"Aineo"
"Simonline, I presume you are heterosexual, in gay lingo that is ever-straight. (No, actually in the worlds eyes I would be categorized as "gay".) When you minister to another ever-straight you have a common understanding of life, sexuality, etc. The gay mindset is not the same as that of an ever-straight (I know...only too well).
To you homosexuality is a sin, to gay men and lesbian women their sexuality is their life (i.e it has become an idol for them). Their sexuality defines them as who they are, not what they do (because their "sexuality" has become their god (Ex.20:3) and thus the thing which has primary influence in their definitition of themselves). You see what they do as sin, gays and lesbians see what they do as who they are (so what you are saying is that, since Scripture only condemns the practice of homosexuality, and not people for their sexual orientation, that then means that homosexuals define themselves solely by their actions?!). Most ever-straights believe that homosexuality is a conscious choice (that's because it is. Homosexuality as a sin is, initially, no more compulsive than any other sin such as theft or murder with which we all, homo and hetrosexuals alike, have to battle. However, the more we engage in such sinful practices the more compulsive they become and the more they define who we are until the sinful compulsive practices become habits which in turn harden into "nature" and in taking over completely thus totally defines who we allow ourselves to become. This, in effect, belies a total lack of moral character which, I grant you, is all the more difficult to develop in a world of total philosophical and ethical relativism.). Gay men and lesbain women know they did not choose to have the desires (With all due respect, nobody chooses to be tempted, it is simply an inescapable fact of the fall.) and therefore believe they were created gay, they see the desires as innate, immutable, and unchangeable (innate they may well be, since we are all born with a sinful rebellious nature, but immutable, no. Only God is immutable, temptation will end.).
When puberty hits and your male friends are going gah-gah over girls(ugh) (why the revulsion, since it is clearly what God intends for His creation?), having erotic dreams, noticing breats, hips, etc. Gay men are noticing the rise in the levis, butts in tight pants, having erotic dreams about the high school quaterback, etc (Again, I know...only too well.).
When you witness to a ever-straight man having an affair he may understand lust is the cause (as with "never-straight" men...who are still basically human). What you don't understand about gays is what you call lust, they call love (because, having their hearts and minds blinded by the Evil One (2Cor.4:4), they become incapable of correctly diferentiating between the two). Yes, there are gay men who are out to collect notches on their bedposts, just as there are straight men that do the same. But, when a gay man sees an attractive man he desires and goes into a relationship with, what you call sin and unnatural, he calls a a natural loving, committed relationship. Do you know why this is true for a gay man? No, because it is outside your frame of referrence and you see Lev 18:22. The gay man sees love, appreciation, affirmation, acceptance, a bonding that he NEVER RECEIVED FROM ANY ADULT MALE IN HIS LIFE. (I know that of which you speak (more than you realize) and I also know that every human being has legitimate emotional and developmental needs but seeking to fulfil those needs through the practice of homosexuality when they are not met through legitimate means is not the answer. We need to find / create other legitimate means.)
It takes the love of Jesus Christ - a man - to fulfill his God given, normal, and natural emotional needs. Only Christ's love will set a gay man free, and telling him that his need for love is a sin and an abomination only raises barriers of self-protection and you get labeled a hate monger, a homophobic Christian, a prejudiced bigot (Excuse me?! Christianity does not advocate telling someone that their quest to fulfil their legitimate need for love is a sin. Only if they are seeking to fulfil it in the wrong way (i.e through the practice of homosexuality) is it sinful.)
2 Cor 7:9-11
9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death. NAS
2 Tim 2:24-26
And the Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, 25 with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. NAS
Men come to repentance through the will of God not by an exercise of free will. The Holy Spirit convicts and converts, not you or me. BTW, it works the same with lesbians only from a different perspective, the female perspective that also needs the love of a man - Jesus Christ - to set them free."
(Obviously, you are an out and out Calvinist prefering to believe solely in the Sovereignty of God rather than a combination of the Sovereignty of God and the Free Will of Man which is actually the correct Biblical understanding of the Christian Faith. This is because salvation is primarily a LOVING relationship between the Creator and His creature (along the lines of a father with his son (and definately NOT along the lines of "Giusseppi and Pinnochio" which is how most Calvinists seem to understand it), which is why we are all declared to be "sons of God" by adoption) where BOTH PARTIES have legitimate input into the relationship. GOD DOES NOT WANT A CREATION FULL OF PINNOCHIO'S WHERE HE, AND HE ALONE, HAS TO CONSTANTLY PULL ALL THE STRINGS HIMSELF, SINCE THIS DEFEATS THE WHOLE OBJECT OF CREATING THE CREATION IN THE FIRST PLACE! This is not what Scripture means by "the Sovereignty of God".)
Simonline.