<\/p>\n
Star of the American reality TV show Duck Dynasty,<\/em>\u00a0Phil Roberston, was recently very publicly vocal about his negative view of homosexuality.<\/p>\n A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United Methodist Church minister, Rev. Frank Shaefer, was defrocked for performing the wedding ceremony of his gay son.\u00a0\u00a0(Full article here<\/a>) The discussion has taken the usual polarized tone, with the same ground being covered once again…political correctness…the right to free speech…what the Bible says…<\/p>\n The discussion that had the most impact on me was a blog called \u201cIn The Parlor\u201d<\/a> that suggested what we think about homosexuality doesn\u2019t matter any longer saying:<\/p>\n \u201cThe stakes are too high now. The current research<\/a> suggestions that teenagers that are gay are about 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. That puts the percentage of gay teens attempting suicide at about 30-some percent. 1 out of 3 teens who are gay or bisexual will try to kill themselves. And a lot of times they succeed. In fact, Rev. Schaefer\u2019s son contemplated suicide on a number of occasions in his teens.<\/p>\n The fact of the matter is, it doesn\u2019t matter whether or not you think homosexuality is a sin. Let me say that again. It does not matter if you think homosexuality is a sin, or if you think it is simply another expression of human love. It doesn\u2019t matter<\/b>. Why doesn\u2019t it matter? Because people are dying. Kids are literally killing themselves because they are so tired of being rejected and dehumanized that they feel their only option left is to end their life. As a Youth Pastor, this makes me physically ill. And as a human, it should make you feel the same way. So, I\u2019m through with the debate.\u201d<\/p>\n I agree completely, so I will not engage in the debate here.<\/p>\n Why write this article then?\u00a0 Because a thought occurred to me…is it possible that this is just another act of the perfection of the Universe?<\/p>\n It seems that the offending act of the marriage was committed in 2007, and was revealed recently when Rev. Frank Shaefer\u2019s parishioner, Jon Boger, filed a complaint with Methodist officials.<\/p>\n My thought moves to Mary O\u2019Leary\u2019s cow…the cow who, in legend, kicked over the lantern that began the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 which destroyed a large portion of Chicago.\u00a0 I think also of Judas, the disciple of Jesus, who betrayed Jesus with a kiss.<\/p>\n Have Jon Boger and Phil Robertson joined the ranks of those who, through purpose or by chance, change the world? Are Mr. Boger, and Mr. Robertson\u2019s Soul purposes entirely different than what we perceive the purpose of their physical beings to be?<\/p>\n Think about it.\u00a0 Not only did getting defrocked not deter Rev. Shaefer, it set his resolve even more firmly. \u00a0A USA Today article<\/a> quotes him:<\/p>\n \u201c<\/i>Schaefer was told to give up his pulpit in central Pennsylvania by Thursday if he cannot support the denomination’s Book of Discipline. But Schaefer, who describes the book as contradictory and biased against gay people, said he will not go quietly.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n “I am actively committing to having those discriminatory laws changed and banished from our Book of Discipline,” Schaefer said. “That’s the only way I can reconcile being a United Methodist at this point.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n “I cannot voluntarily surrender my credentials because I am a voice now for many \u2014 for tens of thousands \u2014 of LGBT members in our church,” he said then.<\/i><\/p>\n CWG tells us that religion is not wrong, just incomplete in its understanding.\u00a0 CWG also tells us that leaving a religion you do not agree with is not necessarily the best solution, and to consider being that voice from within that will create a change of understanding in that religion.<\/p>\n Jon Boger has steeled Rev. Shaefer\u2019s resolve in all of this in a way that might not have happened had this simply slid under the radar.<\/p>\n The \u201cIn The Parlor\u201d article referred to above was penned by a person who identifies themself as being a youth minister…and whose mind has publicly moved from the debate and into saying:<\/p>\n \u201cWe are now faced with the reality that there are lives at stake. So whatever you believe about homosexuality, keep it to yourself. Instead, try telling a gay kid that you love him and you don\u2019t want him to die.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n When you humanize a theory or a theology, it gets different, and you often find you must change your mind.<\/p>\n Can we, in this New Year, resolve to humanize and personalize the issue…now?<\/p>\n (With true wishes of Peace on Earth dancing like sugar plum fairies in my head…Therese)<\/p>\n (Therese Wilson is a published poet, and is the administrator of, and Spiritual Helper at, the global website at\u00a0<\/i>www.cwghelpingoutreach.com<\/i><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0She may be contacted at:\u00a0<\/i>Therese@TheGlobalConversation.com<\/i><\/a>.)<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Star of the American reality TV show Duck Dynasty,\u00a0Phil Roberston, was recently very publicly vocal about his negative view of homosexuality. A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania United Methodist Church minister, Rev. Frank Shaefer, was defrocked for performing the wedding ceremony of his gay son.\u00a0\u00a0(Full article here) The discussion has taken the usual polarized tone, with the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1411],"tags":[62,163,1530,1516,669],"class_list":["post-7457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anyone_listening","tag-cwg","tag-gay","tag-homosexuality","tag-lgbt","tag-therese-wilson"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7457"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7624,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7457\/revisions\/7624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theglobalconversation.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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