Excellent post. Truly the best I’ve seen on this subject in at least a while.
The “ex gay movement” could benefit from adoption of what you point out here. That, and embracing, at least as possibility, living a celibate life.
In our sex-obsessed anti-culture, sadly many are led to believe if not outright told your life has no worth if you aren’t having sex. Also, the social momentum to keep sex confined to marriage still carries some weight if not as much as it should.
This is why I personally believe the “gay marriage” push has gained so much ground. There is no option available for those afflicted with same-sex attraction (either from genetic predisposition or environmental influence it makes no difference it’s still an affliction)
We are all given crosses to bear. For those with such an affliction celibacy may indeed be the best route. The human being is not defined by his sexuality, or even his sexual “needs”. It’s our perverse anti-culture that demands otherwise.
There is nothing wrong with living celibate as a vocation. The Bible says so. This should be an option for people with same sex attraction, instead of implying or outright saying to them “you just need to get married to a woman, then you’ll see how wrong homosexuality is”. If celibacy were offered as an option, from a Christian perspective, I think the lives of many more homosexuals would be changed for the better. Because the fact of the matter is, many find the idea of sex with a member of the opposite sex as repulsive as we do homosexual acts.
The loving option of celibacy frees them from that burdensome choice.
Well said, and thanks. I would add that celibacy is the way to go regarding all sorts of sexual sin.
Thanks for your lovely reply. I knew a person who made this exact choice and lived his life as a conservative Christian although the attraction never totally left him. He was a political journalist with strong conservative views. He passed away a couple of years back but he spent his life trying to serve the Lord. Our Prime Minister and many famous conservatives in Australia attended his funeral. I could not have changed him and he did not want to lie to people and tell them he no longer suffered under the sway of attraction but in all that he tried to remain obedient to the Lord.
Putting on a Sunday smile does not remove people’s problems - I think we all need to get a bit real about ourselves and then maybe those outside the church might find us less hypocritical.
Bless you and others on this thread for taking what I said in the right spirit!