I spent a couple of hours today thinking about the issue of gay marriage and how we should pray about it. >95% of the time I'm absolutely convinced that God is against homosexuality. It's not what he intended for humanity and promoting it as a good option will be really bad for society. But there are other times when I doubt. Maybe homosexuality isn't that big a deal. Is the bible really that against it? It's hardly a major theme...
So today I wrote two prayers (posted below). I wrote the second one first (the one for me 95% of the time!) but as I was writing it a nagging voice in my head kept asking me what I should pray when I'm doubting. So I wrote another prayer for me on my doubting days.
A couple of people have commented on it - expressing some unease. I used corporate language (us, we etc). Was this prayer intended for church use? (Not particularly - I just used that form to make it match the other one.) The prayer doesn't seem to say one way or another if gay marriage is right. If it is for corporate use, shouldn't we be more definite about what the bible does say?
These prayers are for myself, but I'm interested in working up a prayer that could be used in church. I'd like to include something in it for the doubters. Any ideas?
I've been reading a lot about this over the past couple of years. It's tough and I'm still not 100% sure on my exact stance. Here's a link to a blog which you may find interesting/helpful (and the subsequent links within the blog too)
ReplyDeletehttp://soulation.org/jonalynblog/2012/11/the-problem-with-homosexuality.html
Katrina - that's really interesting. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAlso, have you read Sex and the iWorld, by Dale Kuehne? It's next on my 'to read' list.
ReplyDeleteSimone, I reckon the first (top) prayer might be a good start to God working in us to answer this line from the second (bottom) prayer:
ReplyDeleteFather, it’s in our nature to be proud and self-righteous. Please dig this out of us.
... which is to say, I think it's a great prayer! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI had no problem with your "doubter's" prayer. I'm interested in this topic and how we can be gracious in our interactions with those who hold a different view.
ReplyDeleteI'm also interested in how do we as Christians respond to trans-gender people and those they love and who love them? They themselves don't identify as the gender on their birth certificate and those who love them are not normally attracted to people of the same gender. There was a really interesting series from the BBC (Lady Boys) on the ABC a few months back. As one Lady Boy said, he->she isn't gay so they don't fit in the gay community but neither do they fit in regular hetero society either.
Katrina - that's a great blog post you pointed to. One of the things I've found disturbing by the push for 'marriage equality' is the idea that sexual love is the only valid form of adult to adult love relationships. It would seem from some quarters that all other forms of love relationships (male to male as good mates / brother-in-arms and vice-versa for women or self-sacrificial love....) either aren't valid forms of expressing ones-self fully or are somehow 'lesser' forms than sexual love.
I like your doubters prayer, probably because that's where I am more than your 5% of the time. I know I'm not alone in that among Christians.
ReplyDeleteI wonder about this statement: "If it is for corporate use, shouldn't we be more definite about what the bible does say?"
My instinctive answer to this is "no". I think when there is doubt and incertainty in the church, we should take that to God together, not try to work out the answer first and take that to God.
And this one - "It's not what he intended for humanity...". The essence of our fallen state. We are not what God intended for humanity. Yet this did not stop him from becoming one of us. I think we often miss the profundity of that because we are so desensitised to who we really are.