Lindsay Umm I do and when I studied Architecture at University (1988 to 1994) many of my fellow students talked in terms of the heterosexual lifestyle. Sometimes they referred to the different sexual lifestyle choices in a humorous way, like the time one of the guys who professed to be Bi-sexual came back to studio from a GALA (Gay and Lesbian Assoc) lunch rally saying "I was there support my fellow lesbian sisters, but mostly the descriptions where used seriously.
My whole approach to the issue of practising homosexual people being in leadership is based on the fact that I would expect that I as a heterosexual single male would be excluded from leadership if I where involved in fornification, adultery or any of the other sins listed in the Bible. But I have no problem with people who profess having homosexual tendencies being in leadership because again I expect the same standard to be applied to me as a heterosexual single male in leadership struggling with unfullfilled sexual passions and desires. To me being in leadership involves embodying the "moral and spiritual ethics" described within the Bible in its entirety, and if there is something I believe to be okay but I understand that others would have difficulty with my understanding then as Paul describes in his letters, I would refrain from pushing that understanding onto others who may struggle and fall away. As I finish just let me say that I know that my position is open to disagreement and I could easily be labelled as an EMU but I choose not to align myself with EMU no matter how close my theological understanding may be to the EMU line. Why? Well my understanding that what it means to be in the Uniting Church is to seek to worship within the diversity of peoples spiritual journey's and theological understanding and seek to discover the points of unity that exist in our seperate journey's not to just achieve unity for peaceful coexistance but to achieve a better understanding of God. It's the old story of the pygmies in discovering an Elephant in the middle of the night an one saying "its a tree" another saying "no, it's a snake" and yet another saying "no it's vine". My understanding of God is not totally correct but it isn't totally wrong either, therefore it is only through sharing with each other our own journeys that we may begin to get a better view of the totallity of God. To me this is the strength and potential of the Uniting Church. cya Andrew Swenson -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Lindsay Brash Sent: Monday, 25 August 2003 2:59 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: GLBT? G'day All, At 02:09 PM 23/08/03 +0800, Andrew Watts wrote: >Andew's quote of Nick Hawkes:- > >Having said this, it must be clearly said that there is no >reason why a celibate homosexually orientated person (and >one who is not espousing the homosexual lifestyle), should >be disqualified from any position of leadership within the >church. I find the term "homosexual lifestyle" to provide quite an insight to Nick Hawkes and his followers. All about stereotyping, all about regarding sin as being entirely other and 'out there'. All about cementing people into a box, the smaller the better. I suppose it is similar to what Judy raised about the word "practicing". We don't talk about a practicing heterosexual, or the heterosexual lifestyle. Kind regards, Lindsay Brash. ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/lists.htm ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/lists.htm ------------------------------------------------------
