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Now see, that was beautiful.

Here are three thoughts:

First, I believe in my heart of hearts that the corruption of children as a means for intentionally furthering the homosexual lifestyle, while most probably NOT non-existant...is probably a minor (less than 10%), phenomenon...and yes, it is wrong, criminal and sinful.

Second, I am not a Baptist. If I were, I could quote chapter and verse of both the old and the new testament. I am a Catholic as well and we are notoriously bad at remembering the Bible. As a result, I am left with the emotional impression which is the reflection of collective reading. As I learned Paul and reflected on his life, I found him the embodiment of the old adage “Converts make the biggest zealots.”

Paul does nothing half way...and in the process, while he is bold, he certainly does not bring to Christ the love of the little children that Christ deeply admired. I believe in Paul’s zeal, is a loss of both nuance and subtle understanding. He delivers the bold buttresses of a cathedral, yet Christ taught us that you can make a church with children, a rock and an open field.

Third, I know this is hard to believe or fathom or grasp regarding this passage:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I have met loving gay couples who exemplify this passage and in one case, exemplified the passage more than any other couple, straight or gay, that I have ever met. I was truly amazed. They were not pedophiles. They sought not to corrupt or coopt children. They only sought to live within these words in a world which felt they were to debased to even have access to these words. I do not believe that Christ would condemn them nor curb their lives so they could not be fully lived at the same level as others.

No group of people is all bad. No segment of society should be ostricized because of the worse criminal nature of a small subset among them. Hard working black mothers and grandmothers struggle every day to raise their children on meager subsistance. They should not have their opportunities curbed to reflect the activity of inner city gangbangers whose use of drugs and violence predominates news reporting. Loving gay men and women who only seek to do a competent, professional job and live and love in freedom and peace, should not have their lives limited to the rights and access of the worst pedophile who may be a small subset of their world.

All I am saying is that these are things for us to think about and reflect on...

This is where my thinking diverges from yours:

You think you can judge the goodness of people and their intentions. I say only God can do that. People can always be deceived. You can never know what is truly in the hearts of others. Many have been fooled and no person is perfect. You can make an educated guess, but it is only your opinion.

Actions always have a moral component to them. I guess you can pick and choose those passages in the Bible which you decide are relevant, but then, can you really be called a Christian?

I do not believe in ostracizing anyone. On the contrary, I believe in treating everyone with compassion. I have homosexual relatives and would never be anything but kind to them. I would not approve of the relationships, though, and would always be civil unless they are disrespecting my family and beliefs. Everyone has a cross to bear, and I am not in the business of playing God.

St. Paul is awesome and his zeal and passion would not be lost on little children. They love drama. The Bible needs a balance—as do all people— and St. Paul provides it.

The loss of virtue is what causes most of the suffering in the world. Happiness can only come with the pursuit of virtue. We have free will and make our choice and need to be held accountable for those choices even on earth. God understands that and that is why he gave us the greatest blueprint for happiness.

Living in California and participating in the arts, I knew many gay people who never stayed with anyone in particular. They would have on/off boyfriends/girlfriends for awhile and then completely flake out. A Lesbian I’ve known for a few years ended up in the hospital because of a jealous lover who ran her over. One male that worked with my children ended up in San Quentin for molestation of several boys. (Although I liked him and he was extremely talented, entertaining and friendly, I never allowed him to be alone with my children.) The only gay people that were together for any length of time were ones who were over 50 and had no prospects of attracting younger partners. I worked with a man who died of AIDS in the early 90’s. I’ve known extremely nice gays—actually, all were extremely friendly except for one vile Lesbian whose hatred for men was truly disturbing. The sad thing though was that most were self-absorbed and their interests in life seemed exceedingly shallow. I would never classify any gay person I knew as particularly well-grounded, although their talents were pretty amazing.