By Sadie Hopkins | Contributor
Being a heterosexual 19-year-old female, my opinion regarding whether Baylor should or should not establish an official club for its LGBT student community wouldn’t typically be valid. However, as a Christian, I have the right to voice my opinion.
I was raised in a loving and supportive home that practically lived the southern Baptist church. Challenging the ideas in the Bible was considered questioning Christianity as a whole. My church held tight to the traditional interpretation of what scripture had to say on this subject. Nevertheless, as I have gotten older and encountered more perspectives from all types of people, I now challenge how Christianity affiliates itself with the LGBT community.
Christians are called to love everyone willing to be loved. Christianity has also built a foundation on forgiveness and repentance. The Bible acknowledges that no human being is perfect, and sin is ultimately inevitable on Earth. The commandments given by God have created a traditional moral code. This code is what Christians try to abide by to the best of their ability on a daily basis. However, as born-again Christians, we are all still considered sinners, even after asking for forgiveness. Today, the church is facing a debate on whether living a homosexual lifestyle is morally acceptable or not.
I believe the traditional interpretation of scripture has evolved into more of an emotional debate. In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve, man and woman. That was how it was always supposed to be. At this point, the Bible would consider a same-sex relationship as the representation of the brokenness of mankind, or the fall. Although the Bible doesn’t declare homosexual orientation a sin, acting upon the behavior is. Therefore, a person attracted to the same sex must refrain from acting upon their attraction. Within this traditional interpretation is where I think gay people disagree.
A straight person’s sexual orientation is considered a gift. It is something that allows them to find a companion and build a long-term bond with them. It allows them to feel the essence of love, an interpersonal connection with another human being. Sexual orientation isn’t solely based on sex. Building a family is not about sex, but for all human beings it depends on having a suitable companion or spouse. In Genesis 2:18, God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone, I will make a helper suitable for him.” Then came Eve, yes God made a woman. But for a gay person, the opposite sex is not a suitable partner for them. This then uniquely isolates a gay person from ever experiencing the same quality of love and happiness as a straight person. No sexual orientation is based solely on physical sex. A gay person’s sexual orientation, just as a straight person, is rooted in finding a life-long partner who reciprocates the same love. Love being rooted in family and happiness.
In my opinion, by isolating homosexual people, we as Christians are depriving another human being of feeling the same joy and creating the same experiences as a straight person would in a heterosexual relationship, leaving them to feel hopeless and eternally alone. This is then considered good when it was one of the first things God declared not good, for man to be forced to be alone.
This is why I think it is our jobs as Christians, and Baylor’s job as a university, to not isolate or make the homosexual student body feel less of a human being. I know that Baylor has established foundations in Christian scripture, but I think it is our job to challenge some ideas and to look at them with a clear vision of the future. I am by no means asking for the university or Christians in general to disregard God’s word. I’m asking for our university to leave behind a closed mindset and explore new perspectives on scripture that don’t include alienating certain human rights but instead rely on using love, acceptance and forgiveness to change the current policy. We all deserve to be acknowledged and creating a more progressive campus life is the first step to being heard.
Sadie is a sophomore journalism major from Waco.
