Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016, a continuation of the discussion on same-sex attraction begun in chapel a couple days prior, was held. The speakers present were Leslie Herrmann, Allen Jones, Dr. Corey Gilbert, Dr. Sam Baker and Nathan Geer. It was a small group to come and attend this event and they decided to circle up instead of the typical setting of having the speakers in front of the crowd. This enabled a more conversational atmosphere for the people involved that night.
One of the questions to come up was how would you react/respond if you were told you child were gay? “I would want to be thankful that they would talk to me,” Leslie Herrmann said “Let them be open. Ask questions and listen.”
Nathan Geer spoke about how he would want his relationship with his kids to be such that an awareness would already be there because of open conversations. Meaning, he would hope not to be caught off guard by a decision like this.
When confronted with the question of how to show love to gays without enabling them, a couple responses were given. Allen Jones stated that he didn’t think that we are in danger of people thinking we condone anything.
Geer brought up that we don’t need to hide our perspective, but don’t need to lead with that perspective. We can have an opinion but don’t need to have that be the main drive in a conversation where it could potentially damage the relationship.
It was also questioned if a person can be born with same-sex attraction. Both Dr. Gilbert and Jones said that no evidence has proved either yes or no. Where no gay gene has been discovered, people have shown to have predispositions towards certain things.
Geer says we need to “bring them [gays and those with same-sex attraction] in and try to have those human relationships.” We need to be careful of judging one another outside of the body of Christ.
Leslie Herrmann wrapped up this thought by stating how we should to looking more towards repentance rather than judgment and condemnation.
Overall this was a worthwhile event and covered a wide range of questions. “It was good to get perspectives on situations dealing with homosexuality from faculty members.” Emily Rose said. “It’s always good to be able to look up to people who are older than you and have ideas that are Biblically rooted.”