A New Kind of Christianity by Brian McLaren

Author:Brian McLaren
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Religon
ISBN: 9781444721973
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2010-10-09T10:00:00+00:00

PART VII:

THE SEX QUESTION

17

Can We Find a Way to Address Human Sexuality Without Fighting About It?

I don’t want to be closed-minded or judgmental, but in good conscience I simply can’t approve of the lifestyle. I believe it’s a choice, although upbringing and genetics may have a role. Freedom has limits—one limit being where others are hurt by a chosen lifestyle. And this lifestyle, there can be no mistake, is hurting a lot of people. Families are being torn apart by it, and churches too. There is absolutely no question about God’s opinion on this lifestyle if we begin with the Bible. This orientation and the behaviors associated with it are thoroughly condemned, especially by Jesus. He was compassionate toward all kinds of people, but he had an absolute and uncompromising commitment to confront and expose one group: those who dishonor themselves and others by engaging in this lifestyle and its practices.

When people choose this lifestyle, they often cut themselves off from everyone who doesn’t agree with them. They end up being assimilated and absorbed in closed communities where only their own voices and views are heard, and everyone who disagrees is mocked and condemned, often with very strong language. Some, after giving themselves over completely to the lifestyle, have a crisis of conscience. But when they want to leave, their leaders and peers depict their changing perspective as a betrayal and pressure them to stay, often using fear tactics to intimidate them and keep them in their gated community. Special ministries have formed to help people exit the lifestyle, recover from the abuse and pain the community has been known to impose, and be reoriented to a healthier life and perspective. But even with professional therapy, many people feel they have been wounded for life by their years in this lifestyle.

Advocates of this lifestyle are eager to recruit others into their “love,” as they call it. Through various organizations, they raise huge sums of money to recruit youth and children into their chosen way of life, and they have been extremely adept at using media—radio, TV, and now the Internet—to gain an aura of credibility and legitimacy. They organize huge events and mass rallies to celebrate their growing clout and demonstrate that they are proud of who they are and what they stand for. Everyone knows how much influence they have in our political system, and how one political party in particular panders for their votes. But look at the countries where this lifestyle runs rampant, and you’ll get an idea what our nation will be like if some of us don’t have the courage to stand up and speak up. Wherever this lifestyle spreads, a whole host of social problems inevitably follows.

Yes, activists may use the word “love” to justify their behavior, but those who disagree with them are seldom treated with love. Many of us have already faced the scorn of the activists who promote this chosen lifestyle and defend it as legitimate and even godly. For doing so, we have received hate mail peppered with a wide range of threats and abusive speech.

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