Saskatoon Pyychologist Responds to Primate's Theological Commission on Human Sexuality

The following article can be found on the WEB site of the Primate of Canada at the following page: http://www2.anglican.ca/primate/ptc/responses/arnold.htm

Personal reponse from W J Arnold, Saskatoon Sask.

I recently have seen the link to the essays on this page and submit thiscomment for your consideration. While the comment is totally mine, I attendSt. Marks, Saskatoon.

When addressing the issues of sexuality and same-gender blessings, we fallinto at least four fallacies:

1. We assume that those who wrote scripture (and those who interpreted it forthe following centuries) understood our present culture, medical andscientific knowledge and wrote to speak to the situations we presently face.

2. We assume that life spans were of the same length as presently, thatresources and ability to self-actualize were the same as today.

3. We attributing our modern ideas and concerns to writers and thinkers whowere concerned about other things.

4. We assume that present ideas and practice of human relationships andsocieties are the same as at the time the texts were written and intepretedby the early church.

Without complete elaboration, consider: In the present world, other people arenot considered property, propagation of the family line is not the primarypurpose of marriage and family, many of us live through 40-70 years ofadulthood rather than never reaching it at all or dying by our early 20s, andwe have biological and comparative psychology knowledge beyond our wildestdreams. We also acknowledge human suffering - even as we remain insensitiveto much of it - including suffering related to relationships and emotions.

And we would turn to some ancient texts to govern specific human interactionsin the present day?, elevating them above the loving response that isactually the core of the texts? We would not use the information andknowledge that God-given science affords so to understand how same gendersexual behaviour is ubiquitous in both human societies and in many mammalianspecies? We would not seek to accept everyone into God's human family? Shameon those who debate Holy Writ while people suffer and churches grow cold, asorry, sad version of 'fiddling while Rome burns'.

Dr. WJ Arnold