Monday, November 22, 2004

Helping Take Care of the Social Health

Helping Take Care of the Social Health

By Julio Severo

It is no news the fact that family is the most essential group for the survival of the human species. Likely, there has never been a doubt that marriage has a basic role in the healthy channeling of the human sexuality and the formation of the future generations. Thus, every culture, in a way or another, always implemented measures to encourage and prepare young people for the marriage sexuality. After all, adjusted children, born in the natural family, mean gain to all society, developing responsible and productive citizens.

Yet, as the human body is vulnerable to cancer, society also is vulnerable to evils and trends that may seriously jeopardize its own foundations.

Therefore, every citizen has a responsibility to participate in the preservation of the basic values for the existence of society. Being a representative of the ordinary citizen, the politician knows his responsibility to attack the social evils and use the available means to encourage what is good. Remarkable examples of positive political actions in Brazil are the mandatory use of the safety belt and disincentives to the cigarette use. Those important measures may and should be extended to other essential areas, as the implementation of actions for discouraging behaviors that, for their own abnormality, produce negative consequences to the persons practicing them, to families and to all society.

Such is the case with homosexuality and other sexual conducts far away from the natural sexuality standard. They do not contribute for the promotion of the social health and are significant causes of expenses in the public health system.

The Christian who has a calling in the political sphere has a higher and amplified vision. He feels, guided by the values of God’s Word, his commitment to work for encouraging society to take the stand to stimulate the sexual well-being of young people and their healthy preparation for marriage and deter all kind of behavior harmful to the social health.

Great social tragedies have already happened, in a way or another, because of homosexual factors. Sodom and Gomorrah are classical examples. In the modern times, Nazi Germany suffered immense national devastation, because of a crazy man called Adolf Hitler. Today it is known, as a properly verified historical fact, that Hitler and most top Nazi leaders hid expediently their homosexuality.

Even though homosexual groups of political pressure use all kind of maneuver to portray their defense and promotion of their conduct as a human right issue, the Christian politician has a responsibility to discern that the bestowing of special rights for anti-natural behaviors represents threat of deprivation of essential rights to citizens. Recently, because of an anti-prejudice law, a Pentecostal pastor was sentenced to prison in Sweden for preaching, within his own church, that “abnormal sexual [homosexual] practices are like a cancerous growth on the body of society”.

Anti-discrimination laws do not use to indicate intents to combat religions that do not accept homosexuality, but their application eventually hit religious people always. Aware of the religious factor and of the risk of a religious reaction, lawgivers in the service of gay activism work on tiptoe, just embedding subtly in the laws terms as sexual orientation, tolerance, gender equality and other kinds of smooth language — terms vulnerable to varied interpretations favorable to the gay ideology.

Accordingly, the Christian politician needs to be alert and prepared to use his discernment in order to recognize the threats to society and the opportunities to fulfill a significant role on behalf of what is good and just before God. He needs to know that it is good to love men and women who live deceived or oppressed in homosexuality, and he needs to be conscious that it is more than just to help them leave that destructive lifestyle. Obviously, he would never confound acceptance and welcome of a homosexual in need with acceptance and tolerance of the harmful practices of men having anal sex with other men. True love and tolerance has nothing to do with this kind of sexual abnormality. Real love helps one leave this abnormality.

Julio Severo is the author of the book O Movimento Homossexual (The Homosexual Movement), published by Editora Betânia, the Brazilian branch of the Bethany House Publishers. Email: juliosevero@hotmail.com

Website in Portuguese: www.juliosevero.com


Blog in English:
www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Article originally published in the November 2004 issue of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front Magazine (Brasília, Brazil), page 22.


Other articles by Julio Severo

Targeted By Bias: Evangelicals Who Voted for Bush

The Great Gaffe of Lula Against Israel

The Mark of the Beast: The Tomorrow’s Education

Helping Take Care of the Social Health

Message to President Lula on Israel

Message to President Lula on homosexuality

Growth of divorce among Christians: a biblical perspective