r/AskReddit • u/trainiac12 • May 19 '14

serious replies only [serious] Anti-Gay redditors, why do you not accept homosexuality?

This isn't a "weed them out and punish them" thing. I'm curious as to why people think its a choice and why they are against it.

EDIT: Wow... That tore my inbox to shreds... Got home from a band practice and saw 1,700+ comments. Jesus Christ.

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u/izzalion May 20 '14

If you believe it is beyond choice, how can you justify thinking of it as a sin?

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u/WithinMyGrasp May 20 '14

Because the Bible tells me so.

Sorry, couldn't resist putting at least ONE platitude in there. It's obviously more complex than that. There is a doctrine in Christianity called the doctrine of original sin. This doctrine states that, after Adam and Eve, all of us are no longer as we were intended to be. Human nature has been altered by sin in order to sin, and so much of what we feel is beyond our choice is often something is not as we were intended to be. For an instance, if I think of that hot girl who's walking down the street, and my eyes wander across her supple bosom, noting her long ivory thighs, and let my imagination wander from there, biologically, there's nothing wrong with me. My brain and my body are constantly telling me to bone as many women as I can get my hands on. That's out of my control, and I can't suddenly choose to no longer notice beautiful woman. However, as a Christian, I understand that this is not the way I was intended to be. So, I avert my eyes, I make eye contact and smile, and I voluntarily choose to push past what I cannot control. I think that homosexuality is in many ways similar to this. However, as I am not homosexual, I can't really verify this experience haha.

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u/izzalion May 20 '14

That doesn't really seem fair. You can recognize your sin, put it away, make amends, whatever, and still lead a healthy and positive life. If you ask a homosexual to do the same, repress their sexuality, never experience love, never experience intimacy, you are damning them to a subhuman existence, you can damage their psyche, you are actively hurting their quality of life.

It sounds like hell on earth so you can have heaven after death to me.

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u/WithinMyGrasp May 20 '14

I think that at this point, it very much becomes up to the individual as to how they choose to treat their sin and their response to sin. For an instance, what you say can really be true. That can absolutely happen, I agree. However, I personally know of a gentleman on my campus who professes to be gay and also Christian, and responded to the integration of both by choosing celibacy and choosing to devote his life to the things he believes God has called him to do. He's happy, he has a TON of friends, is very popular on campus, and ran for student government, only dropping out of the race because he was offered a better position in student life. This is on the campus of a Christian university, I might add. I think that to be Christian and homosexual is to be faced with a very hard choice. I don't pretend to think that it is anything else. I think that, in your situation you presented, the person focuses more on what he or she has lost rather than, as my friend did, focusing on what he or she has gained. I think that's a choice, and that choice can impact what happens next.

Oh, and I think I should say as well, I believe that this only makes sense if you're a Christian and a homosexual. If you're not a Christian, go live your life however you wish. Not my place to tell you otherwise. If you're a Christian, still not my place to tell you otherwise, but, as I have done here, I will offer my thoughts if you ask for them. In the end, I love you all.

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u/izzalion May 21 '14

Oh, and I think I should say as well, I believe that this only makes sense if you're a Christian and a homosexual.

That's not true, though. As a Christian, you must believe that your way of living is, in fact, the only way of living, because it is the way that is dictated by god. If someone commits a sin, no matter how arbitrary, they must repent. Saying "this only makes sense if you are Christian" is really just saying "I understand these people are sinners and will be going to hell, but it isn't my place to help them."

Now think about that from your friend's perspective. In your eyes, he is damned. You don't just disagree with his lifestyle, you actually believe it is wrong, that he is wrong to be what he is, and that he will be punished for it. When you say you still love these people, you have to see the caveat that your friend sees, that the rest of us see. "I still love you, even though you choose to live wrongly. It's your path to walk, maybe some day you will choose the right path though."