Happiness, fun and homosexuality

Once again I am provoked by a FB post to blog on another topic.  Does that make me a reactionary? :D

Okay so what about wanting to be happy and wanting to have fun.  In one sense this doesn't sound to bad, it almost sounds plausible.  But I do not think that these statements cannot stand as axioms for life.  Am I apposed to people being happy or to having fun?  Of course not!, But I do think there needs to be some sort of  caveat to go with it; something that says fun or happiness has some sort of conditions or limits on it.

So what is happiness.  I think in its basic form happiness is "I get to do what I like doing."  I am happy when I am watching a good movie, I am happy when my wife is kind and supportive (which nowadays, by the way, is most of the time).  I am happy when I have money to purchase the things I want to have.  I am happy when the sun shines, the temperature is mild and the pollen count is low.  Happiness is conditional.

In the constitution we are guaranteed the right to pursue happiness.  Which is the say that we all have the right to work to pursue some form of happiness (likely in its day it had a different meaning than it holds today).  However the Constitution does not guarantee that I will be happy or that it's the government's job to ensure I am happy.  My happiness is my business.  Other people are not responsible to insure that I will be made happy.  Sometimes others will in fact be unhappy when the right thing or the moral thing is required.  I doubt that many people nowadays are happy about paying taxes, yet it is necessary for a government to govern.  Jesus recognized that when he told the Pharisees that one should render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's.  In a way he was saying, "As much as you would like to keep all that you earn for yourself, it isn't possible.  You need to pay the government their taxes (even if they are an oppressive one - which is what the Jews thought of Rome) and you must pay tithe or temple tax so that the church may continue serve the spiritual and physical needs of the people of God.

If children had their way, they would never have to do chores or homework, they would never have to eat anything that is "good for them" and they would be able to play as many games and watch as much TV as they cared to.  But parents know that children most learn some sense of responsibility.  Although there are some who are parents who have not learned this lesson for themselves.  When a parent puts a child on time out or when parent withholds privileges that child is not happy.  Is that wrong? Of course not!  Children do not know what they need (what they must learn to do and not do); initially all they know is what they want or don't want.  I cannot think of anytime I was happy to do the dishes when I was a child but now as an adult, I am happy to see all the dishes cleaned and put away when I come into the kitchen in the morning..  But we should know that parent(s) and the child are not always both able to be happy at the same time.  When a parent says no to a child, it is often because they know that the thing the child thinks they would be happy with, the parent realizes would be harmful to the child's character or physical well being.  We cannot always have what we want.

So then what is fun?  I think fun relates more to our sense of pleasure.  When we do something it gives us some sort of pleasurable feed back.  I think both fun and happiness are related and that the line between them is a fuzzy one.  But back to fun. Sometimes I have heard the response of a person to being warned off doing something to be, "But it's fun"  I must say that being fun cannot be an axiom or criteria for the primary reason to do something.  This NOT me saying that we cannot have fun.  I am just saying that something being fun cannot be the most important criteria for the reason for doing something nor does it legitimise the activity.  Some things are inherently fun and are designed to be fun.  That's okay.  Some things that are meant to be fun can be made un-pleasurable by the circumstances surrounding the activity in question but being "fun" in and of itself does not make something right or needed to be carried out.

So how do we judge an activity or a state of being if not by fun or happiness?  Well I don't really think that is what I am saying.  I think a visit to Disney Land/World should be fun.  I don't think that we should have fun at someone else's expense.  Bullies have fun bullying but they make the lives of those that they bully miserable.  Luckily I escaped being bullied and as far as I know and I never played the part of a bully.  Obviously when we cause someone harm so as to have fun, that is wrong.  But there are times that when we do the right thing that not everyone will be happy with us.

But what happens when world views collide?  What do I do when someone else demands that I change the rules for how I understand the world works because they say that my way is preventing someone else from being happy.  I think there will always be the "No way José" response for some and for others, not wanting to offend, they will quickly surrender their point of view.  I'm in the group that says, "Wow, wait a second is this really something that needs to be changed?"

200 years ago, many people saw nothing wrong with enslaving people based upon skin color or national origin. They saw profit in the subjugation of other races and even found reason from a biblical position (wrongly I would add) for doing so.  So when abolitionist came along and said "Hey slavery was wrong, it must be stopped!"(and by the way abolitionist were devout Christians) there were some deeply entrenched in owning and selling slaves who thought this was crazy.  "How dare you try to turn our world view upside down?"  This happened again for women in their bid to gain equal rights (which they are still struggling for) and yet again with the civil rights movement; led by a prominent Christian Preacher - Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.  His argument that people of all colors should have equal rights touched many people's hearts and his use of nonviolence further validated his cause.

So here we are in the 21st century and we have homosexuals saying they have the same rights as anyone to marry whom they want.  They say that we are denying them happiness and their rights by not legalizing same-sex marriage.  I admit that on one side the argument seems to have some validity.  But I think it is based upon a false premise.  The premise is that they are born that way, much as a black person or a Hispanic is born with darker skin, homosexuals claim as do some scientist and psychologist that they are born that way.  Therefore they see any laws preventing them from doing what straight people are allowed to do, is completely wrong;  much as racial prejudice is wrong. Or so goes the argument.

So do homosexuals need to be married as straight couples are to be happy?  Obviously they think they do, but yet there are so many legal options that are available to them.  They can enter into a legal union as recognized by the state.  They can put their possessions and estates into non-transferable trusts.  So there are (as far as I understand) legal actions they can take to validate and protect their estates to ensure that marriage would offer.  So do we really need to change the definition of marriage from a man and a woman to any two humans.  I have to say no but this doesn't give me the right to be hateful and even angry about homosexuals wanting some recognition as people.

I don't believe that homosexuals are born that way, yet still I don't believe that it is merely a choice (although recent changes in the law of some states make this more likely to be the case).  Homosexual's claims that they have always felt that way says their is something deep in their psyche at work.  I think if I was suffering such strange urges it would be very unsettling.  I would look at nature and the function of sexual organs, and I would know something is a miss. But where does one turn for help?  Unfortunately with the current trends in psychology, homosexuality is seen as normal and psychologists try to help people come to terms with it rather finding a way out of it.  It seems like a kind thing to do, but would you do that for a child-molester, for a drug addict or a sociopath?  These people also have urges that stem from deep seated problems or even failures to mature as a human.  We want to help these folks, but for homosexuals, some want to validate them.  The truth is that psychology has failed in some respects to effectively deal with these issues.  They can identify, but not cure and to add to it, homosexuals don't want to be cured they want acceptance.

I am left with "Love never fails."  I think that what we need to do is to love homosexuals as people created in the image of our God.  We need to introduce them to Jesus and trust that He will change them through his Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  We cannot help people by merely arguing with them and we cannot help them by demanding they conform to God's or our standards.  We need engage them, talk to them, help them wrestle with the deep things of life and faith.  We don't need to condemn them.  Unfortunately very few people I know in the faith are equipped, ready,and prepared for giving such loving help.

Christ's ways are the ways of love.  Love seeks the better of the other.  Love does not react out of fear or hatred.  Loving someone doesn't mean you have to agree with them or accept their lifestyle choices, but it does mean that you try to see who God has made them to be and introduce them to the One who can redeem even the most reprobate sinner.

So is sticking with the current model of man-woman marriage denying homosexuals happiness? I don't think so.  Is it denying them a validation of their life style? Yes.  Do we as a society need to validate same sex marriage?  No, there are other avenues available.  We won't lower age of consent for sex to appease or decriminalize pedophiles even though many societies recognize the threshold of adulthood to be 12 years of age so why try to appease this group who wants to redefine marriage.  I apologize if I have offended you by making this comparison, but there are currently advocates for child sex who are even writing books to encourage other pedophiles.  Its seems here we are on the edge of a very slippery slope.  Some are pushing others are trying to hold this back.

I know this article has moved to a very emotional and political point, but it all comes back to this.  Do we have to give in to other's wishes just because they say something is fun or that it would make them happy?  I think we have to weigh such requests carefully and neither dismiss them out of hand nor just cave in to someone else's desires.

Being a Christian can be fun and as Christians we can be happy in participating in the faith life of the community of Christ.  But we need to realize that neither happiness nor fun are in and of themselves true criteria for determining what is right.  And condemning something because it is seen as "fun" is just as pointless.  Weigh all things in the light of God's Word and God's Holy Spirit.  Trust that God will help you enjoy this life that He has given you.  Trust that even in the things that are not fun or that do not make you happy, that there is room for God to move and bring about what is right and true.

So who am I called to be?

With all the chatter about gay marriage and those for and against it, I thought it was time I stated my purpose as a child of God and how I might address such issues.

For me first and foremost I am a "Disciple of Jesus Christ" who is called to be a "Minister of Reconciliation." To that end I take the words of Jesus to heart which says that He did not come into the world to condemn it.  He came to seek and save the lost, to heal the sick, to free the captive, to bind up the brokenhearted and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.  His life on earth demonstrated God's love for sinners.  Granted He didn't say continue sinning, but Christ came sharing about the Kingdom of God to those who the religious leaders had rejected.  These leaders had turned faith in to a laborious task in keeping all the minutia of The Law.  These men demanded things of people that God had not intended.  Jesus hung out with tax collectors drunkards, the unclean and even prostitutes.  He didn't do it to say they should stay that way, but he came to call them back to God.  The people who didn't like Christ were the super religious who thought they had the answer to all the world's ills and didn't approve of Jesus methods.

Yes I know that Jesus, like John before him, preached "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand."  I think that this is meant for all those who knew they were sinning and just needed a push to admit it and turn from it.  But others are trapped in their sin.  They may be deceived into thinking what they are doing is not all that wrong; that is really isn't sin. Or they believe that they cannot give up their way of life, for reasons such as addiction, brokenness or fear of a life without their sin.

Jesus hung out with sinners, isn't that what I should do?  Not to take up their habits, but to show them that God still loves them.  To demonstrate that they are not hopeless, but if fact it is God's desire to forgive them, heal them and bring them into the Kingdom of God/Heaven.  I am further encouraged by the words of the Apostle Paul who said that he became all things to all men that he might save a few.  I don't think he meant he should enter into the sin of those he was reaching out to, but he worked to understand the culture that they came from and found common ground to talk about the things of God.  So if I am going to speak to people, like Republicans, Democrats, Tea Party members, conservatives, liberals and moderates, then I have to work to find some common ground; to find out where they are coming from.  I don't agree with all the positions of any of these people, but I am willing to talk to them about God's love for them.  I will even talk to atheists and homosexuals - not to beat them over the head with my rhetoric, but to demonstrate the reality of God's love that is at work in me.

When the Apostle Paul talked on Mars Hill he didn't attack the Greeks for their obvious idolatry and sexual sins (temple prostitutes and such), rather he found common ground to talk about his love for the God of the Universe.  Not everyone agreed with him, but that was okay, he made inroads into the culture.  Like Paul we need to find ways to talk to (not down to) materialists, liberals, conservatives, tattooed and pierced folks in such a way that shows that God is alive and at work in us.  They don't need our finger waving in their faces.  I believe there is a place for correction, but I believe it should be mainly confined to the church, but even still done out of love and not out of anger, hatred or self-righteousness.

When I received my call to serve God it was from 2 Timothy 4 staring in the 2nd verse.  Part of the calling deals with correcting, rebuking and encouraging people with careful instruction because the time is coming (and I believe it is already here) when people will not listen to sound doctrine but will gather around them people who tell them what they want to hear.  They are not interested in the truth, they only want to hear that they are right.  So I am cautious to try to not just tell people what they want to hear, but I really try to exercise my gifts tempered by God's love (1 Cor. 13).  My temperament is such that I work hard to give the other person the benefit of the doubt where possible.  I know the human heart is darkened by all kinds of wrong desires, like the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.  Some people are not easily dissuaded from their chosen paths.  They know what they want and they are just so sure of themselves.  Sometimes you just have to shake off the dust and move on.  But I believe God has given me this outlet here in my blog to touch peoples heart with bit of God's love.

I am a realist and I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I am also pragmatic in that I am willing to enter into a conversation with anyone who is willing to share and willing to listen.  I know what I believe and I don't see myself giving up what I know to be true.  But I am willing to enter into a discussion with someone who may not agree with me.  Some people just want to label me as a religious nut or a homophobe, but really do you think I will listen to you and give you any credit if all you do is attack my belief system.  I have already done the "I don't trust religious people or God" thing.  I think I might actually understand some of your reasons for being an atheist, agnostic doubter.

I see my job as someone who encourages Christians to work on their relationship with God, to cultivate fruit of the Spirit (Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control NRSV) and to demonstrate the tangible love of God - in other words become a good disciple of Christ.  I realize that the body calls for all kinds of gifts and talents so some of you may not have the same approach as me.  I take the words of Jesus to heart where is says "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God."  I am here to help reconcile people to God. and God has not given me a big stick to do so but rather a merciful temperament.   I see my self reaching out to both Christians and those who don't like Christians working to bring peace, reconciliation and love.

So regardless of which side of the fence you are on, I will continue to both reach out and to share my insights.  I have a calling to answer to so I will not always say what you want to hear, but I will say what I believe that the Spirit of God is revealing to me.

Blessings,
Preacher Al

Homophobia, Liberals and Hate

The other day a friend on Facebook posted a photo with an actor stating more or less that a better name for homophobes is a__holes.  I think this same quote was also ascribed to a homosexual Star Trek actor.  I cannot speak to the veracity of either claim as to who said it, but to me it is just another form of bullying.  I think it is true for both many conservatives and liberals that when they encounter someone with opposing views on life, they try to disenfranchise or dis-empower them by labeling them.

By labeling people we say "I am not going to deal with you, I am just going to pigeonhole you and degrade you"  So in my book if you say "God hates fags" or label people as "homophobes or a__holes" you are one more of those in the world causing pain.  You disagree with them (Because you think you are right) and then you attack them with labels in attempt to degrade them.  I support neither of the camps mentioned above.  I don't believe "God hates fags" is a godly response to sin.  I do believe that homosexuality is a sin as are many of the current popular attitudes to sex and money.  But as a Christian, my response to these kinds of people is to be loving.  Now loving them doesn't mean I approve of their choices, it just means I value the person because they were created in the image of God.

I hate sin of all kinds.  I especially hate the sin that creeps into my life in the form of pride or justification of my wrong attitudes, motives and actions.  I hate the effect sin has on people but I am bound by Christ to love sinners.  Some sin tastes sweet in the beginning, but it's life long effects is often devastating.  Other kinds of sin are obviously wrong.  Often times sin in our lives is obvious to those around us, but we want to be comfortable with it; we want others to accept it.  Other times we know it is sin, and work very hard to hide it.  But sin won't remain hidden.  Sin finds a way out and then we are discovered in it.  Sometimes the discovery seems like a relief.  But the relief should never be confused with the idea that the sin is okay.

Now some of my brothers and sisters seem to think that morals or morality is the solution; just keep the rules and everything will be alright.  But I see morality as the outcome of our relationship with our Savior-Redeemer.  As we grow close in relationship to our Creator - Savior God, we don't want anything interfering with that divine relationship.  That is why God hates sin; it damages the relationship between Creator and his creation.

I hope you don't get stuck on the issue (one side or the other) of homosexuality.  In our current culture it is a very provocative topic but to me its is just one of the many forms of sin that entangle us.  I try not to make it any greater than greed, lying, hate, fornication, infidelity or sloth.  We are all sinners needing the redeeming power of The Cross of Jesus.  We all need to come to a place that says, you know, I am blowing it and I need to start afresh.

Calling people fags or homophobes isn't going to change them.  It is just going to cause anger or rebellion rise up in them.  Shaming people is rarely effective in getting them to change their minds.   It is the Holy Spirit's job to convict people of sin and righteousness.  Our job as Christians is to demonstrate the reality of the Love of God in how we treat one another and how we treat our neighbors.

There are so  many labels that people use to pigeonhole other people.  Sometimes this used it to attack someone's race using words like nigger, spic, chink, gook, or even honky.  Sometimes we use labels to attack someone faith - bible-thumper, holy roller, frozen chosen  heretics or fanatic.  We use words like liberal or conservative as if they were curses.  We have words that we use to denigrate people of the other sex and different personality 'make ups.  Personally I believe that all these labels do nothing more than demean the divinity of humans.

I firmly believe that we are all created in God's image but we live in a broken world.  As God's children, our job is to bring God's love to bare in every corner.  Not in rhetoric or with mere words, but with actions.  Mother Teresa got it and there are others I know who are getting it.  God is love and as his children we are called to love the unlovable and to even love those we don't like.

The apostle James said that it is not right that we both curse humans (made in the image of God) and praise God from the same mouth.  So, let us put off this need to label and attack others and instead glorify God our Creator and look for ways to see the divine in and love our sinful neighbors.

Blessings,
Alan