On Tollerance, Continued

As I was taking a gander around, I noticed an article pop up this morning on the subject of my post yesterday and I thought that I would add some of the ideas from that to my ideas yesterday. Now, yesterday, I was focused specifically on homosexuality. I was thinking that it might be unfair for Christians to be more focused on the ways of the gay when in fact the Bible is totally against any non-marital sexual interaction, and even to focus on that, when there is so much more immorality out there, but I digress. I was asked about homosexuality, which is why I focused on it. Additionally, I don't remember the Bible using the word, "abomination," about any other sexual activity (though it's pretty harsh on bestiality, but I don't believe bestiality is quite as common as homosexuality).

What might have been unclear (but might have been if you read to the end and inferred appropriately), is that I believe Christians should not be judgmental. You might say that my continuing on talking about the immoralities in western culture is a sign of my judgment on western culture or those participating in these immoralities, but consider this (and this):

A close friend of yours is driving and you are a passenger. Your friend has a habit of not stopping at stop signs and he is about to pull up to one when you notice a police officer coming around the corner where your friend probably can't see. What do you do?

I know what I do, and I hope you would do something similar. I would tell my friend, "You better stop, the authorities are watching." Does that make me judgmental? I think not. I think that is specifically a sign of me being a caring individual. Even if I have my own problem stopping at stop signs, I think no one can disagree that it is caring for me to warn my friend.

If I tell an immoral person, "You better stop, the Authority is watching?" How is that any different? Just because I'm not perfect doesn't mean that I should not care that that person will get in trouble and if I see a way to help, I will.

Unfortunately, it often seems difficult for the onlooker to distinguish someone who actually cares from someone who is prideful in his own position and looks down on those who he views as lesser because of their problems (in this case with morality). Acknowledging this, I encourage anyone wanting to enlighten another of their iniquities, to first consider their own and then consider the person's willingness to hear constructive criticism (and your ability to provide it constructively and not pridefully).

Many view those who are trying to get governmental support for Christian morality (i.e. ban homosexual "marriage", ban the slaughter of the unborn, ban prostitution, etc.) as trying to, "impose," their morality, but I disagree. I view it as trying to get the government to stop condoning the morality of humanism and materialism, which are directly opposed to the laws of the true Authority.

On Tollerance

Before I loose this idea, I wanted to convey the thoughts from a conversation I had earlier today. Here's a story of a fictional conversation based on the conversation I had earlier. I was posted the question, "What are your thoughts on homosexuality?" I replied, "It's an abomination." Unfortunately, at that point in the conversation, this topic stopped in preference for another topic.

A few minutes later, my colleague came back to this issue posing a hypothetical situation. "Let's say your cousin was gay, what would you think."

"Well, I wouldn't let him bring his boyfriend to sleep over at my house," I replied.

"But I thought Christians were supposed to accept each other no matter who they are." Obviously my comments struck him as uncaring.

But I disagreed, "No, I would accept him. In fact, I love him. I love everyone because they are, like me, created in God's image. It's not him I would oppose, but his actions."

"But I thought homosexuality was genetic."

I chuckled at his comment and replied, "How exactly are two homosexuals supposed to pass on those genes? I imagine this is one anomaly that natural selection would have eliminated for uselessness."

He acknowledged the humor and irony in his statement and then we moved on. "I thought that people couldn't control whether or not they were gay."

"Sure they can." I probably paused a bit too long after saying that before I continued as he felt confused. "I will admit that it might not be possible for someone to stop having homosexual thoughts and desires, but thinking and doing are two quite different things. If they weren't, I'd be dead right now." At this point, I probably paused too long also, because if I had stopped there, I think I would have confused myself. "I had a number of suicidal thoughts a few years ago in my depression during the period of time when I abandoned God. Also, some other people would be dead because I also had a number of homicidal thoughts. It isn't what a person thinks that makes him (or her) gay, it's what he (or she) does."

I needed to leave, so the conversation was about over. Before parting, I pointed him at Romans 1:18-32 for him to notice that homosexual lust is one of the consequences of abandoning God. I believe western culture in general has done a mighty thorough job at pushing God out of their lives, out of their schools, workplaces, government, history, science, art, literature (am I missing anything?) and for most, out of their homes and hearts. It is not unexpected that these desires arise in a society like ours. There's a good bit other wrong just as described and it's only likely to get worse.

As for some of my comments, here's some Biblical representation:

"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." Leviticus 18:22 (NIV). Other translations call it "an abomination", "abhorrent," "a detestable sin," "disgusting," "a hateful sin," and in one, God personally says about this, "I hate that." Most of the English translations say "abomination."

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35 (NIV).

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." (emphasis added) Galatians 5:22-24 (NIV).

And if you've forgotten how to pray, perhaps this would be a good starting point: Matthew 6:9-13. "This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'" (NIV) I will note that if you do address God with this prayer, you might want to contemplate your own habits in the field of forgiveness.

Congratulations Kristy!

Big shout out (whatever that means) to Kristy for winning Augusta's Biggest Loser competition. She lost 77 pounds. That's freaking amazing. It's also very motivating for me. You can see to the right here, I'm in a distance competition at work and I can use all the motivation I can get. To see Kristy looking just like she did in High School (hint, she was very cute in High School) makes me want to work to look like I did back then...well, maybe without those huge glasses (Kristy, why didn't you tell me my glasses were huge?). Looking at those old pictures, no wonder everyone thought I was a geek...not that they were wrong, but... Anyways, big congratulations, Kristy!