Have you seen the movie Rent? If you haven’t then I would recommend it. But, wait! let me clarify. If you are very offended by or have absolutely no desire to discuss the issue of homosexuality then this is not a movie you should be watching. However, if you approach the movie with an open mind I think there are a ton of good in the movie to think about. In my case, I have had very little interaction with the Gay community and watching Rent for the first time with Beth this Fall break in Oklahoma made me a bit uncomfortable! As the movie progressed tho I was struck by the acceptance and friendship of the main characters despite their varied sexual tendencies. What if more people were willing to celebrate their daughter’s engagement when they chose a life partner? Also, while the movie is rated PG-13 for "mature thematic material involving drugs and sexuality, and for some strong language," there is no sex and nudity consists of a dance bar and a mooning. Amazingly clean movie considering the usual amount of overt sexuality included in most movies. Oh yeah, and the songs are catchy too.

Then the March 21st issue of The Mennonite grabed my attention with its title "holding on to chastity." While there were several good articles I found the editorial by Everett Thomas most interesting. In the article he defines the word chastity and discusses its relationship with the Mennonite Confession of Faith. "If we embrace this difficult teaching by Jesus [Matthew 5:28], then adultery is common not only in our society but also in church." What really stuck with me however was his final statements about how he especially respects the integrity of "those who carry a bisexual or homosexual orientation but remain faithful to Biblical teachings." He went on to confront the "unspoken sanctions by our church agains members who succumb o same-sex sins." It is quite sad but very true that the church treats same-sex sin SO much more harshly than any other type of sexual immorality. A very tough situation to say the least, but I definitely don’t want to support that mindset, emphasizing some sin and treating others as unimportant. We have all sinned, God give me to strength to not judge others for their sins!