I wasn't expecting that...

So I've realized something about myself. I apparently crush on gay people. Now, this is obviously a problem. I'm up to 3/5 crushes (counting back from high school) that turned out to be gay. Now, I'm not counting crushes that led to relationships. And I clearly don't crush on people often. But seriously, what is this?! Are there no funny, eclectic, awesome guys out there who are also STRAIGHT? Grrrr. I know, I'm just doomed to be single forever. That's got to be what it is. Because, really, this is getting ridiculous.

One of my closest friends told me that they were gay recently. I have no clue what to make of that. No clue whatsoever. I'm confused....mainly because I've assumed something about them for years that turned out to be false. I'm also sadly uninformed about the gay community. I don't have many friends who are gay, and I distance myself from those who are. I don't understand their choice (or, as they call it, "sexual preference"). I just don't know how they think, or why they think that way. I don't understand. Most Christians don't understand either. We're afraid to get involved, because that would get our hands dirty. It's a tough thing to love on homosexuals. It's a sexual sin that most of us find repulsive. It's hard to get past the "EWWWW" feeling we get. It's also hard because they insist that their lifestyle isn't a choice, meaning that God created them that way. Which leads to tons of moral dilemmas. If God created them that way, then did God intentionally create them to sin? If so, then how can God be absolute good if he created them that way? Or, to take another route...What if homosexuality isn't a sin? I mean, if God is good, and He made them that way, and they can't help it....

Fortunately, the Bible is clear enough about homosexuality that we know it's a sin. God doesn't like it, or He wouldn't have condemned it in the first place. (Check out Leviticus 18 and 20-there are more references, but I like those two chapters best. And honestly, that's what the internet is for-find it yourself.) Which leads me to think that homosexuality is a choice. There's just no other way to fit all the pieces together. Like other sins, we have a choice to act on our temptations or not. Many times, what I want to do isn't what I should be doing, or what I need to be doing. I've wanted to yell at people for being dumb and irritating. But that would have been a sin. I've been tempted to have premarital sex. But giving in to that temptation would have been a sin. I think homosexuality is like that. A temptation that you've got to resist, because it has disastrous consequences.

Fact: Monogamous, committed relationships are rare in the gay community. So, if you're looking for a committed relationship (which at the core, we all are), then you might want to look elsewhere.

Fact: The HIV/AIDS virus is like a wildfire in the gay community. But don't tell them, because they'll get mad at you if you do. And yes, I know that if you're promiscuous anywhere you can catch it. But I've read research that states that it is still more common in the gay community.

Why is that?

Well, because most sexual encounters in the gay community are one-time trysts, at random places like gay clubs and bars. (Going back to the no-commitment thing.)

Now, where am I getting this information from? Former homosexuals. Quite a few have spoken at Liberty, and I've listened to what they said. They talk of it like those days were the darkest of their lives. It worries me. I worry for my friends who are gay. I worry that they will feel the brutality of it all...and that on top of the pain and sadness they will find from within the gay community itself, half of society will shun them. Worse of all is that the half that will shun them is the Christian half.

We let alcoholics in church, right? We say they need to be there, so that God can turn their lives around. Why should we exile homosexuals? Don't they need God's love just as much as the alcoholics do? Let's face it. We can't get over the "EWW" factor. But if we don't get over that, then how do we expect them to turn to (or back to) God?