Diversity without enmity in gay marriage debate
Dave Faulkner's post on Big Circumstance today is one of those.
In 'An Appeal to Both Sides of the Christian Debate about Gay Marriage' he appeals for the exercise of Christian love and respect between those of opposing opinions. He cites several areas where Christians need to listen to each other:
- petitions
- Bible
- science
- epistemology
- ethics
Like him I have been appalled by some of the sloppy thinking and wrong facts in certain petitions. Like him my views on the sexuality debate have changed from ten years ago, but are still rather confused, so I too need to work hard on studying and listening more.
It was James Jones, the Bishop of Liverpool who (quoting the Dean of Liverpool?) used the phrase 'diversity without enmity' in a 2010 address. He said that diversity without enmity
"provides a safe and a spiritually and emotionally healthy place for Christians of differing convictions to discern the will of God for our lives."
I believe God has unconditional love for all people. We can't as the body of Christ discern God's will for our lives while refusing to listen to differing opinions as we hurl slogans against each other.
Thanks for a little common sense in the discussion. Both sides are quick to jump onto their band wagons, with little thought of the consequences.
ReplyDeleteI err on the side of Christian Love meaning that we shouldn't be exclusive, and should be inclusive for all of God's children.
So, I suspect that I am liberal if that is the label people choose to apply to my view, but in reality, I prefer Christian, which is who I am.
Thanks for commenting UKViewer. I'm not sure what common sense is. People tend to use it to mean 'what I agree with'. In many Christian circles it has been very hard to have truly open discussions, often I think because of the fear of being labelled unhelpfully or even abusively.
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