My comment to the article (from yesterday) on homosexual life-style:
My first reaction, subsequent to reading the article, is that we really live in different worlds. In Sweden the only voice that is allowed to be heard is the voice of pro-same-sex marriages supporters. In a Swedish television program the equal voice policy ought to be totally different. The prevailing attitude is that the Christian representative should not be given much time for rebuttal. The power to be heard is almost non-existent; the voice of warning against same-sex-marriages is as a consequence marginalised.
In Sweden we have ha lot of state-paid representatives guarding against anything negative being said against same-sex-marriages or gay life styles. For many years now we have had "Homoombudsmannen" (Homosexual Ombudman) with his own office and staff and which recently merged together with other "ombudsmän", to become "Diskriminieringsombudsmannen" (DiscriminationOmbudsman)
We have state-financed RFSU/RFSL (Riksförbundet för sexuellt likaberättigande) with the task of helping Swedish people's attitude adapt to the "correct" way to think about sexual lifestyles. They are producing school programmes to teach the children in school to think the 'correct' way.
Homosexuals in Sweden is not a group without power or a voice. In Stockholm they have the annual "Pride-festival" supported by many major businesses and by every political party is in some way taking part in the event. At one of these festival one was allowed to throw arrows at pictures of Christian leaders and politicians, and in the march one could hear people shouting out their desire to kill the Leader for the Christian Democratic party.
We really live in very different worlds!
The only thing worth saying, from my point of view, in the article, is that you should not interupt each other in a discussion in a TV debate program or in any other similar setting. One should really treat everybody with respect.
Finally. I totally disagreee with the final remark in the article about us eventually ending up saying, "see how the love each other". If mutual love should be the deciding factor in determining if something is right or wrong we will find ourselves accepting a multitude of sins which people love doing and doing while loving each other.
Right or wrong can never be dependent on the amount of love we put into a person, object or activity. If a homosexual life style is wrong, then it is wrong whether the persons love or hate each other.
Peter Baronowsky
Daily devotions
From WWW.FSAOF.BLOGSPOT.COM
ReplyDeleteWhat most saddens me in this whole raucous debate in the churches is how sub-Christian most of it has been. It is characteristic of our time that the issues most difficult to assess, and which have generated the greatest degree of animosity, are issues on which the Bible can be interpreted as supporting either side. I am referring to abortion and homosexuality.
We need to take a few steps back and be honest with ourselves. I am deeply convinced of the rightness of what I have said in this essay. But I must acknowledge that it is not an air-tight case. You can find weaknesses in it, just as I can in others'. The truth is, we are not given unequivocal guidance in either area, abortion or homosexuality.
Rather than tearing at each other’s throats, therefore, we should humbly admit our limitations. How do I know I am correctly interpreting God's word for us today? How do you? Wouldn't it be wiser for Christians to lower the decibels by 95 percent and quietly present our beliefs, knowing full well that we might be wrong?
I know of a couple, both well-known Christian authors in their own right, who have both spoken out on the issue of homosexuality. She supports gays, passionately; he opposes their behavior, strenuously. So far as I can tell, this couple still enjoy each other's company, eat at the same table, and, for all I know, sleep in the same bed.
We in the church need to get our priorities straight. We have not reached a consensus about who is right on the issue of homosexuality. But what is clear, utterly clear, is that we are commanded to love one another. Love not just our gay sisters and brothers who are often sitting beside us, unacknowledged, in church, but all of us who are involved in this debate. These are issues about which we should amiably agree to disagree. We don't have to tear whole denominations to shreds in order to air our differences on this point. If that couple I mentioned can continue to embrace across this divide, surely we can do so as well.
Rev. Walter Wink