Regular readers to Recliner Commentaries know that I frequently address issues of homosexuality and gay marriage. The following is a memo that I obtained, written by a vice president at a conservative Christian College regarding the issue of gay students (posted with permission):
“I hope it is not a surprise to anyone to know that—if you define “gay” as someone who struggles with same-sex attraction—we have more than a few gay students now. If those students are willing to abide by our covenant and refrain from all sexual behaviour (the same as our [unmarried] heterosexual students) and seek help in understanding and, hopefully, resolving, their same sex attraction with their faith in Christ, then they are welcome in our college community.”
“For some, this resolution comes in some measure of “healing” that allows them to enter into a heterosexual marriage commitment. However, as neither Scripture nor the state…sanction same-sex marriages, other students have found that only resolution of their same-sex attraction and their biblical Christian faith is a lifetime commitment to celibacy.”
“This lifetime of refraining from sexual behaviors may seem out of step with contemporary notions of the human “need” for free sexual expression, but it is an historical Christian practice and the same practice we commend to all heterosexual students who never marry. It is an aspect of the “cost of discipleship” described in Luke 14, which can only lead to a deeper faith in and connection to Christ. In fact, I have encountered more than a few Christian college students whose same-sex attractions have compelled them to forge a far deeper faith than many of their heterosexual peers. I would want to be careful not to communicate anything that heaps condemnation on these precious souls who are striving to work out their biblical faith in Christ with sexual urges, no matter what their origin, that they know to be outside the bounds of Scripture. They are in my mind heroes of the faith.”
