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.
On the contrary...I think we are in agreement on most of what you wrote except, I am less likely to judge anyone at all and the last paragraph could be written about select examples from straight society as well.
Other than that, we are of one accord.
How ‘bout that?