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Homosexuality, Marriage, and the Church
bound to reflect this instability and become relativized. Third, shame
and guilt are deep and powerful forces that cannot be removed by ma
jority vote. And because a human being is an indivisible wholeness,
shame cannot be separated from guilt, nor from any of the multitude
of feelings and pressures experienced in a homosexual condition. In
the end, the healing benefits from social policies will be fragmentary.
A significant segment of the scientific community in the West “con
tinues to be built upon a rather narrow neo-positivist epistemology. At
an implicit philosophical level,” some modern psychologists
aim at a universal science of human beings, composed of empiri
cally gathered knowledge using procedures that all rational per
sons can agree on and that deliver the same knowledge outcomes,
regardless of the researcher’s assumptions.... Therefore, psycholo
gists may not take towards the object of their studies positions
involving metaphysical or religious assumptions that themselves
cannot be proven to the satisfaction of all rational parties.18
As a consequence of these epistemological presuppositions, the
knowledge of homosexuality, as well as approaches to therapy, remain
open to scientific empirical data and closed to biblical and religious
worldviews. This, combined with biological and biosocial determin
ism, may result in therapy which emphasizes providing coping tools
while minimizing a more holistic healing.
So, while some aspects of society follow the proper sequence of
moving from
ought
to
is,
the
ought
often ends up being so strongly
affected by the
is
of the homosexual condition that, in the end, the
order is reversed: The actual situation on the ground may become
confused with the goal of the whole enterprise.
CHURCH DYNAMICS
Several years ago, I was confronted with a letter from a young Chris
tian informing me of his loneliness and despair. The whole foundation
of his life had crumbled, and no one was available to help. And what
about the God who is available at any moment, the trustworthy God
who will understand all our sufferings? Even He seemed unreachable.