2 People of the Same Sex Can Live in a Committed, Loving Relationship with the Blessing of God

PART 2 (page 17 of 34)
We All Live by The Same Rules
Two People of the Same Sex Can Live in a Committed, Monogamous, Loving Relationship with the Blessing of God
The Homophobic Agenda

And as was mentioned in my story “A Gay Christmas Carol” I believe that God doesn’t have different criteria or rules for homosexuals than He does for heterosexuals. Love is Love and He allows and wants all His children to have that Love in their lives and to have the opportunity to share their lives with someone they are attracted to, be it someone of the opposite sex or the same sex. Most everybody [including people of straight, bisexual, and gay orientations (1)] needs to be loved and to have someone to love him or her back, therefore in that framework I believe that same-sex love is the spiritual and moral equivalent of opposite-sex love for heterosexuals. Homosexual acts, therefore, are not to be evaluated in isolation, or viewed simply as categories of behavior to be approved or condemned. Rather, they must be considered contextually, in terms of the quality of the relationship they express. They must be judged, in other words, by precisely the same criteria that are applied to their heterosexual counterparts: whether (or to what extent) they are genuinely consensual and non-exploitative . . .characterized by mutual commitment, faithfulness and intended permanence. (2)

The Roman Catholic Doctrine and Our Response
And even though Catholics sometimes understand that homosexuality is not a choice and morally neutral in and of itself, they still shout to the world that "Homosexual persons are called to chastity" but the truth is that celibacy (chastity) is a special and rare gift and God is not so cruel to demand gays or lesbians to be celibate anymore than he expects straights to be celibate. Remember that their Priests are supposed to be celibate too, and look how that has worked out, ha-ha. It is hardly realistic to expect that all gays and lesbians who would follow Christ are capable of accepting the discipline of life long emotional and erotic abstinence and, moreover, that it is anything but compassionate to demand of them, as evangelical theologian Helmut Thielicke puts it, "a degree of harshness and rigor which one would never think of demanding" of heterosexual Christians. As Bruce Bawer writes in A Place At The Table, "What kind of compassion is it . . . that leaves the object of that compassion no means of living honorably with his situation other than that of leading a tortured, empty, loveless life? . . . Gay Christians simply cannot conceive of a God who would bless them with the ability to love and yet demand that they spend their lives alone." (3) And for those of you who feel that heterosexual marriage is an option for homosexuals, click Here.

And I concur. The God that I love and worship doesn't require homosexuals to live a life without the satisfaction and fulfillment of romantic love. And He definitely wouldn't deny to the homosexual the basic human need to experience sex and sexual intimacy any more than He would deny that experience to the heterosexual because as the term implies, these needs when they are met, make up the foundation of good physical and mental health. Remember that there is much more at stake in such lifelong celibacy than mere sexual abstinence. Also to be renounced is the entire complex web of intimacy, self-revelation, mutual help, familiar connection and emotional union which make up the coupled state. And for most people, it is in the context of the coupled state that the individual's natural tendency to selfishness is whittled away and supplanted by a focus on the needs of others in the day to day reality of marriage and family life. Denying gays and lesbians the possibility of such coupled intimacy, cuts them off from a key means of God's transforming work in the human heart. (4) Click Here to read more on this issue under the heading "The Anti-Gay Religious Right's Really Cruel and Idiotic Argument."

The Fallacy of Love the Sinner, but Hate the Sin or Hate the Sin, But Love the Sinner
Continuing with this line of thought brings us to another danger lurking in the doctrine of a majority of conservative evangelical Christian churches, all fundamentalist and charismatic Christian Churches and the Catholic Church in particular (Click Here and you will see listed the names of the ever growing number of Gay Friendly Churches [5,916 churches at the end of December, 2009] in the United States under the heading "Fifth Reason"). And that is “Oh, we very much love the homosexual, but we hate the sin.” or "Jesus loves you and so do we, as long as you don't love someone of the same sex." That is so against everything that Jesus himself taught in terms of the ideas and attitudes He expressed and the life He lived because it is so cruel and hateful. First of all, homosexuality is not a sin and therefore it is not "one of the results of the Fall of man". Two people of the same sex can live in a committed, monogamous, loving relationship with the blessing of God because none of the Bible Verses which talk about same-sex sexual behavior deal with that issue, as I have pointed out throughout this website. The writers of the Bible had no concept of long term committed, monogamous, loving relationships between two men or two women.

I agree completely with My former Pastor*, the Reverend Dr. Laurence Keene [Christian Church-Disciples of Christ], when he says the following in the documentary, For The Bible Tells Me So, "My theological belief is that all loving relationships are honored by God. I do not believe that the Bible speaks against loving committed homosexual relationships."

And secondly, remember that homosexual couples are simply two people who love each other. The first couple who were married on June 16, 2008 when marriage for homosexuals became temporarily legal in California were two women in their 80’s, Phyllis Lyon, 84, and Del Martin, 87, who had been together for 55 years - and the subsequent 18,000 plus homosexual marriages that took place for the 4 and a half months (from June 16, 2008 to November 4, 2008) that they were legal speak to the same testimony - of couples, men or women who have been together for decades and now want to make it legal and official. Aren’t these clear indications that these pairs are together because they love each other, and are not temporary flings by people driven by lust looking for unbridled sexual pleasure? Love that is the real thing can never be wrong. [I hated the accordion, ha-ha]

Won't They Ever Give Up Trying to Cause Us More Misery?
Another point in regards to celibacy that seems to show that these Legalistic Christians fundamentally refuse to take gay people and their lives seriously is that many of them like the Roman Catholics say that there is nothing wrong with being attracted to your own sex, but it is a sin to act on it. They say that the celibate lifestyle for the homosexual is necessary because it is his or her call to "costly discipleship" for a true homosexual Christian. Whoa! In other words these people are saying that God allows people to be born with (or through circumstances beyond their control to acquire) homosexual feelings, but they're never supposed to act on them. That comes across as meaning that, "it's ok for us heterosexuals to act on our attractions, but not you". Another implication of what they say is that for homosexuals, God meant for them to spend their lives in loneliness and despair, never to experience romantic love with someone they are attracted to and want to share their lives with. They seem to think that Genesis 2:18 (NLT) [And the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him] applies to only heterosexuals. To limit the meaning of "companion" to woman or the opposite sex is to me, intellectually dishonest. It is such attitudes that lead gay young people to give up on life completely and commit suicide, because they see no hope or love in their futures, the exact same feelings that Bobby Griffith expressed in his diaries before he jumped off that bridge. And these are the young people that this Website is dedicated to.

And attempts to make a moral distinction between the homosexual condition and the specific acts that flow from and express that condition are only well-meaning casuistry or religious rationalization. As Bruce Bawer puts it in A Place At The Table: To recognize homosexual orientation as naturally occurring and morally neutral, while insisting that acting upon that orientation is, in every instance and without exception, abnormal, unnatural, and perverse, makes no sense. If homosexual "behavior" comes as naturally to gays as heterosexual "behavior" comes to straight people, then how can heterosexual sex in marriage be seen as a blessing, a virtue, and a force for good, while homosexual sex within a committed, long-term relationship be seen as an evil, deviant urge that must be resisted? (5)

And remember that five times in Genesis 1 it says that “God saw that it was good” after each of the principle stages of His creation of Man and his universe. If God created us and if everything he created is good, how can a gay person be guilty of being anything more than what God created him or her to be?

"The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and richness to life that nothing else can bring.” ~ Oscar Wilde ...

Immoral Homosexual Agenda? Immoral Gay Agenda?
Why is it that when the Anti-Gay Religious Right voices their spiritual values, they call them a “Christian Moral Vision,” whereas when we voice our spiritual values, they call them an “Immoral Homosexual or Gay Agenda”? Watch out when they start using the phrase, "gay agenda", because these are same homophobes that say that the anti-discrimination and hate crime laws that are in place to protect the vulnerable members of the LGBT community are giving us "special rights". Those code phrases, "gay agenda" and "special rights" just mean that these loonies believe that all us in the LGBT community "choose" our sexual orientation. Actually these people choose their religious beliefs over all the evidence accumulated since the Holy Bible was written, information that God has lovingly provided us. Nobody, least of all me, wakes up one morning and thinks, "I have a great idea, I think I'd like to become a member of a detested minority." Hello! So their belief structure is built on sand, instead of rock - religious doctrine instead of science, respected medical opinion and just everyday God-given common sense, observation and experience.

And you know, to me it is their "values" which have the ring of a man-made agenda since God never intended that His Message to all of us be so twisted in such an unloving way. In fact, some have likened the Anti-Gay Agenda to the Homophobic Agenda. [Continue reading below for more thoughts on the Homophobic Agenda.] As I understand it, the heterosexual and the homosexual agenda is wrapped up into what is quoted at least nine times (6) in the Old and New Testaments: Love your neighbor as yourself. Nowhere does is say or imply, "love your neighbor, unless he or she happens to be homosexual.(7)"

The Homophobic Agenda

The late Rev. Dr. Rembert Truluck, author of "Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse," wrote the following in regard to his view of what he called "The Homophobic Agenda." Here below are some excerpts:

The agenda of the homophobic organizations and movements today is emerging with greater clarity every day. The first principle of homophobia is the use of fear based on distortions of the facts, the invention of bogus statistics, citing discredited scholars and other "experts," misrepresenting the truth about sexual orientation, and ignoring the position papers and statements supporting homosexual rights by all of the professional medical, psychiatric, psychological, legal and educational associations in the United States. . . . .

One basic principle of the homophobic agenda is the use of misinformation and bogus statistics to try to convince people that homophobia is sound reasonable thinking. It is not.

Religion is the primary tool of the homophobic agenda. The Bible is cited as the absolute rule and requirement for right thinking about everything, and the varieties of scholarly translations and interpretations are completely ignored in favor of preaching and posturing based on highly questionable distortions and fabrications of biblical material. . . . .

Homophobia and the Ex-gay Fraud
The "ex-gay" industry has become the primary everyday tool of the homophobic agenda. The Southern Baptist Convention and the growing rash of family research and protection organizations promote and even demand that the bogus claims of the "ex-gay" industry be accepted as fact and supported with financial contributions and a daily supply of living victims to be sacrificed to this modern version of the worship of Moloch in biblical times.

Homophobia as Idolatry
Whenever anything other than God is made absolute, the result is idolatry. The homophobic agenda demands blind obedience to ignorance and misinformation that replaces God with human error and the Holy Spirit with misguided human opinions. The real Jesus is replaced with a fake Christ who goes along with homophobia just as obediently as the Pharisees and Hypocrites at the time of Jesus went along with idolatrous legalisms that were destroying the people in the name of God. As always, read Matthew 23 to see again what Jesus had to say about this powerful abusive form of religion.

Seeping Poison
The homophobic religious establishment led by the Roman Catholic Church, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Mormons and various "save the family and marriage" sects like Focus on the Family and Family Research Council along with individuals like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Lou Shelton spew a constant stream of the lies and distortions of the homophobic agenda into every level of American culture. The homophobic virus is infecting everybody within reach.

Professional sports, local state and national governments, arts and entertainment, publishing, broadcast news and the educational system all are being infected with the homophobic agenda that contaminates the very air we breathe. LGBT people are not immune. The growing presence of internal and horizontal homophobia within our own community and even in many personal relationships is a seeping poison that quickly becomes a rising flood of homophobic filth. . . . .

Homophobia Denies Jesus
"Perfect love casts out fear." "The love of God has been poured out in your hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to you." You do not need to be afraid anymore.

The churches have always ruled their people on the basis of fear. Fear of burning forever in hell, fear of falling into the crushing hands of an angry God, fear of dying unforgiven for your sins, and fear of who you yourself really are all make up parts of the arsenal of fear based control exercised by churches.

Recognize the homophobic agenda for what it really is: a blatant denial of Jesus and the mind of God that homophobic people pretend to proclaim and protect. Homophobia is a disease that must be resisted at all cost. Homophobia is the virus that kills far more LGBT people than AIDS or any other human illness.

Become informed. Know the facts. Challenge homophobia at its ignorant lying roots. Resist the lies that try to convince you that your sexual orientation is a mistake and that you are some kind of "abomination of God" because ignorant preachers say you are! . . . . .
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To read this enlightening article by the late Dr. Truluck in its entirety Click Here. Though Dr. Rembert S. Truluck passed away at the age of 74 in 2008 his work through his website goes on. His book, Steps to Recover from Bible Abuse, has been put on his website which still carries on. His book was written as a response to the abusive use of the Bible against Gays and Lesbians and all others oppressed and alienated by Religion. These religious terrorists have distorted the BIBLE and used it to abuse and oppress Gays and to hold hostage the spirituality and sexuality of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender People! This web site is a weapon to fight back! Click Here to Enter. Some of the Chapters of his book/website are as follows:
The Bible and Homosexuality
Sexual Orientation and The Ex-Gay Fraud
Twelve Steps to Recovery
Legalism is Idolatry

Jesus and The Bible

Other interesting takes on the phenomenon known as The Homophobic Agenda:

Fundamentalist Christian Homophobes present themselves as a persecuted minority and appeal to lawmakers to get anti-homosexuality laws enforced to protect them and their families. Don't laugh as this is happening as we speak, or read.
http://ovidiayu.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/the-homophobic-agenda/

One of the fallacies most loved by homophobes everywhere is the idea that sex is intrinsically linked to reproduction. Those things can't be separated, they insist. The only reason for sex to exist is so that people can reproduce. Sex between two men or women can't lead to reproduction. Therefore, this kind of sex is anti-natural. This idea is pure hogwash. Click on the following link to find out why. http://ipower.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-homophobic-agenda-and-the

What's really dumb about this that I saw written on a sign in London?: Homophobia is a crime, report it! Click on this link to find out what the problem is: http://zodiblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/the-homophobic-agenda/

Gary Lynn's Personal Testimony
In any case, I can say right here in all honesty and humility that I try to live my life every day (including what I write on this website) so that at any moment I am ready to meet my Lord and Savior, face to face. Yes, I am ready to be judged with all my sins and often lack of faith exposed, whenever He deems it time that my life here on this earth is over.

Sin is Sin
On the other hand, Sin is Sin; therefore He punishes homosexual lust and abuse just like he punishes heterosexual lust and abuse. This means that the sex that goes on between two strangers in gay bathhouses is most likely sinful, just like what goes on between heterosexuals at the "Moonlite Bunny Ranch" (a brothel) outside of Carson City, Nevada is most likely sinful. Neither homosexuals nor heterosexuals get preferential treatment. We all live by the same rules. I have the utmost confidence in God’s ability to distinguish between true love and love that is based only on sexual attraction where two people just use each other for their own selfishness. Yes, some homosexuals do this, but so do many more heterosexuals because, hey, there are so many more of them, ha-ha.

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Footnotes:
(1) For the sake of fairness those who identify themselves as Transsexuals should definitely be included here too, but that subject is beyond the scope of this website. Just because I saw the movie Boys Don't Cry doesn't make me an expert on this subject, ha-ha.
(2) Holben, L. R. What Christians Think about Homosexuality - Six Representative Viewpoints, North Richland Hills, Texas, BIBAL Press, 1999, page 153.
(3) Ibid, page 116
(4) Ibid, page 118 and 119.
(5) Ibid, page 119.

(6) Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 19:19, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33, Luke 10:27, Romans 13:9, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8.
(7) From the Sermon, "Is Homosexuality a Sin?" by by Rev. Dr. Kathlyn James.

*The Reverend Dr. Laurence Keene, or as he likes to be called, Larry, was pastor to me and the youth group I was working with for about 4 years up to 1977 (when I moved to Mexico) at the historic Little Brown Church of the Valley in Studio City, California which is part of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. This is the small church founded by John Wells in 1940 that is famous for the 25,000 weddings it has performed, including that of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. It is associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). [Note from Gary Lynn: What is kind of funny is that at the time I went there I mistakenly thought that it was a church connected with the Independent Christian Churches (Churches of Christ). Unlike the Independent Christian Churches which believe that homosexuality is a sin, the Disciples are officially divided on the issue and seemingly are OK with working together in this disagreement; some of their churches welcome homosexuals into their congregations and treat them the same as their heterosexual members and some treat homosexuality as a sin. Both the Independent and the Disciples congregations claim the Stone-Campbell merger in 1832 as their roots.]