Can we all agree that:
1) God loves everyone deeply and individually where they are.
2) The Holy Spirit challenges us all to become much more than where we started.
3) Everyone in the church - ALL sides in this issue, progressive, traditional and "in the middle" LOVE Jesus Christ and LOVE EACH OTHER deeply.
AND THAT...
4) We all welcome each other warmly and gracefully, even if there are major and painful differences over facts, qualifications, interpretations and opinions.
5) The ultimate dividing issue before us is how we are to understand the appropriateness in the christian lifestyle of a set of same sex, genitalia stimulating actions.
------ I offer this as a re-starting point of our discussions because I'm aware that the church has affirmed, sanctioned and celebrated same sex families and living units for hundred of years.
They were called monasteries and convents.
------ People covenanted together, living together deeply in God's love. They worshipped together, prayed together, raised children together, shared their deepest hearts and souls together, as well as working productively in society. They also affirmed that engaging in that set of genitalia stimulating activities was spiritually distracting and harmful to their community.
Perhaps we can learn from them and begin a more profound discussion on the motivation of those activities for the 21st century.
{See the article:
New monasticism:
Why are so many young people choosing
to become temporary monks?
at: https://www.christiantoday.com/article/new-monasticism-why-are-so-many-young-people-choosing-to-become-temporary-monksupdate1/123897.htm }
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