The most moving article that I have read in the run up to the referendum is that by political correspondent, Ursula Halligan. She recalls her experiences of same-sex attraction, in nineteen seventies Ireland. At the age of seventeen she wrote in her diary, ‘there seems to be no one I can talk to, not even God.’ As a teenager she listened silently to snide remarks about homosexuals and tried to smile as people mimicked what they thought was stereotypical homosexual behaviour. There were times that her struggle filled her with thoughts of death.
The church has failed in its mission if we can’t demonstrate love and kindness towards people who experience same-sex attraction. Sometimes the reason people don’t feel God is listening is because his people portray him as being the sort of God who does not care. While the Christian Scriptures reveal God’s design for sex to be in the context of marriage, and marriage to be between male and female, we will fail to speak about these issues with any credibility if we cannot show that life in Christ is worth anything he may call us to give up and if our churches fail to be places where the lonely find real family and intimacy. As Ed Shaw (who is a same-sex attracted Christian leader) points out, when someone in the church embraces a gay identity and lifestyle, we need to look inside at how our attitudes and actions may have pushed them to do so.
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