How I would react.....

[mandym]

Happens every day. I'd submit that most people on this board are happy to associate with people having heteros3xual premarital relationships more than those who are homos3xual.

I know some us don't have the context as the rest but in reality if you begin looking around at the actual stats and behaviours the evangelical church in America has completely lost the war on se3xuality in the last generation or two. More people between the ages of 20 and 39 are likely to be non-married than married. Of couples getting married (specifically in the area where I live, a large metro area) 90 - 95% either have had or are having biblically inappropriate relationships with their significant other prior to marriage. Cohabitation is off the charts, probably about 50% of the couples coming through the church where I serve for our premarital counselling program are living together.

The reality is too many in the evangelical church are way too comfortable with hetros3xual misconduct and then won't have anything to do with homos3xuals. It's a double standard.

Personally our family has friends who are all over the place. We have people we know who cohabitate before marriage. We have people we know who are homos3xuals. We have people we know who are single but very open to s3xual relationships. We have people we know who are living a biblically pure and authentic lives. We minister to all people. Just seems to me the second ground is often maligned while the others get a pass.



I don't care about the public agenda. That's not my point.

The point, in relation to the OP, is about the social relationships.

Many of our friends who live in homos3xual relationships are so hurt and cast out by evangelicals that they have an immediate response of fear when they find out we are loving and caring for them (while upholding biblical standards of purity in leadership and our own lives.) Christianity no longer has a voice in that community because of the hate, hypocrisy, and vitriol of too many of our former leaders. We have much ground to redeem.

(as a side note I hope this convo stays open...its an important one to have)

I was responding to your statement that homosexuals get "blasted" more than heterosexual adulterers. The fact is it is because of the public agenda as you put it. It just cannot be divorced from the equation. As far as heterosexual adultery being more accepted, I would say that a lot of sin is more accepted by a great many people. But again, the one's that get more attention are the one's that are pushed so hard on a public level with a political agenda.

 

[Aaron]

Why is it that homos3xuals get blasted but guys who walk around hooking up with any girl they can get a pass? Why is it we are tolerant of the woman who stays in monogamous relationships but always sleeps with her boyfriend of the time?

Don't worry, you'll soon be asking that question about pedophiles.

But nobody "gets a pass." Men wanting to bed women outside of marriage is natural. It's a sin, but it's still natural. Men wanting to bed other men is a sin, but it's unnatural, as Paul said. In other words, the fact that a man is sexually attracted to a woman is like recognizing the sweet odor of a rose. Now it might be your neighbor's roses one is smelling, and we would think him a cad for trespassing, but the attraction is natural.

Think of one who collects dog poop for the smell. Wouldn't matter if it were the poop of his own dog or his neighbors. It's unnatural and we should, if we are sane and rational, find it repulsive.