Soulforce is Here
I haven't been on campus today, but I've been following, with great interest, the spirited discussions about the Soulforce arrival at ACU on Mike's and Greg's blogs.
I am continually puzzled by the way many of us (yes, sometimes including myself) react differently to homosexuality than to other activities that we consider to be sinful.
Why is that reaction so strong?
I'm not asking about whether it is justified or not, I'm just trying to get at the heart of why it seems to be a "different" issue from, say, marital infidelity, premarital sex, pornography addiction, or even non-sexual sins like greed or gossip.
Technorati Tags: soulforce, homosexuality, christianity, abilene christian university
I am continually puzzled by the way many of us (yes, sometimes including myself) react differently to homosexuality than to other activities that we consider to be sinful.
Why is that reaction so strong?
I'm not asking about whether it is justified or not, I'm just trying to get at the heart of why it seems to be a "different" issue from, say, marital infidelity, premarital sex, pornography addiction, or even non-sexual sins like greed or gossip.
Technorati Tags: soulforce, homosexuality, christianity, abilene christian university
posted by Matt at Monday, March 27, 2006
3 Comments:
I attended several of the SoulForce events today. I was impressed with both the SoulForce people and the ACU people. I think substituting a real, live, living, breathing, person in place of simply an 'issue' can really make you think harder about things. I'm glad I went, and I'm glad that ACU was open to the visit.
The most interesting thought that I left with was this: what kind of a stance can we as Christians have about homosexuality that won't lead some in our group to act out in violence against homosexuals? I don't see many hate crimes against gossips in the name of religion (or against the materialistic, etc). As a matter of fact, some of these other sins are almost praised by modern-day American Christians.
The violence is what really gets to me. And the violence itself is nothing more than an extension of some very mean-spirited attitudes about gays and lesbians that I hear from some Christians.
There really is no word for it other than "hatred." There is something profoundly threatening about it - I confess again - I feel it myself sometimes. And Christians react to that feeling in the worst possible way. But what is it that makes them react like that? Where is it coming from?
I'm with ya Jonathan on the idea that its a whole different thing when the dispute over whether something is a sin is an issue. But I've seen lots of situations where people disagree over the interpretation of scripture, and nobody ended up lying on the ground, bloddied up, as a result...
Something is very wrong here. Maybe several things are very wrong here. Its drawing out the worst in a lot of people - on all sides.
(And I'm glad, by the way, to hear the encouraging reports from ACU - perhaps something different is happening there).
Yes. Violence is not limited to physical brutality. We have done more violence with our words and our hearts than we have with our fists, but we're still guilty.
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