I'd kinda like to apologize for starting this. Seriously, I was just running through thoughts in my head and thought I'd post them, which didn't seem like a huge deal since homosexuality-related threads pop up all the time here.
To clarify for anyone who cares, I'm not trying to come off as holier-than-thou by stating reasons I've come to think that homosexuality is dead end. I'm just putting out on the forum stuff I've come up with as God has restored my mind and opened my eyes to certain things. I still struggle with same-sex attraction, just not as much as I used to. At this point, now that a lot of my gender issues and self-love issues and general immaturity and sin problems have been resolved, my same-sex attraction is less intense and more manageable. From what I understand, that's often considered a "good outcome" in so-called "reparative therapy," so I guess that's progress.
I don't think all gay lives are wasted, and lots of homosexuals are cool people who contribute to society. No argument there. I'm just trying to put my thoughts together--sort of a combined reflection on my own life, observation of what's around me, all somewhat informed by Scripture--to figure out WHY gay isn't OK Biblically and WHY homosexual behavior is considered such a serious sin in traditional Christianity (and, actually, in more traditional secular value systems, too).
So please, don't think I'm some holier-than-thou dude who prayed away the gay and is here to condemn people. I struggle. I have to run through my observations and thoughts to stay on the straight and narrow because, honestly, sometimes I get the temptation to re-interpret (or ignore) Scripture and "do my own thing."
I will say that I find it somewhat disturbing that, even among Christians, pointing out obvious problems with homosexual behavior and the "gay" community triggers accusations of being "judgmental" or somehow un-Christian. The Catholic Church has a wealth of information on homosexual orientation and behavior and reasons why The Church continues to prohibit the consummation of same-sex attraction. Although I'm not Catholic, I've always appreciated their approach to important issues. They seem to draw from the best of social sciences, philosophy, and traditional Christian thought to come to some rather impressive, cogent positions on homosexuality and other issues facing the modern believer.
Anyway, I thought about it, and I don't know that I'll contribute as much--or at all--to future "gay threads." Everybody's pretty much set in their ways, you know?