Loving someone doesn’t mean we approve actions
I am glad that Lawrence Wilson was able to continue in a loving relationship with his son after the revelation that his son is homosexual (“How can humans condemn what our loving God made?” Feb. 11).
Too many parents respond to such confessions with shame or anger, tragically damaging or even severing the relationship. To respond in love is certainly the Christ-like way.
However, Mr. Wilson confuses love of the person with approval of the behavior. That is not what Jesus did. When he encountered a life mired in sin, Jesus offered love, forgiveness and the command to “Go and sin no more.”
To justify himself, Mr. Wilson makes some common claims. First, he notes that Jesus never said a word about homosexuality, and therefore it is not a sin.
Jesus never said a word about nuclear war, environmental irresponsibility, or drunk driving. But silence does not mean approval. And while Jesus did not mention it, plenty of other passages of scripture are very clear about homosexuality being a sin.
Second, Mr. Wilson says homosexuality is not a choice, and therefore should not be condemned. While I doubt anyone consciously thinks, “Gee, I think I’ll be a homosexual,” that does not mean we must approve of such behavior.
Shall we approve of active alcoholism? Sociopathic behavior? Pedophilia? Kleptomania?
While not consciously chosen behaviors, all these are symptoms of the sinful, broken, human condition.
Finally, Mr. Wilson says God created the person to be homosexual, so we should not reject the behavior. Certainly God created the individual. But there is no basis on which we can claim God created homosexuality.
Mr. Wilson, I hope you continue to love your son and help the church learn to do so. But don’t suggest that love requires that we approve of his behavior.
As the saying goes, “God loves us as we are. And he loves us enough to not leave us as we are.”
J. David Trawick
San Antonio