Rights and Wrong

I had a discussion with a few friends in my car about homosexuality.

So we started by asking, how can we bring God’s view on Homosexual marriage into a non religious perspective. Christians know that homosexuality is wrong. Why is it wrong, and how do we tell it to the world? A world that does not believe in God? It proved to be near impossible.

No matter what argument you put forward, the ultimate response was that it was discriminatory. By banning gay marriages, by restricting any rights of homosexuals, we have become discriminatory. Our laws have become discriminatory in nature. And because it so, we have a duty as Christians to fight that law. A law that is discriminatory in nature is necessarily wrong, even if it was aimed at achieving a good end. Means do not justify an end. And if you had certain assumptions, then that law is discriminatory.

But as we debated back and forth, my friend (non Christian, not supportive nor against homosexual) pointed out that on a strictly objective perspective, Christians were restricting the rights of a free individual to make decisions that they think would be best for them. And if you did not think homosexual was wrong, then it would mean that we were indeed discriminating against a way of life.

But as we argued even more, I realised the real heart of the debate. The true argument that the gay lobby has in Singapore, is not whether they had a right to have anal sex. The gay lobby in the world is not truly fighting for marriage. What they want, and the crux of the debate is simply this question:

Is Homosexuality wrong.

The debate is coloured when we discuss about gay rights because that is not main question. If homosexuality was wrong, there would be no rights to discuss. No right to have sex, no right to engage in marriage. Homosexuality is wrong, you commit it, you are a criminal, therefore your rights are removed. What the debate has moved on is on a presupposition that homosexuality is right. And I believe that is what is happening. We are moving not towards a new world order so much as muddling up the waters sufficiently that what is right and wrong is not clear anymore.

Strip away all the deceit, pull the stops, fight back to get to the core of the debate. Is homosexual wrong. Because it started there. We moved away and started dealing with the symptoms. If we said it was right, then I’m sorry, gay marriages have to be condoned. If we argued that it was wrong, then I’m sorry, gay marriages have to be condemned. I believe gays actually know this. That is why they move away from this debate, call themselves minority, and ignore the bigger issue.

So anyway, we changed topic. We argued why homosexuality is wrong. We asked the tough questions. And there was no answer. How do you have a fair answer to the question, is homosexuality wrong. It feels natural. It’s love, pure and simple. There is no simple right or wrong.

And then my non Christian friend pointed out an extremely sharp view: Christians have a assumption about right and wrong, and derive logic from there. Non believers have no idea of right and wrong, and use logic to find it. Christians use right and wrong to find logic, non believers use logic to decide what is right and wrong.
But by definition, right and wrong is not for discussion. Right and wrong are absolutes. If we use logic to derive right and wrong, then our answers will be flawed. Do consider that philosophers, while not maintaining a monopoly on logic do possess considerable expertise in the area, are not in agreement with right and wrong. Then in that case, does it not tell you that logic cannot derive right and wrong if the foundations of logic is fundamentally weakened due to a lack of knowledge. Logic cannot work without knowledge, perfect knowledge in fact. Right and wrong, does not depend on feelings, emotions, good enough reasons. It is an absolute. Black or white. Exclusive by nature.

But if you use a presupposition that God is real, and he is good, then right and wrong becomes clear, and logic becomes the tool you use to explain why it is right and why it is wrong. Christians need logic far more than anything else sans faith, because without it, you’d be floating around in nothingness. How can that be? We need logic to understand the laws of God. Without logic, you’d have blind faith. We read the bible, but we also need to verify what the bible says, and not just what the translation says, but careful study of the topic, not to understand the what, but the why God says it.

And even then, it came to mind that that was the main thesis of life as a Christian. For me, my biggest burden is not for the lost. But for the found and lost. I have a burden for those who have fallen away from God. And I know they feel, having been there. But I want to be a friend to them, the friend that I wanted and needed. The friend that can explain, why God is good. What does it mean that God is good. How is God good. All these questions, that were never answered but presupposed.

As like the gay argument that presupposes that homosexuality is right, we cannot merely presupposed that God is good, we have first believe that God is good and find out why. We need know why is God’s will good, pleasing and perfect (sic, out of context). We need to be convinced.

We need to know the why. True Christianity does not take things on faith. True Christianity dares to ask the questions no one can answer, deal with the lack of answers, and press on. True Christians are not afraid of things unknown, including knowledge and answers. True Christians deal with ambiguity because it exists everywhere. God’s law is clear; we just lack the ability to replicate it. We need to find it.

This topic could go on. But here is the conclusion of the matter. If you do not have an unshakable foundation of truth, not just feelings and emotions, but truth, then life is getting to be really hard for you.