http://www.someone-to-talk-to.net/new_page_15.htm

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:jJ0-n6QOM3QJ:fculittle.org/sermons/Bible_and_Homosexuality.pdf+jesus+talks+about+homosexuality&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=us

If anyone is interested, I found these 3 sites informative. Rich, I can see why the General Synod discussions could get bogged down. There’s a lot that can be said. Everyone’s opinion is important. It’s nice to see the interaction. Lots of intelligent respectful discourse, what more could anyone want? Sharon, I too liked David’s idea of the two parables. I’ve considered what Jesus might have said but I come up empty. Rob, I think many are uncomfortable with just saying it is sin because there is doubt in their hearts that it is or they’re uncomfortable judging another. The analogies are about forms of “brokenness”. I agree supporting analogies might be impossible but I think it’s more because this isn’t a situation where something needs to be “fixed”. What is normal for us isn’t necessarily normal for others and vise versa. Normal is defined from our own unique perspectives. Who’s to say that any individual’s version of normal is superior or inferior to our own. Lately I’ve gotten into the habit, when asked how I am, of saying I’m normal for me. Unless they’re hurting someone, we could just let people be normal for them. Help those who ask for it however we can and accept everyone else.

Lately, one of the aspects of this issue that seems to strike me most as I consider the issue in general and more specifically in the church, is its relationship to sin. I have become fairly certain that “sin” is not a popular idea or term, either in the world or the church. For me, one of the things that has characterized our congregation over the past few years is that our discussions about our lives in Christ include the topic of sin, in a manner that I consider to be both courageous and humble.

I may be wrong, but I sense that many of us would rather avoid the word sin when it comes to homosexuality. Again, my reasoning might not be accurate, but I suspect that for many of us, our discomfort is born from the fact that we know and love people, very good people, who are homosexual. I believe that our desire to love these people, regardless of what is happening in their lives, is a very Christ-like response. I would even go beyond saying that it is our calling to suggest that such love and kindness from Christians towards any person, is evidence of the Spirit at work within us.

But I have a growing unsettled feeling about the idea that loving people who live with same sex attraction means that we would avoid saying that same sex activity is outside of the boundaries of God’s design for human sexuality. (Do you see what I just did? I used a whole bunch of words to say something that I might have just summarized as “sin,” because writing that word felt too strong.)

I think that Rich is right, there is not one key question that will unlock our understanding or help us make decisions about our course of action related to this complex issue, but I respectfully suggest that we should consider this question: Is homosexual activity outside of the boundaries of God’s design for human sexuality and relationships?

I respectfully suggest that this is a critical question BECAUSE of our desire to love people in a Christ-like manner.

One of the most difficult aspects of discussing the issue of homosexuality is that there seems to be no analogy that works. Every comparison that I have heard used to discuss this issue eventually breaks down. And many of the analogies can be offensive. At the risk of offending or making a poor connection, I will attempt to explain why answering this question can be an important part of our call to love and support people who experience same sex attraction.

If someone comes to us with an addiction, we love them, but we also want them to get well. We would want to help this person get away from the behaviors that we understand to be unhealthy.

If a single, teenage girl comes to us pregnant, we love and support her, but at the same time we acknowledge that her circumstances will make her life very difficult. We would help her to carry on in light of her current situation, but we would also discourage her from behaving in a way that would cause a recurrence of the circumstances.

If someone battling anorexia came to us, our hearts would break, and we would work hard to help this person overcome the behaviors and the emotional distortions in their life that are so destructive.

Yes, we would love these people, but because we would also see their lives in terms of their need for healing; we would not want to see them unchanged. Like it or not, this is a judgement call. We don’t like to feel as though we are judging, but we do it all of the time when it comes to other problems. Yes, we love and support the people in those circumstances, but we are much more comfortable saying, “This is not what God had in mind for anyone.”

Finally, here’s my concern where homosexuality is concerned. If this is not what God had in mind for any of us, we need to be able to say it, otherwise, we will never be able to help people heal and grow.

Consider this, if someone were to come to us and say, “I have struggled with this all of my life and I want to be free,” would we respond with little more than, “we don’t judge you, God loves us all”? One of the questions that a person in such circumstances would want to have answered is this, “Is it sin? Should I even want to be free?” I think that we need to be able to say that we have thought about it and prayed about it, and “Here’s what we think God has said to us…”