Concerning useless miracles

Get thee behind me, Satan

By R. Woodward When you tell certain Christians that a homosexual orientation is never really "cured," many of them will insist rather vehemently that with Christ all things are possible.

One tactful way of dealing with their vehement insistence is to point out that what you are saying and what they are saying do not really contradict each

other.

Saying that Christ does not "cure" homosexuality is not the same thing as saying that he is unable to do so. All too many Christians overlook the obvious possibility that Christ does not want to do so.

Heterosexuality is, after all, an earthly means to earthly ends earthly pleasures, earthly comforts, earthly security, and earthly status. Heterosexuality, like money, is something that you can't take with you.

In Chapter 22 of The Gospel According to St. Matthew a group of Sadducees confronts Jesus with the example of a woman who has legitimately married seven brothers, each brother having died and left her widowed before producing any offspring. They ask Jesus whose wife she will be in the resurrection. Jesus replies that "in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." (Matthew 23:30)

In terms of what Christians regard as being final salvation, changing an individual's sexual orientation from homosexual to

heterosexual would be a miracle which which would be useless. Becoming heterosexual would not mean having any fewer earthly responsibilities, any fewer earthly encumbrances, or

Corinthians says that he himself is celibate and that he wishes that all other Christians could be the same. He concedes, however, that God has made different people differently and that many people are not capable of remaining celibate.

"It is better to marry than to burn," he says, which is a statement that it is better to find a wholesome outlet than be distracted by sexual frustration. It is not a statement that sex is for procreation, nor is it a statement that heterosexuality involves any particular holiness.

The most positive conclusion that Paul arrives at concerning heterosexuality is that it is possible to find some situations in which heterosexuality is not necessarily an evil.

Paul says that spiritual rebirth through Christ does not necessarily mean a change of one's basic earthly social role.

Says Paul in I Corinthians, chapter 7. "As God hath distributed to every man, as the

Lord hath called everyone, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all the churches.... Let every man abide in calling wherein he was called."

In remaining celibate, Paul, like Jesus before him, lived in a manner which was neither heterosexual nor homosexual, but non-sexual: Celibacy, it should not be forgotten, is a form of non-heterosexuality.

Non-heterosexuality, according to The New Testament, does not necessarily mean any lack of blessedness--the most striking example being the manner in which many Christians believe that Jesus was conceived.

Those who want gays to ask Jesus to turn them into "heterosexuals" should ask themselves if they are not, in fact, asking them to act like Satan.

Matthew and Chapter 4 of Luke, According to Chapter 4 of Jesus's tempation by Satan in the wilderness consisted of trying to persuade Jesus to use his miraculous powers for vulgar

It's a miracle

Regarding homosexuality homosexuality through faith, try as an illness is the last refuge of to keep a (excuse the expresconfused and uptight moralists sion) straight face. This (many of whom do not realize that they are moralists) who do not have enough religious faith to call anything a sin. Regarding homosexuality as an illness is a way for sexually repressed atheists to cling to the belief that gays are going to hell.

individual may have some fascinating anecdotes to tell you about strolling on the surface of Lake Erie in the summertime or about all of the Perrier in his or her refrigerator suddenly turning into champagne.

Having the strength to resist a Having one's sexual temptation, or being busy with orientation changed through other things that distract you religion is no more impossible from it, does not mean that it has than any other miracle. If some died or gone away. individual assures you that he or she has been "cured" of

and fewer earthly distractions. what

How spiritual one is is not determined by the gender of those with whom one copulates. Saying that an individual is heterosexual indicates that the individual tends to copulate with members of the opposite sex, not that the individual precedes all of his or her copulations with prayers and fasting.

Being "heterosexual" rather than "homosexual" does not automatically mean that any particular individual will be showing any special strength or any particular wisdom in dealing with the day to day temptations that he or she faces. Not necessarily evil

Paul in discussing marriage in I

she wants

R. Woodward

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earthly purposes-turning stones into bread to fill an empty gut, worshiping Satan to obtain earthly power and glory, and hurling himself from the pinnacle of the temple to make a public spectacle of how angels would bear up his holiness. According to both Matthew and Luke, Jesus dismisses Satan with the words. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord, thy God."

Like Satan, anti-gay religious types want Jesus to perform useless miracles, useless

miracles which would only serve to make carnal-minded observers more smuggly selfsatisfied with their vulgar earthly standards.

That Jesus does not turn "homosexuals" into "heterosexuals" does not necessarily mean that he is unable to do so. What it probably means is that he regards the false sense of security and idle superstitions of anti-gay types as being things too profane and too petty to indulge.

Bring slowly to a boil

If you heat the kettle slowly enough, it's been said, frogs die in lazy comfort. They just fall asleep.

Do you feel a little drowsy?

The Bible shouters are stoking up the fires. Especially here in Washington. D.C. This is the hot core which sends out heat across the country. It's where a change in national law can cook us all together.

Gay Rights National Lobby is at the center, rallying our friends in Congress to help put out the fires. We've had success-expanding support and co-sponsor-

ship of gay/lesbian civil rights bills. generating thousands of letters to Congress, fighting anti-gay bills such as the "McDonald Resolution" and the "Family Protection Act," and bringing together coalitions with other groups who also feel the danger. In the Advocate, October 16, 1980, you can find an independent evaluation of our work: "On an absurdly low budget, GRNL is producing miracles. Imagine what they could do if we really supported them."

We ask again for your real support. The heat's on right now and we truly need your contributions. Please wake up. Let's not go like frogs.

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