

I'd like to think I'd hold the door open for anyone: man or woman... straight or gay.

Similar to the person who started the furore, I am a Christian who, based on my reading of the Bible, can't condone homosexuality. I recall a conversation with a friend from uni several years ago. She was an inquisitive non-christian who had asked questions in her childhood and hadn't gotten any of the answers she was chasing. So I recall that we would discuss things. And in one of the discussions homosexuality came up. She made a couple of comments. First she said, "But you're not homophobic, you wouldn't not be friends with someone because they were gay." Next she said, "You wouldn't have problems with going to a gay bar, for example." I agreed with the first statement. The second statement, I couldn't quite agree with. I had to admit that I probably would feel quite awkward going to a gay bar.

~~~

I've always been a little confused by the conundrum... why would God create people who are of a sexual orientation that is contrary to his word? There is a movement that pushes the notion that sexuality is pre-determined. Yet many of the voices in Christian leadership are quick to jump on the line used in the 70s, that homosexuality was a lifestyle choice. Because that was the catchcry when things really heated up, the church leaders argue that they can't have it both ways.

The issue of homosexual origins is not something that I can relate to, and for the moment I'll stick to being unsure about who is right on the subject.

But the question of "why would God create people who are of a sexual orientation that is contrary to his word?" is one that I think a little light can be shed on, at least in terms of establishing a more representative situation.

The term that gets me is "human nature". Human nature is generally equated to selfishness. Selfishness is then defined as putting yourself before others, including God. And what are the two greatest commands according to Jesus? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and love your neighbour as yourself.

From the Christian perspective that homosexuality is wrong, surely there are enough parallels between homosexuality and human nature, that by understanding human nature, why I have selfish tendencies, why I worry about myself first and then God and others come second, surely if I can understand that a little better, I might be better able to understand why God made people of a sexual orientation that is contrary to his word.

The only problem is, I don't really understand human nature.

Worship

Over the years I have had instilled in me the "importance" of not referring to music as worship. The reasons for this are pretty straight forward: our lives are to be a living sacrifice, and that is our spiritual act of worship. So, the reasoning goes, to say that we go to church for worship should be just as nonsensical as saying that we go to church to breathe (courtesy of Phil).

So I've found it quite challenging to be in a church where we talk about music as worship. Every time I hear the term "worship leader" I cringe. But I'm feeling a little guilty for that, because, when it's all said and done, we're kicking up a fuss about a little bit of church jargon. And from what I can see, the people I'm interacting with who refer to music as worship are just as much trying to live out the worship mandate.

So what am I suggesting? I'd be loathe to suggest that we shouldn't point our the oddity of referring to music as worship. But at the same time, it would be the opposite of worship if bringing it up were to spread discord. A slow evolution in our word usage might be the best approach. It's interesting that this issue of worship is generally agreed upon by people on both sides of the fence, so there is a fair possibility of change. But if there is no change, it is such a minor issue. My cringe response is far too over-the-top considering the importance of the issue.

An interesting side-note... at dad's school, there is a group that organises lunch-time worship, as well as running worship in chapel. Anyway, I had the opportunity to meet attend one of their events at one point. The students had two options: to either attend this worship event or to be out playing soccer, organised by another teacher. Interestingly, there were several girls there who did not want to play soccer, but who weren't Christian, but they were quite happy to come and be part of the worship service, as it was the lesser of two evils. Yet, the worship leader was earnest in praying for the kids out playing soccer that one day they too would join them in the worship group. Being out playing soccer is just as much a part of life as singing praises to God. And if our whole lives are worship, then it can be just as much an act of worship as anything else.

Discernment Part 3

It was an interesting discussion I had with my sister, confined between the crackles of Skype. She raised some interesting points, as she tends to do!

The main point that I took out of it was that of considering God's sovereignty. God is in control of the good and the bad, in control of my actions and deeds. So in the light of God's sovereignty, it seems quite reasonable to attribute a leading or a calling to God.

But where does that leave "testing the spirits"?

And there's a frightful lot of stuff that can be said of God's sovereignty and what it is for God to be in control.