Will the Real Homophobe Please Stand Up

Those of us who oppose Same-Sex Marriage (SSM) are routinely demeaned as “homophobes” – those who hate gays. And if you are a hater, then you shouldn’t have a voice. Therefore, any who disagree with SSM shouldn’t have a voice.

But do we really hate gays? One way to decide this question is to determine who actually causes harm to gays? Is it those who oppose SSM or those who promote it?

• According to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control that analyzed data from 2011, approximately 62 percent of gay men who know they have HIV/AIDS do not use condoms when engaging in sexual relations. (LifeSiteNews)

If anyone hates gays, it is these 62%. However, it is not just these, but it’s also those who encourage homosexuality, claiming that the many costs that gays incur are just the result of social intolerance. Certainly, it is not intolerance that causes gays to lie about their health status. Nor is it intolerance that has caused the STD epidemic and attenuated lifespans among gays. Intolerance cannot explain the plethora of problems plaguing the gay lifestyle – mental health, substance abuse, suicide, and domestic violence issues.

We can also ask, “Who is it who really cares about gays – those who indulge them or those who warn them?” Of course, we Christians are accused of condemning gays to hell and of  treating them with contempt.

Against these charges, I try to explain that, however haltingly we might walk in the love that we profess, it is our duty to love the gays as Christ has loved us. Since we have learned that we are nothing without our Savior, we are in no position to look down on anyone else. (Although my assertion has never been met with applause, I want to set the record straight anyway.)

What then is love? Love is a commitment to the ultimate welfare of others. It speaks truth. Sometimes, it warns. However, it should never acquiesce to the establishment of an institution – SSM – that will further normalize a behavior that has already been so self-destructive.

Let the World Go to the Dogs as Long as I am Right

The historian Arnold Toynbee declared that great civilizations are destroyed from within. No surprise! We see indications of this all around us. Here is one small indication from the Center for Disease Control:

• There are currently about 110 million people in the U.S. living with a sexually-transmitted disease (STD)… According to the CDC, up to 20 million new STD infections occur every year — these include hepatitis B, HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, HPV, and chlamydia. Half of these new infections are among young people between the ages of 15 and 24. So the prevalence among young people is quite high.  

Some of these diseases will result in irreversible damage and infertility. Clearly, STDs have become epidemic, but where is the outcry? Why isn’t the Western media raising the alarm against these exploding dangers, especially in light of the very evident failures of “safe-sex education” interventions?

We are so concerned about providing our youth with ample food, education and healthcare but remain silent as they destroy themselves sexually. Why? It seems that we are stubbornly committed to sexual freedom, but does sexual freedom equate with sexual satisfaction? Not at all: 

• In the mid 1970’s Redbook Magazine published a ‘Sexual Pleasure Survey’, showing the preferences of 100,000 women. This survey concluded that "sexual satisfaction is related significantly to religious belief." If the media have successfully ‘brain-washed’ you your immediate thought following on from this statement is that religious people must, of course, enjoy sex less than irreligious people; right? Wrong: "With notable consistency, the greater the intensity of a woman’s religious convictions, the likelier she is to be highly satisfied with the sexual pleasure of the marriage. . . Strongly religious women seem to be more responsive [and] more likely than the nonreligious to be orgasmic every time she engages in sex." (Tim & Beverly La Haye - The Act of Marriage, p9.) 

• American Christian Councillors Tim and Beverly La Haye undertook a survey of mainly Christian couples (3,377 people - 1,705 women and 1,672 men), which indicated, in line with the Redbook Survey, that "Christians maintain a higher enjoyment level in the intimacy of their love life than the population in general." (P210). The La Hay’s Survey showed that, generally speaking, Christian couples enjoyed sex more than couples with any other religious beliefs: "The women in our survey reported a 10 percent higher degree of sexual enjoyment, greater frequency of lovemaking experiences per month, and a more active part in [sex] than their "strongly religious" counterparts [in the REDBOOK Survey], likewise scoring much higher in these same areas than the average "non-religious" woman in the REDBOOK Survey." (P211). 

Former atheist, Patrick Glynn, adds:

• A 1978 study found that church attendance predicted marital satisfaction better than any other single variable. Couples in long-lasting marriages who were surveyed in another study listed religion as one of the most important “prescriptions” of a happy marriage. (God: The Evidence, 64)

However, it is so hard to admit that we have been wrong and that those we have disdained – our “mortal enemies” - have been right. It is a loss-of-face that few can sustain. Let our families, our children and our civilization rot as long as we are right!