Can't believe

I can't believe that I forgot to write about this.  Maybe it was a brain lapse, or I'm just that totally out of it by working second shift.  Or maybe I hadn't had enough coffee.

A friend of mine posted this link to the Give A Damn organization on my Facebook page.  The story also references an article from the Advocate which you can find here.

I'm not quite sure how to feel about this.  I mean I'm happy that steps are being taken to reduce religious bigotry, but I find myself in a precarious place theologically.  Let me make an attempt to explain.

I recently read the book Homosexuality and Ethics (linked to in a previous post), which focused more on Christian Ethics/Moral Theology.  And while I personally ascribe to (and need to do more research on) the views of religion and homosexuality as presented by Helmut Thielike which is that, if I remember correctly (and I may be paraphrasing poorly), homosexual "acts" are intrinsically evil (i.e. sinful) but the state of being homosexual is no more or less unforgivable than being human (i.e. inheritors of Original Sin).

Every time I present this viewpoint to any Lutheran theologian that I speak with, they always bring up the same arguement, and that is true repentance breeds change.  That is to say that if one is truly repentant of whatever sin they are repenting of, then the will endeavor to change their behavior so as to not perform the same sin again.

My problem with this argument is that if it is all about actions, couldn't this be a case of "take the plank out of your own eye, before you attempt to remove the speck from your brother's".  The reason I say this is because how many "Christians" go to church and repent of damnable sins (which they all are) and leave Church, they continue to indulge in the same sins seemingly without regard for their "true repentance".

So my question is always, "What is the difference between the repentant homosexual who doesn't change his/her sexual practices and the fornicating christian who continues to fornicate after being absolved?"  Very rarely do I get a satisfactory answer to this question.

Also, for those who can put 2 and 2 together, this is the basic premise of "The Project".  Albeit that the final version will be longer and have a great deal more references.

I guess I'm just in a state of uncertainty.  But change always does that.  Whether this is for good or for ill, I can't say at this point.  I just hope that it doesn't spell more trouble for the Lutheran Church as a whole.  I can't say that I'm not happy about the change, but I can't say that I'm totally elated either.  I'm just going to take a step back and wait to see what comes from it.