- Redefining the word gay
- ‘Gay’ is a left-wing socio-political construct designed to create grounds for fundamental rights [based on] whimsical capricious desires,” said Ryan Sorba, chairman of the Young Conservatives of California. “Gay identity does not exist.”
- “Same-sex attraction,” “Same-sex intercourse,” “Sodomy,” “Unnatural vice,” and “anti-Christian.”
- The gay war
- It's their duty to protect the definition of marriage and protect America's youth from the "gay agenda."
- Also, protect America from homosexual lobbyists.
- Same-sex orientation: ‘hedonism repackaged’
- Hedonism - a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good.
- Gays are gay because it feels good, and they should not be allowed to partake in this pleasure because it is morally wrong and disgusting.
Instead, I wanted to approach this from these people's perspective, the Christian perspective. For those of you who don't know, I am in fact a Christian. Although these people seem to be arguing that I cannot be gay and Christian at the same time, and that they are in fact complete opposites and cancel each other out. However, I'm pretty sure we're reading from the same Book, so I thought it'd be cool to go and check out where the disagreement is.
(I)
Redefining the word gay. . . now as far as I know, the word gay has had three definitions in my short life time. First, it initially meant "happy," as in Ramona Quimby was "gay" in children's book I read when I was 8-years-old. Then, sometime in the 19th century people started using it to refer to homosexuals, but it really started to gain momentum in the 20th century. However, as the term gained popularity to refer to a group of people, so did it's use as a derogatory term. And now it has entered the English vernacular to mean "stupid," as in "OMG! That's like so gay!"
So as you can see, redefining the word gay isn't totally unheard of, and actually, since we're on the topic of the word "gay," how about we discuss the fact that the word "homosexual" did not even exist in Hebrew or ancient Greek, which just so happen to be the two languages the original text of the Bible were written in. So when the Bible was being translated (numerous times), scholars decided to insert the word homosexual in place of words that actually referred to very specific pagan ritutals involving homosexual intercourse. However, all pagan rituals are condemned in the Bible, so that's nothing special, yet we constantly cite this as a source of why "homosexuality" is wrong. No, cheating on your wife and sleeping with your 12 year old page boy to try and increase your fertility rate is wrong, that's what the Romans were getting up to. And I don't think Jesus or anyone in the modern age would approve of this behavior.
So you see... changing the word gay is sort of a moot point when it comes to using it to call us sinners because the word itself didn't exist yet. Yes, pagan rituals involving gay sex existed (for both men and women), but the pagan focus was the problem. That's why it was condemned. Jesus himself never outright says, "Gays are going to Hell," so why should we ever put words in his mouth?
(II)
The gay war. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I've got my battle armor on and am totally ready to go recruit young, naive straight girls into our underground forces and pollute their minds with our "gay propaganda." But wait. . . I don't believe in violence. And all lesbians know that straight girl crushes are only ever going to lead to heartbreak. Because we know better than anyone that you don't "choose" your sexual orientation. You're just stuck with it. I respect girls who identify as straight and would never purposefully try to confuse them into thinking otherwise.
And this whole thing about defending the definition of marriage? Well, I decided I should share a story. Today, I had a wonderful conversation with my new friend Woody about marriage. And he asked me a question that I did not have an answer prepared for: So what about marriage being a metaphor between God and the Church?
I took a moment to think, and honestly didn't know what to say. And then it was like all the passages I had been reading lately and all the things I'd heard at Bible study merged together into a beautiful answer that I didn't stutter through. It was a surreal feeling.
Let's look at what marriage is a metaphor for: God and the Church. Normally, we associate God as the groom and the Church as the bride, which is a fair enough assesment to make. However, let's look at the individual components a little closer. God is often thought of as a masculine being, however, time and time again we have learned that God goes beyond sex. In fact, God has aspects of both genders. The most powerful image perhaps is God's reaction to losing a child, searching frantically for him/her until they are safe and sound. This is an inherent maternal instinct seen in nearly all of God's creations. Also in Job, God asks Job "from who's womb do you think this came?" Yes, it's a metaphor, but so is marriage.
God does not have a gender, so we can't just assume that this definition of "groom" is related to gender. Then we have the Church, which is a collection of people of different shapes, sizes, colors and genders. The Church is not entirely made of women or men, it's composed of both. So as you can see the metaphor extends to two separate bodies that are composed of both masculine and feminine parts, allowing for any combination in essence. This metaphorical marriage is at its very core androgynous and non-discriminatory based on gender.
A young pastor-in-training took part in a debate last semester about homosexuality. She was in defense of gay marriage and she talked about the passage in Paul that mentions women have "unnatural" relations with one another. She explained that in the original translation this same word is used to describe God's "unnatural" love for us. God loves men and women equally, in this intense "unnatural" (unbelievable, incomprehensible) way that goes beyond a feeling a parent has for a child. It's a very special love that does not discriminate based on age, race, gender, or orientation.
God loves all of us. That's the metaphor that marriage stands for. It's this unique love that is meant to only be shared between two people for eternity. It has it's own special rules and expectations, and it's a selfish relationship. God is selfish when it comes to us, the same way a married person is selfish about his/her partner.
That's why I want to get married. I want that connection with someone. I want to mean everything to her and build a family and have it blessed by God. Marriage is a beautiful thing and as long as both people truly love each other and understand the depth of that love, then I have no idea why they shouldn't scream it to the heavens and receive such a blessing.
(III)
Finally, the whole "hedonism repackaged" thing. I had to look up what that meant. Basically these people believe that gays only do what brings "pleasure" and have no sense of what is morally right because we're too obsessed with making ourselves feel good 24/7. Okay, well I'm not going to speak for the entire gay community on this one. I'm just going to share my personal experience. I spent four years reconciling my faith with my sexuality. I had to fight to feel like God loved me again. I was so angry that He had made me gay that I refused to speak to Him for years. I was being told by my church that homosexuality was a sin and if I couldn't give it up then I would go to Hell. In their defense, they didn't know I was gay at the time, but their words cut right through me.
I tried to put on this charade of being straight. I did everything I was supposed to: I dated boys, talked about how "hot" Johnny Depp was and even got dressed up in a ridiculous dress to go to prom. I prayed every night from 7th grade to 9th grade that He would just take it away, but when it didn't happen I didn't talk to him until the summer before my freshman year of college. I was angry, and I hated God. It was probably the darkest point in my life.
So tell me, how is this in any way pleasurable? Why would I want to be petrified of going to Hell? Why would I want to be terrified of my family disowning me? Why would I want to never be able to fall in love and get married and have a family? Why? Well, according to these people it's because I chose it to make myself happy. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but being gay is usually pretty miserable. You get bullied and feel isolated. And people wonder why gay teens are three times more likely to kill themselves than straight teens.
This is not the message we should be sending to America's youth. This is not what America is about. This is not what God is about. God is about LOVE, not hate. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That's a message echoed in 27 of the world's top religions. I want straight people to get married and have families. I don't want to take that away from them. I love them, even if they don't love me. Because that's what Jesus told me to do. And he's my Savior, not some Texan politician.
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