Changed my views on Homosexuality

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Fire is a wonderful thing, it provides warmth and safety, is useful for making food taste better, for cleansing, it also provides a sort of creature comfort and even entertainment to watch a crackling fire.

However, fire must be contained or it becomes a source of death and destruction, devastating persons and property. It can go from a fun bonfire to a wildfire that consumes everything in its path. Fire is wonderful when it is contained within its proper place.

Sex is like fire. It is wonderful when it is in it’s proper place (inside a valid marriage). Outside of that proper place it can be pleasurable but then become destructive and its power can destroy.
 
Arbovirus said:
The very fact that you understand the concept of justice is because we are made in the image of God. We see justice as good and beneficial and necessary.

Someone who goes to prison does not go to prison because people are afraid. They go to prison because they committed evil.

Judgement of good/evil, right/wrong is carried out even in the secular world. You cannot deny that.

People say “That is wrong” “That is not right” “That is pure evil” when describing certain things. They do so because their consciences know that some things are intrinsically bad — not only because they are “afraid”.
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To me, it is just to send them to prison so they are removed from the general population. I don’t really care about if they are punished for doing wrong. Of course “doing wrong” always has negative impact on others, so there is always justice to be served. It doesn’t really matter why, to me.

When I say something is right or wrong, I base it on if harm is being done. In a nutshell, I believe that assuming there is God, we were created to live in the world to learn. I don’t know why, and it doesn’t really matter why. I focus on the task at hand and trust that if there is a God, he has the rest covered. With that said, I feel certain we are not to encroach on each other’s freedom to learn. Your freedom ends where mine begins. When someone tries to take my freedom (by killing me, stealing from me, lying to me, gossiping about me, etc.) that is wrong because it is moving in on my territory.

Anyhow, that is how I see the world. I think this thread got high jacked, and for that I am sorry. I don’t expect other people to see the world or our existence the way I see it. They want to know what I base my beliefs on. I base it on my experience in the world to date, what I learn from watching other people on their journey, and yes… Blind faith because I have an intuition that our existence is bigger than our physical bodies. I don’t claim my beliefs are correct, or true, or valid for anyone else. I like them, they work for me, I live a full life, I have no fear of dying, and I believe in the goodness of my fellow human beings. I feel very fortunate.
 
TheLittleLady said:
Sex is like fire. It is wonderful when it is in it’s proper place (inside a valid marriage). Outside of that proper place it can be pleasurable but then become destructive and its power can destroy.
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It doesn’t have to be destructive, though, if done responsibly.
 
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Some things, like meth and heroine, don’t have level of moderation. It’s just bad itself. There is no responsible meth addiction.
 
My view…Homosexuals are just wired differently. It is NOT normal, normal for them, etc…they need to deal with it, I don’t.

Are their emotional responses to partners real? That is for them do decide, but please don’t ask/expect me to condone it.
 
It’s not de facto sinful to be attracted to the opposite sex.
It is sinful to have sex acts with the same sex, however.
It is important to remember that while, for many, it is not a choice (that’d be bisexuals), it is still not entirely biological, as can be demonstrated by homosexuality in identical twin pairs.

It is an act of humility to accept proper Church authority, even when we don’t personally agree before finding the teaching.
 
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I like your analogy. One important point, however, is that sex, unlike fire, even when it is in its “proper place” must be controlled and treated with respect.
 
To control fire is to treat it with respect. Keeping it in the proper place. We put screens in front of the fireplace to keep hot sparks from lighting on the living room curtains 🙂
 
This is my own personal take on homosexuality. I’m not a scientist. I’m not a doctor. This is just my down to earth view point that is based off of personal experiences.
A lot of people say that same sex attraction is something people cannot help; they are born that way. They say it is no different from having green or blue eyes etc.
I’m inclined to at least partially agree. I agree that it isn’t necessarily something they can help (or at least understand the roots of). To me, being gay is a lot more like having a favorite color or acknowledging what your “type” is in a heterosexual relationship. I don’t know why my favorite color is pastel pink. I don’t know why I like that my husband is taller than me, etc. I honestly couldn’t tell you why these are truths about my personality. I can’t necessarily “help” it. I wouldn’t say this is how I was born. I would argue that a mix of things, mostly subconscious and environmental shaped these odd, but seemingly natural traits.
To me, homosexuality is the exact same way.
That being said, it isn’t a sin to be tempted. It is a sin to act on the temptation.
It isn’t a sin to love.
Sex isn’t a sin- it is a beautiful expression of love… in the correct context.

My godmother once told me, that acting on feelings of love for someone of the same sex, in a sexual way, is like taking friendship or brotherly/sisterly feelings too far- because the individual is confused. They have these deep feelings, and deep feelings are seldom acknowledged in a platonic way in our current society.

I don’t believe feeling love and attraction for someone is evil. The attraction, at least, I view as more of a struggle or even mental illness (in some cases). It shouldn’t be feared or inspire people to come running with pitchforks. However, it shouldn’t be cheered on either. To me, that is a bit like cheering when your friend just found out that they have a terrible anxiety disorder that interferes with their day to day life.

The issue should be approached with love. That is my feeling.

Be compassionate and kind- but not necessarily accepting.
 
This position veers toward Jewish thinking. In Judaism, procreation, important as it certainly is, is NOT regarded as the primary purpose of sex. Love is considered the primary purpose. However, physical pleasure during sex is also important, both self-pleasure and pleasuring one’s partner. I think certain Protestant denominations believe this too since I recall the late Billy Graham talking about the topic.
 
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Brendan_64 said:
So what is a ‘gay person’ if not a person defined by their sexual inclinations?
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Is a “black person” a person defined by his race? Is a “tall person” a person defined by her height? Is a “sneaky person” a person defined by his sneakiness?

We’re talking about adjectives, not nouns. We all have lots of adjectives, some of them flattering, some unflattering. I am sometimes a snobbish person. But I am never defined by that. If anyone is defining people by their sexuality, it is certainly not children who grow up to realize that they are attracted to the same sex, and not to the opposite sex, and then understand themselves to be gay. What happens next could be the bad influence of our society, but that first step is just realism.
Brendan_64 said:
The trouble is that we do define people by their sexual inclinations rather than viewing people as people who have a sexual inclination (disordered or otherwise).
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We do that when we talk about “the gays” or when we use these terms as nouns instead of adjectives.
Brendan_64 said:
As a result, opposing certain behaviour is viewed as opposing the person for who they are.
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All the more reason to clarify that being exclusively attracted to the same sex (being “gay”) is different from acting on that attraction.
 
curious_cath said:
But if you feel unhappy when called a gay person, then you may try to live like a straight person and may become one.
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How does a gay person become a straight person? “Straight” means “attracted to the same sex”. How does one accomplish that?
 
@curious_cath, how would you feel, religion aside, if someone told you to just wake up tomorrow and live like a gay one, and maybe you will then become one. Assuming you are straight, do you think that might be possible? Do you think by just “acting gay” you could become gay and then all would be right?

Sexual orientation is more than that.
 
QwertyGirl said:
I believe God created sex so it could be used separately from love. It is a versatile thing, by design.
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What do you think about the emotional attachment that first sexual experiences create? especially in youth that don’t ever seem to know what’s happening to them. Their experience is misjudged as everlasting love that is exclusive to them that no one else seems to understand. Yet everyone else does but them? This experience is universal enough that can make them victims of more experienced partners. Isn’t sexual versatility in the way you mean a use of sex that is a practiced and learned escape from a natural bond?
 
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I was actually referring more to masturbation. However, sex is what we make of it. Parents, raise your kids so they understand all consequences of sex. Bonding during a sexual encounter is a choice.

I don’t believe bedhopping is a smart thing to do, because it has risks associated with it, BTW. It is much wiser to know your partner well.
 
Benadam said:
What do you think about the emotional attachment that first sexual experiences create? especially in youth that don’t ever seem to know what’s happening to them. Their experience is misjudged as everlasting love that is exclusive to them that no one else seems to understand. Yet everyone else does but them? This experience is universal enough that can make them victims of more experienced partners. Isn’t sexual versatility in the way you mean a use of sex that is a practiced and learned escape from a natural bond?
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I am in no way an expert but I think we might find in future studies that initial exposure to sexual experiences or environments have a much stronger influence on many people’s direction in their sexuality than we currently think.

I suspect that this would include sexual orientation for a portion of the community.
 
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