We have heard a lot of discussion about gay marriage recently. I continue to hear that "Christians" don't believe in gay marriage and believe that same sex relationships are sinful and strongly disapproved of by God. Our old friend Leviticus seems to be the source of this thinking. Nobody really knows who composed Leviticus. I am certainly a Free Thinker and I have a hard time with the idea that modern people would let their thinking be dominated by what an unknown scribe wrote down thousands of years ago. To assume that whoever wrote Leviticus was speaking for God is a real stretch in my opinion. The idea that since the writing is ancient and since millions and millions of people accept it, it must be true, holds no particular persuasive power for me. I look at such a claim the way most "Christians" look at Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. The only difference in Leviticus and the Book of Mormon that I can see is that Leviticus wrote down his stuff a long time before Joseph Smith came up with his.
In any event, I realize that the jury is still out on whether homosexuality is biological or simply a lifestyle choice. Based on my experience, I think that homosexuality has to be based on biology. When I was a little boy I started noticing girls. I have been noticing them ever since. I didn't choose to be drawn to girls rather than boys. My attraction to girls started spontaneously when I was a small boy. I think that sexuality is a drive that comes from deep within our primitive brains. I don't believe that some course offered by a church group could convince me to be attracted to men over women. I don't think my lifelong interest in females could be "cured" by a course of study or by any amount of persuasion. I think that I am just simply wired that way. The sight of The Bachelor shirtless on a beach never has and never will send a thrill through my body.
So I have to assume that people who have a sexual attraction to members of their own gender are wired that way too. Nothing I have ever read or observed leads me to believe that people voluntarily choose to go against their basic inner drives regarding sex. I think the basic drive is entirely too strong and compelling to be subject to that sort of voluntary choice. And as a practical matter, who in their right mind would choose homosexuality in the social environment we live in today. Although society has certainly become more tolerant of same sex relationships, there is still clearly a stigma on the LGBT community in the eyes of many. That is in my opinion very unfortunate but it remains the actual fact in 2014.
So, in my mind, if God created humans, and in my mind that is a great big IF, then He surely is responsible for all of us. He made most of us heterosexual and he made a few of us homosexual. If we have basic wiring in our brains that determines our sexual orientation, and I think we do, then it seems to me that God is responsible for his own handiwork and would not discriminate against his own creations. If he does "hate gays," as the Westboro Baptists and others claim, then he certainly isn't a very fair minded deity and his example is not worthy of emulation.
So for people who call themselves "Christians" to make the claim that God himself has taken a position condemning gay people or gay marriage, I think that to convince me of that are going to need at the very least some strong scientific evidence that demonstrates that sexual orientation is simply a personal preference rather than a fundamental determination of basic human biology. Until then, I am going to believe that God/Nature made us all as we are and believe that gay people should be extended the same rights and respect as anyone else.
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