From: ajw@cbnews.cb.att.com (andrew.j.whitman)
Subject: TANGENT: Re: Prayer Request from SFC Latrobe Uni, Victoria, Australia
Organization: AT&T
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 14:13:54 GMT

In article <1992Oct15.054955.7128@latcs1.lat.oz.au> teh@latcs1.lat.oz.au (Richie L C TEH) writes:
>Hi everyone,
>
> Here's a prayer request from SFC in Latrobe uni. SFC stands for Student For 
>Christ and it's purpose is to spread the previous word of God to students in university around Australia.SFCs are active in almost all tertiary institution in 
>the state of Victoria and New South Wales in Australia. I'm not sure if the other state have SFCs.
>
> A couple of weeks ago, the SFC in latrobe university in Melbourne organised a
>seminar on the topic Sexuality. This was held on two days during lunch time.
>During the seminar, there were interuptions from people from the Gay & Lesbian
>group in Latrobe. It got to a point where these people were shouting obscenity
>at the people attending the seminar. Despite these interuptions, the seminar
>was a success.
>
> The problem got worse now because the Gay & Lesbian group are trying to throw
>SFC out of Latrobe, by filing complain to the Student Union in latrobe. Please
>pray for us here that this incident would not seize the activity that SFC are
>doing at Latrobe. Believe me, the Gay & Lesbian group and other left wing group

>presence in Latrobe is a big one and they can do anything. Also, please pray that this incident will touch some of them. Obviously, they felt treaten about all
>this. Thanks you.

Just some random thoughts here:

Is there a middle ground that your student group could take that might
help to diffuse a very volatile situation?  I realize that what I'm 
about to say will smack of godless liberalism to some, and maybe to
you.  But you're now dealing with a situation that has degenerated to
the point of threats and slander and name-calling and legal action, and 
I'm assuming that you'd like to resolve that in a peaceful way without 
compromising your Christian faith.  So here are a couple of basic guidelines 
that I'd suggest:  1) Agree with/support homosexual issues/causes where 
you can.  2) In those areas where you cannot agree, disagree in love
and humility.  No, I don't claim that either one is easy to do.

Homophobia is real, and incidents of physical and verbal abuse against
homosexuals are increasing.  Unfortunately, many of those who engage
in this abuse profess to be Christians and justify their hateful
behavior on interpretations (wrong ones, I believe) of Scripture.  
Homosexuals have a right to walk down the street without being 
beaten up, spat upon, and taunted because of their sexual orientation, 
and to the extent that the church turns a blind eye to these activities, 
to that extent the gay community has a legitimate grievance against 
the church.  Some elements within the church *have* taught a 
gospel of hatred and bigotry, or have blithely looked the other way
at such activities.  It doesn't have to be that way, and I don't
believe God wants it that way.  I believe that it's entirely 
consistent for Christians to view homosexual behavior as sin and
yet still support homosexuals in their quest for equal employment  
opportunities under the law and protection against hateful behavior.  
If you believe that too, then let your opponents know that.

But the Bible clearly portrays homosexual behavior as sin.  Now,
here's the tricky part.  It's not a sin to be a homosexual; it's
a sin to engage in homosexual intercourse.  People don't choose
to be homosexuals.  They're born that way.  _Christianity_Today_,
that noted bastion of liberal humanism and cultural hedonism, ran 
a series of articles several years ago quoting extensive research that, 
in fact, confirms that homosexuality is genetic trait, not a moral 
choice.  That's not to say that other moral (or immoral) choices 
don't accompany the lifestyle.  It's simply stating that people 
don't choose their sexual orientation.  They *do* choose how they 
will respond to that sexual orientation.

And here's where it gets really tough.  Realize that when you ask
homosexuals to repent of their sin, you are really asking them to
be celibate.  Yes, there apparently *are* some instances where 
people have been changed from a homosexual to a heterosexual
orientation.  But those instances are few and far between, and 
there's increasing evidence from research to indicate that the 
"conversions" don't last.  There's a far greater incidence of
Christian homosexuals returning to a lifestyle of homosexual
intercourse than there is of Christian recovering alcoholics
returning to the bottle.  It all adds up to this:  gays and
lesbians are gays and lesbians.  That's who they are.  That's
the way God made them, and they can't be unmade into someone
they're not.  The Bible says that who they are is sinners.
That's the harsh truth.  And God cared enough about them to 
send his only son to die for their sins.  Just like you and me.

I know a lot of gays and lesbians.  I meet with them every week in 
a small group Bible Study, and I value their friendship.  The church 
I attend was the only evangelical church in my area to reach out to 
the gay community and say, "Come on in.  You're welcome here."  That 
really saddens me.  These folks know the Lord and want to follow the 
Lord.  And for them, that means that they strive to go through life 
without sexual intercourse.  I admire them because they've counted the 
cost and they understand that the cost is high.  I don't know that I 
could do it myself, and a lot of them struggle with the choice that 
they've made.  But I count it a privilege to be in there struggling
with them, fellow sinners seeking God's grace to overcome who we
are and to become who we are meant to be.  My friends are apparently
meant to be homosexuals.  But redeemed homosexuals. 

I don't know if any of this sheds any light on the situation you're
in now.  But I'd at least like to encourage you to respond in love
and truth.  Don't compromise your faith.  But also understand that
your faith doesn't require you to have an adversarial relationship
with the gays and lesbians at Latrobe.  They may hate you and
scorn you and try to have you thrown off campus.  Try to love them
anyway.  That's hard to do, and you have a hard task ahead of you.
You'll certainly be in my prayers.

>God Bless!!!!

Likewise.

>Richie Teh
>-- 
>Richie   ( that's me....)

Andy Whitman
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus, Ohio
att!cblpn!ajw  or
ajw@cblpn.att.com
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