Friday, May 13, 2016

Six Degrees Of Separation

According to Wikipedia:

Six degrees of separation is the theory that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 and popularized by a 1990 play written by John Guare.

It was also a pretty good movie; one of Will Smith's early ventures. I would recommend a watch if you are not easily offended.

It is strange how we all seem to be connected in some way and interesting how many us share commonality of life and lifestyle even though we never talk about it with any more than modest honesty.

There is a wide variety of men and women throughout the world and across cultures that are united by one thing. We are same sex attracted (SSA). We all share the same urge to one degree or another and it plays itself out in accordance with the traditions and truths of the cultures and nations and religious backgrounds that we share. We seem to be able to recognize each other even when separated by language and heterosexual marriage. Sometimes it's gaydar. Sometimes it's because we know somebody that knows somebody that...you get my drift.

I guess my point in all this is that there are many and varied degrees of being SSA or lesbian or gay or Bi or trans-gendered or what ever recent label you would like to apply to us folks.

This is even true in American conservative Christian subculture.

There are people that go through their entire lives with same sex attractions that they never act on them. Some of them are married with children. Some of their partners know, but love binds them to each other and their families and their faith. Others of us distract ourselves with work and blogging and teaching :^) We do our best to remain celibate and in accordance with our faith principles. It would not surprise me to learn there are trans-gendered people at church that no one knows about. Probably some lesbians and maybe some bisexuals. And there are still others failing in their sexual purity walk in some way.

But it is not the flawed sexuality that unites us. It is the saving power of Jesus Christ that brings us all together under one roof with everyone else. We are saved by His blood because we believe in its power to overcome what some regard as the worst desires and sins. Therefore we are not separated from the rest of the body. Some of us SSA's even occupy important places in the Lord's church as teachers, musicians and even pastors and elders in some churches.

None of this means that we do not struggle from time in battle against our own flesh. We are no different than any other Christian in this regard. We within the Christian SSA community have a problem though. There are still many places where we cannot talk and share with our SSA brethren in a Christian environment. This is mostly because we are afraid. We are afraid of the other members of the body and we seem to be afraid of each other. This is unfortunate because we could learn so much from each others life experiences and we could support each other in our efforts toward holy living.

The church should welcome all sinners and help them make contact with the saving blood of Christ. Liars, fornicators, adulterers, pornophiles, gossips and hot heads have all found their place in the church and help from the brethren. It's now time for us SSA's to come forward. We need to throw off the shame of our hidden desires and turn it over to Christ and we need to guide each other down the path to holiness, following Jesus all that way.

There should no longer be degrees of separation between us. Gaydar should not be the way we secretly identify each other. We should cease the 'secrets' mentality entirely. Secrets can lead to sin. What we need now is accountability. We are uniquely equipped to help each other in that only we understand our SSA status. And since we also know Christ and have experienced His power in our lives, we should be able to help each other stand in times of struggle and trial.

I want to end the degrees of separation. Let's come out from among them and work together for the common good of the body.

Is this crazy talk? Are we strong enough to do this? Do we really want to be free or do we clutch to ourselves our SSA desires in reserve in case we want to choose the path of sin?

Someone might ask, 'what if I fail? What if it all becomes known? I want to talk; I want to get free and know the victory, but I cannot be that open.'

Brother...Sister, you have nothing to lose but your chains. There is strength in numbers and there is power from the Spirit among your fellow believers.

We should talk. Ya, I don't care if you are married. I don't care if you are involved in a SS relationship. I don't care if you're cruising gay porn and hook up sites by night. We should talk. Wouldn't you like to be free of all that? You cannot do it alone. You might feel some shame and fear from the initial confession, but you might also find it extremely liberating. You can know what it is to be driven by the love of Jesus and not sexual cravings. You can!

I do not promise you an easy trip. The battle is hard fought and lengthy. You will probably fail in your journey at least once and maybe more; but you will have with you those that understand our common enemy and how he uses the worst in us to destroy us and our relationship with our God. Together we can stand and fight.

I will also tell you that you will probably always have same sex attractions. It will not stop, but it might become easier to deal with if you have support. Why fight the battle alone?

Some things to think about eh? If you know me and you want to talk we can. If you are scared, so be it. I used to be scared of my own shadow.

Fear or Freedom? What will it be?    

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