Hey, I thought your post was very interesting, especially after seeing Chad Allen on Larry King Live tonight with Al Mohler. I gotta say, I love that question of yours, "Are we to regulate what type of sinners are to play sinners in movies?".
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I am curious about the next line though, what constitutes an "ordinary sinner"? Now I don't want to get into the whole question and speculation about which sins lead to death and which do not or anything like that, but I gotta know, why is homosexuality so much greater and filthier a sin than lying or cheating or not keeping my body in good health or failing to show kindness to someone? Let me guess, I Corinthians 6, right, every sin a man commits is outside his body but the one who commits fornication sins against his own body? If that's the text then I would obviously point out that that deals just as much with hetersexuals committing fornication. Or maybe we're thinking of Leviticus (either 18:22 or 20:13)in which he's talking to the priest (men of the tribe of Levi) and God says to not lay with men like you lay with a woman. Or, the ever popular Romans 1, around verse 27, Men giving up natural uses of the woman and doing shameless acts and receiving the "due penalty for their error." All great passages that underline the Biblical truth, homosexuality is a sin. But why is it worse than other sins?
I have homosexuals in my classes and I've had lunch with homosexuals and bi-sexuals and I've met a variety of other "Sexuals" and what I can safely say is that they are people too and that they respond to people who love them (even sinners love those that love them). Actually it's quite interesting that I've found that when I treat homosexual students with respect and dignity as I would a "straight" student, they usually are willing to hear me out and respect my opinions instead of calling me a hypocrite or a bigot, all simply because I apply the same tactics and attitudes towards them that I do towards my "straight" friends (it's called consistancy). I find too that if I treat someone good while they're straight and they should admit to being homosexual that it is a real sticking point should I then treat them different. It may disgust me to think of two guys committing those particular acts, but I'm sure it disgust homosexuals to think about me and a woman (not that I'm engaged in any sex, but if I were).
Now I'm sure some of the homosexuals I've met would suggest something involving a speck, a plank, a board, or something generally involving a piece of wood, but I really wanted to look at Romans 12 which is this one big long paragraph of text, but I'll "proof text" myself here with verses 17 and 18, though the entire passage is stunning. Nobility in the sight of all (I think he means that I'm to do those things which God commands and against which there are no laws), and living peacably with all (sounds like Paul is suggesting tolerance and understanding, not that he's suggesting that we condone or encourage sins, but that we empathize with those in sin because we too were once in sin and apart from the people and the blessings of God).
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Anyway, the fact that Chad Allen is gay and will get a certain portion of the proceeds of this movie really seem to me to be beside the point. If he is sinning, he will receive judgement just like me and you, and if God's word is true, and i believe it is, then he will suffer what is fit for his sins, and so will I (though perhaps in different forms and fashions). If I really don't like what this guy is doing, I think I should show him kindness (because in my own way I'm overcoming evil with good and at the same time heaping burning coals on top of his head, as I'm sure others have wanted to do to me), and kindness means watching the movie he's in in which he doesn't play a homosexual character but he portrayes a Christian, a brother in Christ whose inspirational story is much needed in our time because so few Christians do what the Bible dictates they do.
I rejoice with you and with Paul, that there is the possibility and the probability that our Sovereign will use even this unlikely and perhaps oft over looked piece of art to further tug at those He is calling (or to use another analogy, to plant fertilizer and water the seed that has been planted). We perhaps would be best off reading the accounts already available so that we can with precision and clarity discuss the events which are being portrayed. And as Romans 12 reminds us, we need always to pray.
The final question that I think this comes down to, would I go see the movie if I didn't know there was a homosexual actor in it? If yes, then I'm saying that I'm bound on what I watch and do based on what someone else does in a bedroom half a continent away, and how free is that? I do believe I may see this movie if it's available in my area, otherwise I'll have to throw out my disney collection and just about every other movie because there's just a whole lot of sin portrayed in movies, newspapers, bibles and all kinds of other media.
Well, perhaps in the next few weeks I'll have reason to revise my previous statements, after all, I'm going to have to read a Christian author who's not unfamiliar with homosexuals, I have to read his book called "Confessions", maybe good old Aurelius will have a golden rule for me or something like that? In the meentime, I'll keep living peacably with and lovingly reproving myself and others around me who do what is contrary to sound doctrine.
As for Mr. Allen, I sincerely hope that the Christians he worked with and the "Church" or faith community he said he's a part of will continue to dialogue and research the subjects of the inerrancy of Scripture and what it has to say about living and lifestyle for both homo and heterosexuals.
-Bro. Luke
P. S., I understand I have a sarcastic streak which likes to come out, one of the members of this board was kind enough to point it out to me on a previous posting this month. Let me say, I have no intention of offending anyone but I hope to speak the truth, and I hope that I do it in love, because I really do care what people say on this board (otherwise I wouldn't be posting). Well, Shalom y'all.
