{"id":597,"date":"2020-09-19T13:03:49","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T05:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jesus4lesbians.com\/?p=597"},"modified":"2020-09-20T17:05:22","modified_gmt":"2020-09-20T09:05:22","slug":"how-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/Jesus4lesbians.com\/?p=597","title":{"rendered":"How to Soften Feelings of Disgust for Homosexuals"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\r\n\r\n

David was 7 years old and hoping to become a farmer like his dad.\u00a0 Lisa was 12 and hoping to become a teacher like her mom.\u00a0 A few years back, I was giving David and Lisa a tour of my garden.\u00a0 Then, I lifted up a rock and, underneath, five pill bugs[i]<\/a> came to life and began to flee.\u00a0 I picked up one and placed it in the palm of my hand, and I showed them how the bug immediately curled up into a perfect little sphere.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s called a pill bug.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

David came closer and attentively watched as the pill bug gradually came out of hiding and started crawling over my hand.\u00a0 At the same time, Lisa backed away.\u00a0 She was afraid of the bug.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"\"I took the pill bug and placed it gently in David\u2019s hand.\u00a0 It immediately rolled itself into a \u201cpill.\u201d\u00a0 Then David watched it attentively until it came out of hiding and began to crawl forward on his open hand.\u00a0 He touched it briefly, and again the bug rolled itself into a \u201cpill\u201d [or as a minature soccer ball].<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I asked Lisa if she wanted to try the same thing for herself.\u00a0 \u201cNo way,\u201d was her reply.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t want to be bitten by a nasty bug.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I\u2019m telling you this story to illustrate how, in the face of the pill bug, David and Lisa had massively different reactions.\u00a0\u00a0 Neither had experienced the pill bug before.\u00a0 David was attracted by the bug and interested in its activity.\u00a0 Lisa was repulsed by the bug and afraid to be bitten.\u00a0 She wanted to keep as far away from the bug as possible.\u00a0 In her experience of bugs, they were nasty and prone to bite her.\u00a0 She wanted nothing to do with the pill bug.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This instinctual response illustrates how you, the reader, would be prone to react should you visit my garden with me and I would pick up a pill bug and set it in the palm of my hand. . . . \u00a0Some of you would react like David.\u00a0 Some would react like Lisa.\u00a0 Over the course of time, the Davidic portion of the population would be prone to interact positively with pill bugs.\u00a0 The Lisatic portion, meanwhile, would back away and respond in horror when a pill bug was close at hand.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Could one convert a Davidic to a Lisatic?\u00a0 It would be rare, but entirely possible.\u00a0 Once a positive attraction is rewarded and reinforced in repeated positive experiences, it is difficult to go back to revert back to a frightened repulsion of pill bugs.\u00a0 Only something very traumatic could wipe out the train of positive experiences.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Could one convert a Lisatic into a Davidic?\u00a0 It would be rare, but moderately possible.\u00a0 One would have to gain the trust of the Lisatic and to gradually expose him\/her to the wonders of pill bugs.\u00a0 The Lisatic would have to discover, first-hand, that the pill bug did not sting or bite the Davidics.\u00a0 Thus, the negative repulsion could be gradually recognized as a fear and flight response based upon the irrational prejudice that the pill bug had a nasty bite.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I refer to the Lisatic fear and flight response as based upon an irrational prejudice.\u00a0 The pill bug does not have a nasty bite.\u00a0 Lisa\u2019s repulsion was based upon her projection of a characteristic that was never experienced.\u00a0 Lisa\u2019s fear of the unknown cannot compete with David\u2019s delight in what is known.\u00a0 David\u2019s appreciation of pill bugs is not based upon an irrational projection.\u00a0 It is based upon a chain of first-hand positive experiences.\u00a0 In an open society where free and open judgments are arrived at freely, one could expect that the conversion rate to the Davidic position would outmatch the conversion rate to the Lisatic position.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This is exactly what is happening in our society when it comes to homosexual activity.\u00a0 At any given time, only a small portion (5 to 8%) of men and women experience a same-sex attraction.\u00a0 The majority of the population, meanwhile, is instinctively bewildered, perplexed, and repulsed by this attraction.\u00a0 Hence, as in the case of the Lisatics, there is a natural tendency to amplify the fear and flight response with irrational projections.\u00a0 Here are two examples:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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As witnessed in the Bible in Genesis 19:1-11, homosexuals are predatory, continually on the search for their next sexual experience. Homosexuals are characterized by morbid, unhealthy, sexual desire (which the Bible calls lasciviousness). Homosexuals are prone to multiple sex partners, because homosexuality is rooted in sex-addiction. I heard a homosexual say that \u201csex is sex, whether male or female.\u201d May I say, sex with the same sex is a horrible sin, and a form of mental illness[ii]<\/strong><\/a> caused by spiritual rebellion against God and His holy Word.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The secular workplace is hell-on-earth for many Christians, because of constant harassment in a hostile work environment being around the wicked. God-fearing Christians and the unrepentant wicked don’t mix! Gays are disrespecting Christians every time that they wave their filthy lifestyle in our faces. There’s no way that sexually deviate, left-wing, liberal, homosexuals can coexist with conservative, Bible-minded, Christians.[iii]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In an open society where free and open judgments are arrived at through open discussion, one could expect that the conversion rate to the Davidic position would outmatch the conversion rate to the Lisatic position.\u00a0 This is exactly what has happened in the past fifty years.\u00a0 As heterosexuals have personal \"\"contact with gays and lesbians, they quickly realize that much of their fear and flight responses are based upon irrational projections.\u00a0 As a result, all sectors of society are gradually gravitating toward the Davidic position because it is based upon first-hand positive experiences that have a permanent effect because they are not based upon false projections and irrational fears.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How do these conversions take place?\u00a0 To understand them, one has to recognize that everyone undergoing a conversion has a personal story to tell.\u00a0 With this in mind, I want to share a few of my own conversion stories and then to draw some general conclusions.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My conversion away from being a Jew-hater<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My early religious training within Catholic schools and my early cultural training in an ethnic suburb of Cleveland at the outbreak of World War II made it quite natural for me to pity, to blame, and to despise Jews<\/strong>.[iv]<\/a>\u00a0 Had I been bombarded by Hitler’s speeches blaming and shaming Jews, I would undoubtedly have cheered him on.\u00a0 The greater part of my family and neighbors would have done the same.\u00a0 In point of fact, however, I never had contact with a single living Jew. But, then, in an unexpected moment, a real flesh and blood Jew, Mr. Martin, made his way into my life.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Mr. Martin agreed to employ me part\u2011time as a stock\u2011boy in his dry goods store on East 185th Street in Cleveland, Ohio.\u00a0 I had just turned 16, and I desperately needed a larger income than my Cleveland Plain Dealer route had been able to afford me; hence, I felt lucky to have landed this new job.\u00a0 On the other hand, I was anxious upon learning that Mr. Martin was \u201ca Jew\u201d. Would he exploit me?\u00a0 Could he treat a Christian fairly?\u00a0 Would he want me to work on Sundays[v]<\/a> or on other religious holidays?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Over the months I was testing Mr. Martin and, unbeknownst to me, he was testing me as well.\u00a0 One evening, after closing, I was sweeping the floors when I found a crumpled twenty-dollar bill under a counter.\u00a0 My starting salary was fifty cents per hour, and twenty dollars represented a lot of money for a teenager in 1955.\u00a0 Yet, without thinking twice, my Christian instincts took hold, and I turned the money over to Mr. Martin \u201clest someone come asking whether anyone has found it.\u201d \u00a0It didn’t even enter my mind that the money might become mine if no one claimed it or that I might receive a reward if someone did.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As for my tests, Mr. Martin passed with flying colors.\u00a0 He was genuinely sensitive to my religious convictions and school obligations when it came to scheduling my work hours.\u00a0 He treated me fairly, at times even generously, and this disarmed all my earlier reservations.\u00a0 In fact, I gradually came to admire Mr. Martin, and this admiration presented me with a new problem\u2014a theological problem<\/strong>.\u00a0 I knew that God had slated all Jews for eternal damnation because of what they did to Jesus.\u00a0 I also knew that Jews couldn’t go to confession to obtain pardon for such a grievous sin.\u00a0 On the other hand, it seemed unfair, somehow, that God should hold Mr. Martin guilty for such a crime.\u00a0 If Mr. Martin did not harm me, even in little ways, how could he have ever consented to handing an innocent man over to Roman torturers two thousand years ago?<\/strong>\u00a0 Thus began my soul-searching journey to try and find a way to rescue just one Jew from the fires of hell.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What do you learn from my story?\u00a0 You might want to stop reading here and write down a few of your thoughts before continuing.\u00a0 When finished, click on this endnote to see what I wrote.[vi]<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Saving Mr. Martin from Eternal Hellfire<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I never took my theological problem to any of my teachers or pastors. Given my upbringing, I felt secretly ashamed that I had developed an emotional attachment to a Jew<\/strong>.\u00a0 I suspected that I might be ridiculed for what I was attempting to do.\u00a0 Thus I was left to work out a private solution to my problem.\u00a0 For starters, I already knew that for someone to commit a mortal sin, three things were necessary:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

First, the thought, desire, word, action, or omission must be seriously wrong or considered seriously wrong; second, the sinner must be mindful of the serious wrong; third, the sinner must fully consent to it (Baltimore Catechism #69)<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Thus, when it came to the death of Jesus, I was compelled to believe that God could only condemn those Jews who knowingly and willingly recognized the enormity of the sin and then went ahead and wanted to do it anyway<\/strong>.\u00a0 It was hardly imaginable to me that Mr. Martin was that kind of Jew.\u00a0 With a certain boyish simplicity, therefore, I felt that I had succeeded in finding a theological loophole[vii]<\/a> whereby Mr. Martin was safe from the fires of hell.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A week later, another problem popped up. Mr. Martin may not have committed a mortal sin, but he still had that original sin which every human being inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. I had to admit that Mr. Martin was not a Catholic and that he did not have access to the Sacrament of Baptism that would remove that original sin. I knew original sin could be a serious obstacle since, without Baptism, even Catholic babies were prevented from ever going to heaven.\u00a0 At best, they could expect to go to a place of natural happiness called \u201climbo.\u201d[viii]<\/a>\u00a0 Thus, I felt sorry for Mr. Martin.\u00a0 While safe from eternal hellfire, I was forced to see him relegated, for all eternity, to some minor place in the world to come.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Never, never, never, in my wildest imagination, could I, in 1955, have perceived that the \u201cblood guilt\u201d of the Jews was a poison distilled in the third century and systematically passed down as part of Catholic identity to all future generations.\u00a0 After all, I was assured that Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit to guide the teachers of my church and to preserve them from all error until the end of time.\u00a0 It seemed unthinkable to me that my parents, my teachers, my pastors\u2014people whom I knew and loved\u2014could be the mindless purveyors of such a demonic distortion.<\/strong>\u00a0 I mention these things, not by way of casting blame upon my Catholic forebears, but by way of indicating how completely blind even sympathetic and thoughtful persons can be when their hearts and minds are taken over by dark tendencies that claim to have God’s endorsement.[ix]<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My conversion away from being a Nigger-hater<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I grew up in a society torn by racial strife and racial prejudices.\u00a0\u00a0 African-Americans had three main lines for paving their future: Martin Luther King in the South, Malcolm X in the North, Black Panthers in the West.\u00a0 Here are some of the voices that I was accustomed to hearing in Euclid, a suburb bordering the east side of Cleveland, OH, while I was growing up:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Few things are more clear than the utter worthlessness of blacks as a race. . . . \u00a0It may, indeed, be something of a \u00a8mark of Cain.\u00a8 But apart from this it is really worse than a mere worthlessness\u2014the gross stupidity, rank depravity, general overwhelming repulsiveness of [their] speech and behavior and most salient of all – THAT THEY ARE DANGEROU.S. <\/strong>– makes them utterly unfit to be among Whites.\u00a0\u00a0 ~~Servenet[x]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Blacks in America would not do well if they had to confront the truth about themselves. On a collective level, the truth has never done any good for them. They are more inclined toward simplistic solutions to their problems, eager to receive religious and political charlatans, too arrogant to humble themselves, and too dull-minded to perceive where they might be wrong.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Thus, Blacks are a people wholly unfit and unwilling to receive correction, stiff-necked in facing their dysfunctional ways and in reforming their strong criminal proclivities (yes, there are individual exceptions as in most things in life). They are a people who believe all the excuses and rationalizations their Jewish overlords tell them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As a street cop who has worked among them for years, I witnessed up-close and personal what these people are really like in their own so-called ‘communities’ – and believe me, it’s not pretty! ~~Ambrose Kane[xi]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 1965 the race riots began.[xii]<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

– August 11-17, 1965: A routine identity check by police on two black men in a car sparks the Watts riots in Los Angeles, which leave 34 people dead, 1,032 injured and cause more than 40 millions dollars’ worth of damage.\u00a0 The Watts ghetto is all but destroyed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

– Summer 1966: Violence flares in 43 cities, including Chicago, Cleveland, Ohio, Atlanta, Georgia, and San Francisco, resulting in 11 deaths and more than 400 injured.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Unable to any longer remain \u201can innocent bystander,\u201d I worked with my brother, Norm, to bring together a dozen students from all-White Catholic schools to meet with a dozen Blacks coming from inner-city schools.\u00a0 We adopt a \u201ctruth-telling\u201d approach and agree to a \u201cwhat\u2019s said here stays here\u201d policy.\u00a0 This is the first time that I hear Blacks revealing the common misconceptions that Blacks have of Whites.\u00a0 This is an eye-opener for me and for them as well.\u00a0 The Whites also reveal their misconceptions of Blacks as well.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Without going into further details, I want to point out that, after just four two-hour sessions, bonds of trust and affection are strong enough to have reciprocal home visitations and, in a few instances, mixed dating.\u00a0 We establish safe-guards for enabling Blacks to feel safe in all-White neighborhoods, and for Whites to feel safe in Black neighborhoods.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After this, I travel to Europe for the first time.\u00a0 Before leaving, I read James Baldwin\u2019s The Fire Next Time<\/strong><\/em>,[xiii]<\/a> memoirs of his living in Europe.\u00a0 It was in Europe that I met my own severe inability to quiet the fear and disgust associated with the racist notions that had fed my youth while growing up in Euclid, OH.\u00a0 Here is my narrative:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\"\"I remember the shock that I felt when, in my late-twenties, I first saw a handsome Black man walking in the park with his arm around a blond White girl.\u00a0 My head told me that this man\u2019s ability to love and to cherish this woman is not determined by the color of his skin.\u00a0 My gut, on the other hand, was churning and screaming out, \u201cSomething is very wrong here!\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I had to deliberately imagine myself as being that Black man and imagining for myself the pride and joy of having a companion like the blond girl I saw that day.\u00a0 Gradually, over a period of months, I was able to quiet my gut feelings and to replace them with feelings of pride and joy.\u00a0 I share this experience here because it indicates the route whereby I was able, at a later point, to gradually diminish the \u201cutter disgust\u201d that male-to-male sex evoked in my gut.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Here then is the Buddhist practice that I found so helpful.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Loving-Kindness Meditation<\/a><\/h1>\r\n\r\n

Metta<\/em> bhavana,\u00a0<\/em>or loving-kindness meditation, is a method of developing compassion.\u00a0It comes from the Buddhist tradition, but it can be adapted and practiced\u00a0by anyone, regardless of religious affiliation; loving-kindness meditation\u00a0is essentially about cultivating love [and using that love to wash away those feelings which prevent us from loving those who are repugnant and most unworthy of our love].<\/p>\r\n

Loving-kindness, or metta<\/em>, as it is called in the Pali language,\u00a0is unconditional, inclusive love, a love with wisdom<\/strong>. It has no conditions; it does not depend on whether one \u201cdeserves\u201d it or not; it is not restricted to friends and family; it extends out from personal categories to include all living beings.<\/p>\r\n

There are no expectations\u00a0of anything in return.\u00a0 This is the ideal, pure love, which everyone\u00a0has in potential.<\/p>\r\n

We begin with loving ourselves, for unless we have\u00a0a measure of this unconditional love and acceptance for ourselves,\u00a0it is difficult to extend it to others.<\/p>\r\n

Then we [extend this unconditional love and acceptance to] include others who are special to us, and, ultimately, [we extend this unconditional love and acceptance to] include all living beings. . . . [including our enemies.]<\/p>\r\n

This is a meditation\u00a0of care, concern, tenderness, loving kindness, friendship\u2014a feeling\u00a0of warmth for oneself and others. The practice is the softening of\u00a0the mind and heart, an opening to deeper and deeper levels of the\u00a0feeling of kindness, of pure love.<\/p>\r\n

Loving kindness is without any\u00a0desire to possess another. It is not a sentimental feeling of goodwill,\u00a0not an obligation, but comes from a selfless place. It does not depend\u00a0on relationships, on how the other person feels about us.<\/strong> The process\u00a0is first one of softening, breaking down barriers that we feel inwardly\u00a0toward ourselves, and then those that we feel toward others.<\/p>\r\n

[Here are the steps that require 20 to 35 minutes.]<\/p>\r\n

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      1. Take a very comfortable\u00a0posture. One of the aims in this meditation is to feel good, so make\u00a0your posture relaxed and comfortable. Begin to focus around the solar\u00a0plexus, your chest area, your \u201cheart center.\u201d Breathe in\u00a0and out from that area as if you are breathing from the heart center\u00a0and as if all experience is happening from there. Anchor your mindfulness\u00a0only on the sensations at your heart center.<\/li>\r\n
      2. Breathing in and out from the heart center, begin by generating this kind feeling toward yourself. Feel any areas of mental blockage or numbness, self-judgment, self-hatred. Then drop beneath that to the place where we care for ourselves, where we want strength and health and safety for ourselves.\u00a0 Continuing to breathe in and out, use either these traditional phrases or ones you choose yourself.\u00a0 Say or think them several times.
        May I be safe and protected.
        May I be free\u00a0of mental suffering or distress.<\/strong>
        May I be happy.<\/strong>
        May I be free\u00a0of physical pain and suffering.<\/strong>
        May I be healthy and strong.<\/strong>
        May I be able\u00a0to live in this world happily, peacefully, joyfully, with ease.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n
      3. Next, move to a\u00a0person who most invites the feeling of pure unconditional loving kindness,\u00a0the love that does not depend on getting anything back. The first\u00a0person is usually someone we consider a mentor, a benefactor, an elder.\u00a0It might be a parent, grandparent, teacher, someone toward whom it\u00a0takes no effort to feel respect and reverence, someone who immediately\u00a0elicits the feeling of care. Repeat the phrases for this person: \u201cMay\u00a0she be safe and protected\u2026.<\/strong>\u201d<\/li>\r\n
      4. After feeling\u00a0strong unconditional love for the benefactor, move to a person you\u00a0regard as a dear friend and repeat the phrases again, breathing in\u00a0and out of your heart center.\u00a0 \u201cMay\u00a0she be safe and protected\u2026.<\/strong>\u201d<\/li>\r\n
      5. Now move to a\u00a0neutral person, someone for whom you feel neither strong like nor\u00a0dislike. \u201cMay\u00a0she be safe and protected\u2026.<\/strong>\u201d<\/li>\r\n
      6. Now move to someone\u00a0you have difficulty with\u2014hostile feelings, resentments. Repeat\u00a0the phrases for this person. If you have difficulty doing this, you\u00a0can say before the phrases, \u201cTo the best of my ability I wish\u00a0that you be\u2026.\u201d If you begin to feel ill will toward this person,\u00a0return to the benefactor and let the loving kindness arise again.\u00a0Then return to this person.\u00a0 Let the phrases spread through your whole body, mind, and heart.\u00a0 \u201cMay\u00a0she be safe and protected\u2026.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n
      7. After the difficult\u00a0person, radiate loving kindness out to all beings. Stay in touch with\u00a0the ember of warm, tender loving-kindness at the center of your being,\u00a0and begin to visualize or engender a felt sense of all living beings.\u00a0The traditional phrases are these:
        May all beings be safe and protected. . . .<\/strong>        [xiv]<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

        At one point, James and John wanted Jesus to give them permission to call down fire from heaven upon a Samaritan town that refused to give them hospitality once the Samaritans learned that they were intent upon ignoring the Samaritan temple and making a direct path toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:53).\u00a0 To their surprise, Jesus \u201crebuked\u201d his two disciples and refused to sanction their prejudice against Samaritans.<\/p>\r\n

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        It is a wonder that the Parable of the Good Samaritan ever made it into the Gospels.\u00a0 To be more exact, it made it only into Luke\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 This could only mean that at least some of the disciples of Jesus took Jesus\u2019 point of view to heart, and that they preached the Parable of the Good Samaritan in his name.\u00a0 The fact that this Parable was acknowledged in only Luke’s Gospel means that, in other areas, this parable was decidedly not welcome.\u00a0 The reader can easily imagine why.<\/p>\r\n

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        This Parable tells a simple story of a Jew who gets robbed and beaten.\u00a0 We never learn who did this nasty piece of work.\u00a0 It really doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 The story focuses on the Jew who has been left to die (Luke 10:30) in a ditch next to the road.\u00a0 Then a priest comes by.\u00a0 He noticed the dying Jew but does nothing.\u00a0 Maybe he has official priestly duties to perform and touching a man close to death may result in contracting an \u201cimpurity\u201d that would make his priestly duties impossible.\u00a0 Then a Levite comes bye.\u00a0 He likewise decides not to help the victim.\u00a0 Maybe he is afraid to give help because highway robbers often hide themselves and use their first victim as \u201cbait\u201d for capturing their next victim.\u00a0 Jesus doesn\u2019t speculate what might have motivated the priest and Levite to ignore the plight of the Jew in the ditch.\u00a0 Everyone was familiar with instances of persons being robbed and savagely beaten.\u00a0 Everyone was allowed to speculate why a priest or a Levite would hurry on bye.<\/p>\r\n

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        When it comes to the Samaritan, however, Jesus provides a mass of details:<\/p>\r\n

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        When he saw him, he was moved with pity.\u00a0 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him (Luke 10:33-34).<\/p>\r\n

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        These details demonstrate how the Samaritan \u201cwas moved with pity\u201d and took care of the half-dead Jew with extraordinary care and attention.\u00a0 The Samaritan had nothing to gain in doing so.\u00a0 Quite to the contrary, he had much to lose.\u00a0 He helped a man in deep trouble.\u00a0 He could have been attacked by the robbers and given the same rough treatment.\u00a0 Clearly, he did not help the man because he was Jewish.\u00a0 The greater possibility is that he had no certainty that the victim was Jewish.\u00a0 No matter.\u00a0 He “was moved with pity” for this unfortunate victim, and he had the courage to do something about it.\u00a0 The priest and Levite surely must have felt some pity as well, but one must surmise that their pity was not sufficiently strong as to interrupt their trip and bring them to take action on behalf of the victim.\u00a0 Only the \u201cSamaritan\u201d proved himself worthy of being identified as truly \u201cloving his neighbor\u201d (Luke 10:37).<\/p>\r\n

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        Meeting a Good Gay Guy Online<\/h2>\r\n

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        When I go online, I notice that the vast majority of born-again Christians take a superior attitude and give the gays and lesbians that they encounter a \u201cdeserved verbal beating.\u201d\u00a0 They feel they have a duty to do this because they are acting in harmony with God\u2019s will.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

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        Steve and Renee[xvii]<\/a> provide two different illustrations of this:<\/p>\r\n

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        Steve July 28, 2018 at 5:25 AM<\/p>\r\n

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        Here’s the biggest problem we [born-again Christians] have . . . there is no such thing as \u201cbeing gay\u201d. Gay is a term used by the left to rationalize homosexual behavior. It’s a calmer word the left uses to make it seem normal and innocuous. When you hear the word \u201cgay\u201d you don’t hear the word \u201chomosexual\u201d, so it seems nicer.<\/p>\r\n

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        It’s the same way the left uses \u201cpro-choice\u201d instead of \u201cabortion\u201d. Being \u201cpro-choice\u201d and \u201cgay\u201d doesn’t sound harsh and intolerant. Using those terms make people feel okay about doing something wrong. . . .<\/p>\r\n

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        We can’t get caught up in using those terms or we fall into the trap of compromise. If we even use those terms we give credence and legitimacy to them. God didn’t, doesn’t, and will never create \u201cgay\u201d people. . . .<\/p>\r\n

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        Renee June 17, 2018 at 6:30 AM<\/p>\r\n

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        Now I know a lot of people are going to jump up and down and get all over me for this; but sometimes love has to be tough. There’s no excuse to condone sin and i don’t care who’s sin it is, or what sin it is. Discipleship has a price. People have (and in some places today still do) lay down their lives for the sake of the Kingdom. And yes, the truth brings division. That’s part of life.<\/p>\r\n

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        Most GLBTQ Christians remain silent.\u00a0 They know that they cannot help Steve and Renee.\u00a0 As Michael Polanyi observed, \u201cEvery belief works in the eyes of the believer.\u201d[xviii]<\/a>\u00a0 So, according to Steve, \u201cGod didn’t, doesn’t, and will never create \u201cgay\u201d people.\u201d\u00a0 According to Renee, \u201cThere’s no excuse to condone sin and i don’t care who’s sin it is, or what sin it is.\u201d\u00a0 Both are passionate truth-tellers sharing the \u201ctruth\u201d that makes sense to them.\u00a0 Nothing can dislodge their beliefs.\u00a0 But, as an unexpected interloper, \u201cR\u201d arrives:<\/p>\r\n

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        \uf0b7\u00a0 R July 6, 2018\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

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        I\u2019m a gay person and this is painful to read, but I so appreciate the honesty and I appreciate that you all are trying hard to be good people and don\u2019t want to hurt anyone.<\/p>\r\n

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        I know it takes a long time to untangle a deep seated belief that has been there for so long and it\u2019s a scary thing to do. Maybe you worry that if you change that belief, it would call into question many other beliefs and then pretty soon, your whole foundation is ripped from underneath you. That would be scary.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

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        I believe there is a way you can change your belief about homosexuality and still maintain all your others. Some bits of the Bible are a bit outdated – mixing fabrics, eating shellfish, eating pork etc – reason being that at the time, those things posed a practical threat. Maybe at the time, the world needed more people so the idea of a marriage without children could be threatening to the future of the world. We\u2019re now at a time where the world is overpopulated actually, and we\u2019re also at a time where gay marriages can yield children.<\/p>\r\n

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        A lot has changed. The basic principals [sic] of not lying, cheating, stealing, killing, etc – the golden rule of treating people how you\u2019d want to be treated – etc those are the principals that were meant to stay – the guidance around them just helped everyone survive and they can be slightly re-interpreted as the world changes over long periods of time. The core though – the basic principals – those were created to withstand any change and they should.<\/p>\r\n

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        Notice how R begins by revealing his pain.\u00a0 Then he identifies what he admires in the posts he has read.\u00a0 He tries to find some ground for empathy with Steve and Renee.\u00a0 He imagines that they are hurting, and thus he puts forward a life raft to help them deal with the stormy waters that might be threatening them.\u00a0 Renee responds by sending the life raft back to R.<\/p>\r\n

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        Renee June 17, 2018 at 6:30 AM<\/p>\r\n

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        Now this whole \u201cgay Christian remain celibate\u201d thing I find an absolute farce because it’s made on an assumption that people can’t change. People change all the time and people’s \u201corientations\u201d change too. (Change your thought process, you change your behavior.)<\/p>\r\n

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        Now it’s not usually something that happens overnight; especially if someone is entrenched in a particular ideology. Yet it does happen and more often than people with an agenda would be willing to admit. In a good percent of cases it happens without any intervention and \u201cno body [sic] ever knew\u201d.<\/p>\r\n

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        \uf0b7\u00a0 R July 6, 2018 at 8:54 AM<\/p>\r\n

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        I\u2019ll tell you as a gay person, I can\u2019t go [on with] my life without love. . . . \u00a0I\u2019d kill myself. Most people would. Love is everything.<\/p>\r\n

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        I can\u2019t be in love with someone of the opposite sex the [same] way you can\u2019t be in love with someone of the same sex. I could try and convince you and threaten your life and your afterlife – but it wouldn\u2019t make you [feel] in love with someone of the same sex.<\/p>\r\n

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        Could you fake it? For a little while, sure – but then you\u2019re either having an affair later which involves lying and cheating and intentional deception on top of homosexuality, or you\u2019re living without ever being in love. The options here are unbearable.<\/p>\r\n

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        Please genuinely close your eyes and imagine yourself in our [\/my] shoes. Imagine the person you\u2019ve loved most in your life – someone who loved you back maybe – someone who made you better and whom you made better – pure and good love, now imagine you were told you\u2019d go to hell and betray God and your family if you continued to love him\/her. Imagine the only way you could be a good person is if you [abandoned your true love and] only had sex with and married someone of the same sex. . . .<\/p>\r\n

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        Don\u2019t put people in that position – don\u2019t make them choose between life and love, and support your loved ones who feel they\u2019ve had to. They need you badly. . . .<\/p>\r\n

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        When I read this last line, I think back on Bishop Gumbleton\u2019s story of his brother:<\/p>\r\n

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        And so I went along with that kind of understanding, and I guess lack of understanding of homosexuality. Until suddenly in my own family I was confronted when my brother wrote a letter to my siblings and me and my mother coming out\u2014saying he is gay and had been all his life\u2014had struggled against it in various ways as many homosexual people do. Because first of all, you’re taught it’s wrong. And so you somehow feel it’s wrong. And you’re trying to do the right thing. So you’re trying not to be who you are.<\/p>\r\n

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        And so he had gone so far as entering the seminary at one point, which is sort of a safe place for a homosexual actually because you do have male relationships, even though you could be committed to celibacy. So you’re in more of a friendly environment. And you’ve a very respected role. And nobody questions why you’re not married if you’re a priest.<\/p>\r\n

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        But then quickly he discovered that that was not where he should be, and so he left. But then he married. Again, in an attempt to say \u201cNo, I’m not gay.\u201d And he was married for fifteen years or so and had four children. But could never shake who he was because you can’t\u2014it’s something that is part of your person.<\/p>\r\n

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        So when he came out, I suddenly had to deal with this in a way I never had before because it was on a very personal level. Do I reject my brother? Do I despise him because he’s evil? And so on.\u00a0 So the first thing I had to do was deal with my own homophobia<\/strong>.

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        [i]<\/a> The pill bug<\/strong> is the only crustacean that can spend its entire life on land. Their shells look like armor and they are known for their ability to roll into a ball. Sometimes children call them rollie-pollies<\/strong>. Most pill bugs live for up to two years. They are most active at night.\u00a0 They do not carry diseases or contaminate food.<\/p>\r\n

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        [ii]<\/a> Before 1973, homosexuality was considered as a “mental illness”, at least by the psychiatrists that authored edition 2 of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders<\/em><\/strong> (DSM-II).\u00a0 In edition 3, it was reclassified as normal<\/p>\r\n

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        [iii]<\/a> I leave it to my reader to discover the multiple layers of suspicion and misinformation that have been brought together in this example.\u00a0 Source=http:\/\/www.jesus-is-savior.com\/
        Evils%20in%20America\/Sodomy\/how_to_respond.htm<\/p>\r\n

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        [iv]<\/a> Since I attended Catholic schools from kindergarden on up, religious training was very significant for me and for my parents as well.\u00a0 From the Gospels, I learned that the Pharisees were Jews that stubbornly opposed Jesus and his teaching.\u00a0 I pitied Jews because of this.\u00a0 They had locked themselves within a false religion and would be judged by God on the Last Day for their bad judgment.\u00a0 When bad things happened to Jews, therefore, it seemed to me that they were getting what they justly deserved.\u00a0 No one ever told me that most contemporary Jews were not like the Pharisees and that Judaism had been changing for two thousand years after the death of Jesus.\u00a0 As a result, when I heard the Gospel stories of how Jesus clashed with the Pharisees, I thought that I was discovering how living Jews were mindless hypocrites who opposed the moderation in Jesus\u2019 message.\u00a0 When I interacted with Jews, therefore, I was projecting upon them the mindset found in the Gospels.\u00a0 As a result, I was highly critical of Judaism for a long time before I actually met my first Jew.<\/p>\r\n

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        [v]<\/a> In 1955, my family and I attended Holy Cross Catholic Church. I remember that the Sunday sermons often contained admonitions not to violate the 3rd<\/sup> Commandment by doing unnecessary work on the \u201cLord\u2019s Day\u201d (known as \u201cthe day of rest\u201d).\u00a0 Our sermons distinguished between necessary and unnecessary work.\u00a0 Necessary work included mom\u2019s preparing family meals and children washing the dishes.\u00a0 Some dads had to work as firemen or policemen.\u00a0 Unnecessary work consisted of activities like \u201cmowing the lawn\u201d or \u201cpainting the house\u201d or \u201cshopping for food\u201d\u2014things that could easily be taken care of on Saturdays.\u00a0 At this point of time, most stores and shopping malls were closed on Sundays.\u00a0\u00a0 Happily Mr. Martin\u2019s Dry Goods Store was among them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

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        I have not heard from the pulpit an admonition to refrain from unnecessary work on Sundays for the past forty years.\u00a0 It reveals something about myself when I say that I kept this practice faithfully into the 1990s when members of my own family began to playfully chide me for maintaining a \u201crigorist mindset.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

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        [vi]<\/a> Here is what I learn from my story:<\/p>\r\n

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