Yeah, this is another thread on homosexuality. We don't have enough of them, you see! 
But what I want to do in this one is to try asking for a somewhat different approach to the questions we argue about. I am going to set four hypothetical situation and ask for the proper Christian response in your opinion. Please note the approach I'm requesting participants to use and the reasons for doing so, and honor them. I'm asking this on purpose to avoid the repeated arguments that characterize virtually every thread on the subject, and instead try to get some constructive dialogue going.
The Scenario:
You have been asked for advice by each of the following. Your answer should be what the proper Christian response should be to each of them.
1. A person who believes homosexuality to be sinful and hence abstains from sexual activity but who is wracked with guilt because he/she cannot rid him/herself of homosexual desires.
2. A gay person in a committed and exclusive relationship, which he or she sees as a marriage, with another person of the same sex.
3. A person who has turned away from Christ because he or she is gay, feels he/she cannot stop being gay, and who has experienced lack of understanding and condemnation (or what he/she perceoves as such) from the Church.
4. A young person below the age when marriage is acceptable who feels attracted to both boys and girls and who sincerely wants to do the right thing but needs guidance as to what that is.
The Ground Rules:
1. This thread is not about whether the people in the hypothetical cases are sinning. It's about what the proper Christian response to them ought to be. The question is not about their sin; it's about your response to what they're asking for advice about.
2. Do not merely quote Romans 1:26-27, I Corinthians 6:9, etc. as the proper answer. IF you are correct in your understanding of those passages, that may well be valid Scriptural bolstering for your answer, but for purposes of this thread, presume I'm such a dolt that I cannot see what is self-evident to you, and spell out, "in words of one syllable," what you see as the proper response in your own words, using Scripture to support your answer as it may be relevant.
3. Even if you see egregious errors in someone else's post, please make your own first post to this thread your own answers to the four hypothetical requests for advice. Then feel free to debate someone else's answers. I'm asking this so that we who participate here get a sense of what the right answer is, nto just why the wrong answers are wrong.
4. If you can do so, if you are an atheist, agnostic, humanist, or seeker, adopt for purposes of this thread the role of a Christian humanist, that is, someone who accepts a God whose commanding of the Golden Rule and "Love your neighbor as yourself" calls forth from you a humanistic response. For the overwhelming majority of you, that should accord well enough with your personal ethics to make your answer one you can give with integrity which still fits the theme of "what is the proper Christian response?" I'm asking that to avoid hijacks into issues of metaphysics and theology not related to the basic topic -- to keep it from being an apologetics thread, in other words. If you cannot in good conscience answer from that role, please say so, and explain briefly why.
5. P)lease do not allow yourself to be led into a hijack of who was being spoken of in Genesis 19 or Romans 1, what arsenokoites "really" means, etc. That's been debated extensively in other threads, and is probably not relevant to the specific topic being addressed here.
I am hoping this somewhat different approach to a hot-button question will produce useful and informative results. I am asking the cooperation of participants in keeping it on topic, and, to the extent they feel it appropriate, the help of staff in keeping it from beiing hijacked into debates that have already been done in a large number of other threads.
Thanks in advance for your responses and your cooperation.
But what I want to do in this one is to try asking for a somewhat different approach to the questions we argue about. I am going to set four hypothetical situation and ask for the proper Christian response in your opinion. Please note the approach I'm requesting participants to use and the reasons for doing so, and honor them. I'm asking this on purpose to avoid the repeated arguments that characterize virtually every thread on the subject, and instead try to get some constructive dialogue going.
The Scenario:
You have been asked for advice by each of the following. Your answer should be what the proper Christian response should be to each of them.
1. A person who believes homosexuality to be sinful and hence abstains from sexual activity but who is wracked with guilt because he/she cannot rid him/herself of homosexual desires.
2. A gay person in a committed and exclusive relationship, which he or she sees as a marriage, with another person of the same sex.
3. A person who has turned away from Christ because he or she is gay, feels he/she cannot stop being gay, and who has experienced lack of understanding and condemnation (or what he/she perceoves as such) from the Church.
4. A young person below the age when marriage is acceptable who feels attracted to both boys and girls and who sincerely wants to do the right thing but needs guidance as to what that is.
The Ground Rules:
1. This thread is not about whether the people in the hypothetical cases are sinning. It's about what the proper Christian response to them ought to be. The question is not about their sin; it's about your response to what they're asking for advice about.
2. Do not merely quote Romans 1:26-27, I Corinthians 6:9, etc. as the proper answer. IF you are correct in your understanding of those passages, that may well be valid Scriptural bolstering for your answer, but for purposes of this thread, presume I'm such a dolt that I cannot see what is self-evident to you, and spell out, "in words of one syllable," what you see as the proper response in your own words, using Scripture to support your answer as it may be relevant.
3. Even if you see egregious errors in someone else's post, please make your own first post to this thread your own answers to the four hypothetical requests for advice. Then feel free to debate someone else's answers. I'm asking this so that we who participate here get a sense of what the right answer is, nto just why the wrong answers are wrong.
4. If you can do so, if you are an atheist, agnostic, humanist, or seeker, adopt for purposes of this thread the role of a Christian humanist, that is, someone who accepts a God whose commanding of the Golden Rule and "Love your neighbor as yourself" calls forth from you a humanistic response. For the overwhelming majority of you, that should accord well enough with your personal ethics to make your answer one you can give with integrity which still fits the theme of "what is the proper Christian response?" I'm asking that to avoid hijacks into issues of metaphysics and theology not related to the basic topic -- to keep it from being an apologetics thread, in other words. If you cannot in good conscience answer from that role, please say so, and explain briefly why.
5. P)lease do not allow yourself to be led into a hijack of who was being spoken of in Genesis 19 or Romans 1, what arsenokoites "really" means, etc. That's been debated extensively in other threads, and is probably not relevant to the specific topic being addressed here.
I am hoping this somewhat different approach to a hot-button question will produce useful and informative results. I am asking the cooperation of participants in keeping it on topic, and, to the extent they feel it appropriate, the help of staff in keeping it from beiing hijacked into debates that have already been done in a large number of other threads.
Thanks in advance for your responses and your cooperation.
