‘We have moved quickly in a single generation or two from hesitant tolerance of perverse behaviors to a general attitude of mindless indifference toward them.’
Fr. Donald Haggerty, The Hour of Testing
An embarrassment for many Christians today is God’s dislike of homosexual activity. We appear to like such activity, if our silence is any indication.
I’ve yet to hear any sane Christian express dismay over Renee Good’s weird flip into the arms of Rebecca Good (Renee had two prior marriages to men). Instead, the Christian devout extol indiscriminately Renee’s devotion to Jesus, echoing her ‘wife’ Rebecca’s adulation: ‘Renee was pure, pure love . . . a Christian who knew we are here to keep each other safe and whole.’
Note to any person who cares for children. Two mommies or two daddies cannot create a sure foundation on which children thrive. The gold star study on ‘gay’ parenting by Dr. Mark Regnerus from 2012 (Renee and Rebecca were raising a son from Renee’s second marriage) was just replicated by sociologists at Cornell University. The result, again? Kids need a mother and a father. ‘Gay’ parents undercut the ‘wholeness’ they wish for their kids.
I’m sure Renee possessed good qualities. I sorrow over her death and decry the ferocity of Trump’s efforts to weed out immigrant ‘criminals.’
That’s not my point. Renee’s Christian ‘devotion’ was seriously compromised by homosexual activity (like anyone’s). Seriously devout Christians don’t ‘gay’ marry. Call her many things, but in between martyr and sainthood, might we hold fast to the courage of our other convictions? Renee died a divided Christian as God Himself defines the divisive nature of sin.
Have we forgotten the golden thread that runs throughout Scripture and Church teaching: man for woman, woman for man, God’s image revealed in the good-enough love of two who conceive life and fight for that life over a lifespan? That matters to God, so much so that in the words of Scripture scholar and friend, Dr. Robert Gagnon, ‘Same-sex intercourse constitutes an inexcusable rebellion against the intentional design of the created order’ (The Bible and Homosexual Practice).
Christians consent to this rebellion by saying and doing nothing that might help compromised Christians repent. Where was Renee’s pastor in all this? Her family and friends? When Renee lost her second husband and became a single parent, where was the Church that rallied around her and protected her family from bad solutions like a lesbian lover? She needed a village; that’s why we exist as Kingdom communities. Instead, we seem unable and unwilling to guide our most vulnerable members.
At a recent gathering, I met two old friends, now lapsed Christians, whose devotion to actively ‘gay’ friends have contributed to the cooling of their once zealous devotion: ‘I could never tell a person how to live her sexuality,’ one opined. Rather than grappling with how best to love a friend in truth, we embrace what God cannot. And lose our faith. Both of these Christians are now, at best, ‘non-practicing’ due to others’ sinful practices.
The road goes down and down. HBO’s biggest hit in years, Heated Rivalry, has ignited popular media and countless libidos with its alien fire. It’s a series that features six men (hockey players?! go figure) who engage constantly in explicit ‘gay’ sex. Rainbow writer and director Jacob Tierney extols his series as a dream come true: ‘Premium smut . . . I don’t want to traffic in gay trauma but in gay joy!’ Apparently, those rejoicing are not just rainbow dudes but ‘straight’ women who comprise nearly half of its viewership. Bizarre. One female reporter from the Atlantic writes that Heated Rivalry is ‘healthy, a sign that many people are game for sexy content when it’s done thoughtfully and creatively—when it serves a purpose.’
Huh. I thought the purpose of sexual love was to unite men and women for life so that their kids might have a fighting chance to reproduce the same freedom.
Do we still believe in the beauty and viability of God’s plan? In Scriptural prohibitions of ‘gay’ sex? If so, then start flinching again when a person refers to his or her spouse of the same-sex or laughs at shows like Heated Rivalry. Hell to pay for both. Have we assimilated boundary-violating sin to the degree that we confirm, even perpetuate it in others? We should fall face down before the Cross for mercy. May our repentance liberate deceived loved ones to do the same.