The more I hear so called qualified Christian organizations talk about homosexuality and its place in the Bible, the more I doubt that many are equipped to make statements concerning the issue.

On the one hand, there are plenty of “Christians” (more than I like to think about) who decide that homosexuals are damned by God and going to hell. The other group lands far from the fence, creating groups like The Gay/Straight Alliance to accept and encourage those turning to homosexual lifestyles.

Which is Biblically accurate?

I don’t like the approach of either side. What I desire is a truly honest dialogue that questions the fundamental reasoning behind this whole idea. What I desire is what many students at Huntington University have desired for a long time. What we all desire isn’t what Huntington delivered during their token homosexual week of chapels a few days ago.

Last year, from what I hear, there was a lot of controversy over the rumor of gays/lesbians on campus, and how students should respond to it. Not wanting to miss a chance to spread its biased propaganda, Huntington invited Exodus International to attempt to brainwash those students gullible enough to think they might gain something intellectually through a HU chapel (since, I don’t know, they tend to shoot for the lowest common denominator). Exodus offers retreats and conferences that you can send your kids to. Does it sound like they would provide a balanced collection of differing Biblical perspectives?

Ironically enough, trying to look at the various sites from links off the Exodus website that offer treatment for homosexuals/counseling/services is blocked by HU’s Traffic Control System as “Adult Lifestyles.” Interesting.

But I’m not completely against their side of the fence. The radicals (well, the other ones) will say that homosexuality isn’t wrong, and they only feel it is because we tell them it is. They claim that Biblical evidence does not support heterosexuality as the only way to lead a God pleasing life, and they encourage their homosexual friends.

Like I said, neither side is attractive to me. On the one hand, homosexuality does seem to go against some sort of standard (wherever/however you want to define it). But it gets messy for me whenever I try to pin down a verse or a story or a principle somewhere that explicitly states the truth of the manner. I’d much rather focus on loving everyone. This seems simple to me. So then I side with the liberals; I really like that their goal seems to be to push the administration of HU to define what “homosexual activity” as stated in the community life agreement, actually is. I applaud their efforts in that area. Facing that decision, HU has two options: either explicitly state what “homosexual activity” (which our community life agreement forbids) actually is (which they would probably be much too embarrassed to do) or make the statement that homosexuals are not welcome on the campus.

What would that do to enrollment?

Really I think this issue is part of a bigger problem the university is facing. Right now they are very much at a half fundamental-half liberal arts school. So what happens is they say things like they are open to new things, ideas, and want you to experience life; at the same time they lay down rules such as “no R rated movies on campus” and “no smoking on campus.”((Which, by the way, the former is ignored and the latter avoided by walking across the street to “smoker’s corner.”)) In the end, what do these rules do? They do exactly what I hope against for Christians – they turn them into individuals that can barely handle themselves in the real world. No R movies? That’s ridiculous. No drinking at all – even when you’ve turned 21? Why?

The issue of homosexual activity is just a bullet point on my list of problems with the rules. Why must we set rules like this in order to call this a “Christian institution?” Instead of creating balanced, healthy individuals like I’m sure they are trying to do, they create finger-pointing Bible beaters (switch out student handbook with Bible, the thinking will carry over) that believe a list of rules is how you live the Christian life.

I’ll stop talking about this because it’s starting to piss me off.

Oh, and I don’t know what I think about homosexuality yet. But I know HU isn’t going to convince me of anything with their chapel series. How can you respect something like that from an institution – a university, at that – that basically snubs students who are willing to think for themselves, ask intelligent and difficult questions, maybe even read a damn book or two, and tell them “These chapels aren’t aimed at you. We were talking to everyone else.”

How sad.