A Hot Topic

Yesterday in class, during the famously allotted class time that Dr. Corsini commonly refers to as "the time to ask him anything....anything at all", a student raised their hand and asked a question about homosexuality. It took about negative five seconds before numerous people in the class also had their hands up asking questions about the subject of homosexuality and the various stances on it. The overall consensus seemed to be.....we were all confused! During the discussion, by no surprise, the recently written article by Brandon Ambrosino was a "hot topic" of discussion. The article, "Being Gay at Jerry Falwell's University", written by a previous Liberty student, discusses the time the author (Brandon) spent at Liberty University, while struggling with the issue of homosexuality. While the article is somewhat controversial in nature, the overall focus suggests that contrary to popular belief, the authors time at Liberty University was in fact a time of unconditional love. As the article continues, it continually addresses the students time at Liberty as an overall pleasant experience, frequently being loved on by students, professors (most of who were named) and other faculty members. In addition, the author discusses the way in which he believed Dr. Jerry Falwell would have addressed his homosexuality by saying, "I never told Dr. Falwell that I was gay; but I wouldn't have been afraid of his response. Would he have thought homosexuality was an abomination? Yes. Would he have thought it was God's intention for me to be straight? Yes. But would he have wanted to stone me? No. And if there were some that would've wanted to stone me, I can imagine Jerry Falwell, with his fat smile, telling all of my accusers to go home and pray because they were wicked people."

How does this effect us as counselors?? I honestly believe that many counselors in training don't realize how much the issue of homosexuality will effect our profession. This is a subject that most Christians...well actually most people in general....are very confused about (as our class time Thursday showed). Because homosexuality is an issue that many human souls struggle with, it is essential to have an understanding of the lifestyle, as well as knowledge in the area of treating individuals who are in a continuous struggle with their sexuality. As Christian counselors, the bar is raised even higher. Because we as Christians are called to a higher standards, we must first of all have a thorough knowledge of what the Bible says about about the lifestyle of homosexuality.We must know WHAT we believe, and WHY we believe it.  In addition to this, we must be just as familiar of what the Bible says about love. The article presented, does an excellent job of showing the importance of both of these components.

This article stirred up numerous emotions within me. First of all, I thought the article really presented Liberty in a positive light, as it continually gave examples of people who showed the author love, compassion, and grace; even after he accepted a lifestyle that was not agreed upon. And while I do see why some may make the argument that not enough "discipline" was shown to the student for his behavior and actions, I would have to respectfully disagree. While I believe that it is ESSENTIAL to never condone sinful behavior, I also believe that in the present case, the student possessed full understanding of the sinfulness of his behavior. It is my opinion, that the professors in the article, gave an excellent example of how to show love to unbelievers at all times. I really appreciated their example of grace and unconditional love. 

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