What You Believe About Homosexuality Doesn’t Matter

[Guest EXPAT]

What You Believe About Homosexuality Doesn’t Matter

Posted on December 19, 2013by Tyler

Today, there are 2 news stories that have been circulating all over my Facebook and Twitter news feeds. One you are probably aware of, the other maybe not. The two, though, are closely related. The first news story is the indefinite suspension of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson due to the comments he made during an interview with GQ magazine. The second news story is about the “defrocking” of Pennsylvania UMC pastor Frank Schaefer after he performed the marriage for his gay son and subsequent refusal to submit to church law regarding this action. The link between these two stories is clear. The church’s views (or, in the case of Duck Dynasty, a certain understanding of the Christian faith’s views) regarding homosexuality.

The reaction to both of these stories has been…emphatic, to say the least. The debate over the “rightness or wrongness” of homosexuality has once again been fired up. The appeals to the Biblical passages have been made. The academic rebuttals to the interpretation of those passages has no doubt been referenced. The calls for freedom and tolerance (from both sides) have been shouted…or at least typed out with great gusto. The theological debate (and I am using that term VERY generously here) has been raging all day long, and no doubt will continue to rage in the weeks to come.

But I refuse to engage in it. The way I see it, the time for that debate has long since passed. The stakes are too high now. The current research suggestions that teenagers that are gay are about 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. That puts the percentage of gay teens attempting suicide at about 30-some percent. 1 out of 3 teens who are gay or bisexual will try to kill themselves. And a lot of times they succeed. In fact, Rev. Schaefer’s son contemplated suicide on a number of occasions in his teens.

The fact of the matter is, it doesn’t matter whether or not you think homosexuality is a sin. Let me say that again. It does not matter if you think homosexuality is a sin, or if you think it is simply another expression of human love. It doesn’t matter. Why doesn’t it matter? Because people are dying. Kids are literally killing themselves because they are so tired of being rejected and dehumanized that they feel their only option left is to end their life. As a Youth Pastor, this makes me physically ill. And as a human, it should make you feel the same way. So, I’m through with the debate.

When faced with the choice between being theologically correct…as if this is even possible…and being morally responsible, I’ll go with morally responsible every time. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian during World War II. He firmly held the theological position of nonviolence. He believed that complete pacifism was theologically correct. And yet, in the midst of the war, he conspired to assassinate Adolf Hitler; to kill a fellow man. Why? Because in light of what he saw happening to the Jews around him by the Nazis, he felt that it would be morally irresponsible not to. Between the assassination of Hitler and nonviolence, he felt the greater sin would be nonviolence.

We are past the time for debate. We no longer have the luxury to consider the original meaning of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church. We are now faced with the reality that there are lives at stake. So whatever you believe about homosexuality, keep it to yourself. Instead, try telling a gay kid that you love him and you don’t want him to die. Try inviting her into your church and into your home and into your life. Anything other than that simply doesn’t matter.

[MsGuy]

If there had been a few more ministers like this guy around when I was 13/14 years old, I might not be an atheist now.

[Guest hitoallusa]

Well maybe this isn't irrelevant whether you are an atheist or not. If you had established some kind of personal relationship between you and God then things would be different. I can't define what that personal relationship exactly is but it's an experience that those who are strong in faith (not a misguided blind faith) often experience. It's an experience that one can't deny and it's a personal experience. It's could be a miracle for that person or some kind of change in one's life.. There are a lot of gays who embrace gays like the pastor mentioned above. I'm not blaming you on losing your faith and becoming an atheist, though. But maybe you are missing out a connection that is needed to be connected to God..

If there had been a few more ministers like this guy around when I was 13/14 years old, I might not be an atheist now.

[Guest EXPAT]

When I had a series of bad experiences with churches, I briefly thought i would become atheist. But upon reflection later, I realized I did have a spiritual connection and what I really became which more accurately reflects my views is ANTI-ORGANIZED RELIGION. I think they are killing true Christianity.

[Guest hitoallusa]

I got excommunicated from an extreme christian group. The issue I had with that group was that they worshipped the scripture and tried to interpret the Bible in a certain direction. I had to deal with theological debates such as women taking leadership role and whether there are true christians in the catholic church. I was for more active women's participation in church and believe there are true God's people in the catholic church too. I was nicely excommunicated and cut off from all the relationships. Oh well I might have been excommunicate anyway if they found out that I was gay ( I was not out at that time) anyway but I somehow going to church.. I didn't have any gay friends at that time and didn't know whether they are indeed gays since there were no gay guys around me.. They were very nice people.. I have wondered what has happened to them since...

[Guest Paragon]

I don't know who Tyler is. Perhaps it would have helped me understand his writing better if I did, but he seems rather disjointed in trying to make his point. "Current research" to him is one article on teen suicide. 30% of gay teens attempt to kill themselves...really? For most of us older gays, it seems so much easier to come out now than it did 40 years ago. Hard as it was back then, I never attempted suicide and know of no attempts by peers, so I doubt this statistic. I don't doubt that some teens do though. I just don't see what Tyler needed so many words for as he could easily have made his point in a paragraph. Not knowing who Tyler is also makes me ignorant of what his intended audience is. Us? Do we need to hear this? I don't think so. Certainly others do, but a more concise article might actually get read by those folks than this one. So if those who need to read opinions like this don't, how do we reach them?