How do you draw the line between getting over our differences as a species, as humans, and honestly conveying the very real consequences of acting on our "little differences"?

Do you know what terrifies me? That a single person has the power to sell our entire species in exchange for their own instant gratification.

Think I'm wrong? Consider the tower of babel. Who was that first person to promote the idea that men could surpass God?

It's within our nature to believe that we can counterbalance the actions of one person. So if one man damns the world, surely a single man can save it. But that's not true. Selfishness, vanity, greed - these traits are so easy to amplify. They reproduce at and unimaginable rate. Meanwhile, compassion, trust, honesty, modesty, charity - these traits are tenacious, shining through in those darkest moments...but in the dull light of an overcast afternoon where nothing is going quite right but nothing is going too terribly wrong, then where are these shining merits of the human soul? Hidden. Submerged in the undertow of oceans upon oceans of man's less noble features.

One man cannot redeem our whole race. It took a God to redeem us all.

So in my day to day, I get lost in the slights others give me, in my pride, in my despair, in my abject terror of what the world has the potential to become. And then I get one moment, just a glimmer, where I see a greater threat to us all than who you sleep with, what you lie about, and your views on hard work and socialism. In the situation I envision for that moment in time, we are all so completely past caring because the threat to us surpasses the threat we pose to one another. In that moment, I wonder if such is not the reason for great catastrophes - to give mortal men the opportunity to prove that they can, if motivated in the most vile of ways, finally see past their own agendas and help their fellow brethren even at the expense of their own comfort.

Many would argue that this perspective should promote wide-reaching tolerance of an individual's right to do whatever they wish and it harm none. Perhaps. I must return then to the Christian tenet that you cannot judge those who have not submitted to your judgement. If you didn't confess Christ and forge your personal relationship with Him, then I can't tell you how you're screwing it up BECAUSE THERE IS NO "IT" FOR YOU. Oh I believe there is an "it" even if you don't recognize it, but I can't go whipping you on "its" account. Even when you are permitted to explain to a fellow believer the error of their ways, you should be LOATHE to do it. I absolutely hate it. Why? Well, because I learned a long time ago that if I asked God for justice I'd soon find myself in the flames as well. So I don't want to tell you that you're jeopardizing your walk with God...if I do, I would really hope I'm being as unpretentious as is possible given the inherent superiority that such a situation just smacks of.

But in my mind, whether you confess it or not, you do have a relationship with God. That is the intent of your existence. And you are jeopardizing it. So how do I reconcile my conviction to save those that I can with my realization that no one saves anyone else, we only save ourselves by the Grace of God if we choose to see it? Well, enter my favorite parable: The Sower.

I may not be able to comment on your life and your choices, but I can certainly comment on my own. In this way, I have the opportunity to tell you a story about yourself, that is actually about me...because we are remarkably like creatures, humans. We tend to screw up in a fairly consistent manner.

I want to be able to say I have resolved my cognitive dissonance here, but I have not. Because whether I actively contribute to the perpetuity of the human race, I still feel an obligation to leave our successors with a decent world in which to attempt to survive. So then my dilemma is not quite so finite as what you do behind closed doors is your business and what I do there is mine...it's also our children's.

This cycle of logic feels like a nautilus shell of a rabbit hole. I don't have an answer. So I'm leaving my quandary out here for you to chew on as well.

Back after a year, Answering a Hard Question

 So it's been a while, but a recent series of exchanges with folks around me has prompted me to post here. The topic is a little out of character with the original purpose of this blog, but I needed to get this out there somewhere.

There's a relationship between some pretty controversial elements of faith and society that I feel compelled to discuss my understanding of. I'll give you a few simple words that each have a seemingly infinite level of complexity to them: God, Love, Homosexuality, Sin

Before I begin a discussion of my perception on these concepts, I want to share a set of verses that are used by some to justify a stance on homosexuality as one of THE most heinous sins a human can commit. This isn't your standard Leviticus fare where homosexuals "will surely be put to death."

Romans 1:21-32

I bring this up because it demonstrates a key misrepresentation that many Christians make: One sin is somehow better or worse than another. Let me establish a clearer understanding of sin and the scale of severity that our mortal logic-loving minds just cannot resist applying to it:

     Romans 3:23 states "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and James 2:10 states "for whoever the whole law shall keep, and shall stumble in one [point], he hath become guilty of all" - this is a frequent well to go to. I will get back to this in a minute.
     Mortal comprehension dictates that logically, telling your friend the little white lie that they look fantastic when they really do not cannot possibly be equivalent to murdering someone in cold blood.
     In John 19:11, Jesus states "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."

These three excerpts serve to represent three key elements of understanding sin:
1) According to Christian scripture, all sin leads to the same result - separation from God
2) Logic, and in fact cultural punishments for sin, indicate that man perceives sin to exist in a spectrum of severity
3) The Bible indicates that even Jesus himself recognized that there is a difference in the severity of sin

I have posted before about the caveats of reading this blog, and so I will not spend this post discussing whether there is such a thing as sin, damnation, salvation, or redemption. I have also posted before about the inequality of sin but the equal consequence of sin.

So my question to most Christians is this: Why is homosexuality such a horrible transgression that it deserves such vitriolic condemnation? I don't see churches turning away alcoholics, and gluttony is a sin. I don't see churches turning away divorcees, however, divorcees who separate for any reason other than adultery or marriage to an unbeliever and then remarry are considered to have committed the sin of adultery. Whole ministries are established in most churches for both drug abuse and marital issues - but not homosexuality.

The truth is that homosexuality results in no greater a consequence than any other sin, and most Christians know this. What is sparking such rabid responses is the feeling of losing their culture, their faith. Churches are no longer a safe haven where the world is black and white and that is a loss many Christians just cannot accept. So instead of saving their churches, they try to force their morality on the public at large.

So where do I fall on the spectrum of accepting/decrying homosexuality? I am not God and I thankfully do not have to make that judgement at all. The Bible clearly portrays homosexuality as an aspect of sinful lifestyles and condemns it in no uncertain terms...but the Bible also clearly states that a women should not instruct a man on the ways of God and I can assure you that I have done that very thing and do not consider having done it to be an affront to the Lord. So, is homosexuality a sin? I don't know that I can in good conscience determine it to be condemned or condoned by God; however, I do believe that homosexuality is unnatural because it fails to perpetuate mankind. Albinos are also unnatural because they fail to perpetuate the successful existence of prey species...but I'm not going to suggest they are all damned to hell. That analogy assumes there's a biological trigger for homosexuality, of which I remain unconvinced - however, even if there is, alcoholism is also inherited but we don't go around encouraging that lifestyle (we'll discuss whether homosexuality represents a clear danger to the individual and their loved ones in the same manner that alcoholism does some other time) I don't believe those with homosexual tendencies are abominations and deserve to be forever ridiculed. I love them, as I love any of God's creations. Unfortunately for everyone involved, many individuals with homosexual tendencies identify themselves based majoritively on their sexual orientation. I choose to identify them as any other person - someone who makes their choices and must right themselves with God over such choices. If they want my two cents on the appropriateness of their actions, I'll oblige, but I haven't met an individual with homosexual tendencies who, upon learning I am Christian, then delightedly asks me to critique their lifestyle choice - and I'm pretty thankful for that.