On "Being Gay"

I believe we Christians do ourselves and the culture-at-large a disservice by adopting the terminology of the homosexual community. "Being gay" is their own phrase, designed to innoculate us against the morally reprehensible behavior which it represents. Part of the problem with the phrase itself is that it implies a "state of being" over which a person has no control. There is a certain inevitability assumed in the term itself...as though it were equivalent to "having cancer" or "being autistic." This is who I "am" and I must accept who I "am." This leads easily to the conclusion that to ask a person who "is gay" not to live that lifestyle, is unfairly asking them to deny who they "are." There is a fundamental problem with using this language and many Christians, desiring to appear enlightened or to shed the label of right-wing homophobes, have adopted the language. I suggest that this is not without consequence...that it leads to a paradigm shift in our thinking. Afterall, doesn't "being gay" sound much less noxious than "practicing homosexuality?"

I would also suggest that there is no such thing as "being" homosexual. We don't say that a person "is" a cleptomaniac unless he practices the sin of stealing. I don't say my son "is a liar" simply because he struggles to tell the truth...I only say he is a liar if he lies. With what other sin do we label someone according to the temptations they resist or when else do we assign a "state of being" that leads to the practice of particular sins? Is a rapist a rapist if he never commits rape? Can a man "be" a murderer who has never killed anyone? What if he hated someone enough that he wanted to kill him, but didn't? Does that make him a murderer? Well, yes, in the sense that it makes him guilty before God because heart sins "count" even if they are not acted on....BUT there is a degree of guilt here. It would be worse if that man actually followed through and murdered his fellow man. Our civil and ecclesiastical practices bear this out...we don't jail someone or ban him from the Lord's Table because of the sinful desires of his heart. It is when he ACTS on those desires that his sin leads to punishment. No one "IS gay." They either practice homosexuality or they don't.

I am not denying that some persons, as a result of biological or emotional make-up, or because of circumstances in their past, may struggle more fiercely with particular temptations. That almost certainly is the case. Original sin manifests itself differently in each of us. Some are more inclined to addiction, some to materialism, some to pride, some to adultery, some to homosexuality...often the sins with which we are not tempted remain incomprehensible to us. Though many of us might be faced with or at least understand the temptations of fornication or adultery, many of us cannot comprehend the lure of homosexuality, nor can most of us understand the desire to rape or murder. These "inclinations," if you will, or the propensity to be tempted in a particular area, does not negate liability when those lusts are conceived and bring forth sin.

My main reason for even addressing this, is JKR's announcement that "Dumbledore is gay." Not only does it seem like an inciteful, limelight-seeking move on her part, it seems absurd based on the evidence in the books. Regardless of what she claims is or was in her imagination, she took great pains to conceal it in the book. Dumbledore's character neither engages in homosexual behavior (thus my argument that he cannot "be gay"), nor does he even encounter temptations which he resists. It has been suggested by some that Rowling can make endless radical assertions about any part of her text, but that which remains absent from the story, is simply NOT relevant to the story.

And for those Christians whose "witchcraft" arguments against the book have been ridiculed, and who now arrogantly say, "I-told-you-so," remember that none of you ever criticized the books for their homosexual content, and your arguments against the wizardry remain as invalid as before. (Sorry if that sounds a little grumpy...I have a headache.)