I'm possibly continuing a branch of this debate that people would rather was left alone, but I think that there's a very important principle involved. (I'm going to presume to speak for Malcolm here, for a minute, and I'm going to try to keep it non-personal even though I'd like to use examples from the onlist discussion.)
Malcolm's anger wasn't just because some people on this list happen to disagree with him and/or his interpretation of what's christian. His anger stems from the fact that, when expressed as dogmatically as it often is expressed on this list, the "homosexual practice is wrong" belief denies and invalidates his experience of god. I can sympathise because, although my issues are somewhat different, I've experienced the same denial and invalidation.
And I think the principle behind all this is that we're called, first and foremost, to compassion and identification, and rules a long way last, and when we get too dogmatic we fail our calling.
I have every sympathy with Malcolm's anger. Bias under the guise of
"god's will" is hard to fight, and hard to live with. Moreover, if people attempt to discuss the issue with GLBT people, while already having made a judgement as to their godliness or christian status, such discussion is doomed before it begins because they're already counting the GLBT person's experience as less valid.
Lastly, IMO if something that is already under dispute among us (and therefore indicative of multiple interpretations) causes that level of
anger and hurt when applied, we need to be looking very seriously at
whether it's more ungodly to continue to maintain the hard line than it would be to let it go.
Clare *************************************************** Clare Pascoe Henderson http://www.clergyabuseaustralia.org Clergy Sexual Abuse in Australia Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************
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