From the Office: Special
Issue: Homosexuality
REal Questions, REal Answers: The
Homosexual Christian
Well, readers, we have been
flooded with your questions and suggestions. Whatever you do, don’t stop
sending them in! We want to know what you are concerned about, thinking about,
and curious about. We mean it when we say; we want YO-Mail to be your mail.
We have received a few
questions on homosexuality so we decided to dedicate this issue to the Church’s
teachings on the topic. It’s not an easy issue and the Church’s teachings do
not fall in line with society’s views on the topic. So prepare yourself. You
asked, so we are answering.
Just remember three things
as you read. One, everyone in the Church is a sinner needing salvation. Two,
the Church does not believe in the saying, “whatever makes you happy.” Rather
it believes in “whatever brings you closer to God, and salvation.” And three,
as we pray in the prayer of St. Ephraim, we are supposed to approach life with
the attitude, “Lord, teach me to see my own sin and not to judge my brother.”
In addition to the following
you may also want to check out the YO-Mail Special
Issue on Sex and Sexuality as well as YO-Mail Vol.
1. No. 18.
Q. LM in IL writes:
Hey! A
recent topic of controversy at my lunch table has been about homosexuality. I
completely understand that God created women for man, and man for women.
However, actually having some gay friends, I have to wonder how God could see
this as a sin. My doubt comes in the fact that my homosexual friends say they
don't choose to be like this, and that if they did have the choice, they
would be straight! God doesn't make mistakes when He makes people, He makes
everyone perfect.... so if they aren't choosing to be this way.... why is it
sinful?
Thanks
A. To sin means to miss the mark, to be
off track, whether or not the act is consciously willed and purposefully
enacted, and whether or not the offender personally is freely and fully at
fault. According to the Orthodox Church not all sins are willful and voluntary,
and not all acts of sin are the conscious fault of those who do them, at least not
at first. Put simply, sin is not always something for which the sinner, himself
or herself, is necessarily at fault in a complete and conscious way. There are
sins of ignorance and passion, sins that “work in our members,” as St Paul
writes, even against our rational and conscious wills. (See Romans 6-8) These
are the sins referred to in the Church’s prayers when the faithful beg God for
forgiveness and pardon of sins which are not only conscious, but unconscious;
not only voluntary, but involuntary.
There
are sins that are involuntary, unwilled, and un-chosen. There are sins that
overcome people and force them by irrational impulses and compulsions, by
weaknesses of the flesh, emotional drives and misguided desires into actions
that they themselves do not want and even despise and abhor. Traditionally
these have been the sins of passion. The fact that these sins are not freely
chosen does not make them any less sinful.
According to Orthodox Church Tradition, all Christians are redeemed
sinners. They are human beings who have been saved from sickness, sin, and
death, delivered from the devil by God’s Grace through faith in His Son, Jesus
Christ by the Holy Spirit’s power. They are baptized into Christ and sealed
with the Holy Spirit in order to live God’s life in the Church. They witness to
their faith by regular participation in liturgical worship and Eucharistic
communion,
accompanied by continual
confession, repentance and the steadfast
struggle against every from of sin, voluntary and involuntary, sexual and non-sexual.
There are many gay men and lesbians who hold that the Christian faith
is the guiding rule of their lives. While some of them insist that God gives
them their sexual orientation, that it is good, and that there is nothing wrong
or sinful with their homosexual activities, other homosexual Christians hold
that their sexual orientation is not from God—except providentially (meaning
that God’s plan inevitable involves human freedom and sin – but derives from
humanity’s fallen and sinful state.
There are a multitude reasons why people are homosexual. While some
people are not able to identify the specific reasons for their sexual feelings,
but still affirm that they are not good and are not to be indulged; others with
the help of sound biblical interpretation and accurate psychological analysis,
are able to identify the source of their sexual orientation in situations in
their family experiences, particularly in early childhood and perhaps even
before that, which contribute to their sexual makeup. These people believe that
they are called to struggle against the sinful passions, which they find within
themselves, as they work to heal the causes of their homosexuality. Those who
hold this position look to their fellow Christians, especially Church leaders,
for support and assistance in their spiritual struggle.
There is no question. The homosexual Christian is called to a
particularly difficult battle. His or her struggle is an especially ferocious
one. It is not made any easier by the mindless, truly demonic hatred of people
who despise and ridicule those who carry this painful and burdensome cross; nor
by the mindless, equally demonic affirmation of homosexual activity by its
misguided advocates and enablers.
Like all temptations, passions and sins, including those deeply and
oftentimes seemingly indelibly embedded in our nature by our sorrowful
inheritance, people do not have to be a slave to a homosexual orientation. With God all things are possible. When homosexual
Christians are willing to struggle, and when they receive patient,
compassionate and authentically loving assistance from their families and
friends – each of whom by the way is struggling with his or her own temptations
and sins; for no one is without this struggle in one form or another, and no
one is without sin but God – the Lord guarantees victory in ways only He knows.
This does not mean that they necessarily become heterosexual or even get to the
point when they are no longer tempted. It does mean, however, that through their
struggle they grow closer to God and their neighbor and through the Grace of
God will receive the reward of acceptance into the Kingdom of Heaven.
This victory, however, belongs only to the courageous souls who
acknowledge their condition what ever it may be, face their resentments,
express their angers, confess their sins, forgive their offenders (who can
include parents and members of their families as well as Church members and
leaders), and reach out for help with the genuine desire to be healed. Jesus,
Himself promises that those who persevere to the end along this “hard way,
which leads to life” will surely “be saved.” (Matt 7:13; 24:13)
We do not claim that this is
the comprehensive article that includes everything the Church has to say about
this topic. That would require a lot more pages. We do hope it provides some
information to help you understand the fundamental approach we, as Orthodox
Christians, are to have to our brothers and sisters who are dealing with this
issue: even if that brother or sister is ourselves.
Taken and
adapted from the pamphlet “The Homosexual Christian” published by the
Department of Religious Education of the Orthodox Church in America.
Have something
you want to say or something you want to ask other readers? Send it in! We’ll
put it our next issue. E-Mail us at youth@oca.org.
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