I appreciate your values and beliefs and have no problem if that is what works for you. But they are YOUR values and beliefs, and others don't have to agree or follow them.
While I understand the whole "men and women are meant to be fruitful and multiply" idea, honestly -- I cannot see the human race being in danger of extinction because a small percentage of us choose a same sex partner. If anything, we could use a few more couples like that before we wipe out everything in existence by our sheer numbers!
I am not trying to protect my kids from the good mroals here in Qatar, as you so humorously put it! I would certainly agree that there are many good things about life/culture here (otherwise I wouldn't have stayed here for as long as I have) -- Arab culture values family and loves children, people here are generous to a fault and would gladly give you the shirt off their back, they honor and respect their elders and teachers, etc.
But as in any culture there are also the negative aspects -- the treatment of third country nationals/imported workers; the hypocrisy of wearing their religion on their sleeves and preaching to others about their immoral lifestyle while many of them go out drinking, whoring around; the rampant consumerism brought on by the rapid influx of wealth...
When I mentioned the animal kingdom, I didn't mean they practiced homosexuality to the exclusion of hetero pairing, just that it could be found in several species of the animal kingdom.
There are even cultures in Micronesia where the practice of homosexuality is institutionalized as a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood. Village men will take a young pre-pubescent boy as a partner, and the belief is that the boy becomes a man by ingesting semen over the course of time (you can figure out how this happens probably...no need for me to explain further).
My point is that evidence that some of the population follows this lifestyle is around if you look for it, so it IS a natural behavior for some. We're not going to die out as a species. If you think it is an immoral lifestyle, then as I said earlier, don't follow it yourself. Personally, I find the practice of marrying your first cousin kind of creepy...so I'm not going to do it. But I can understand why in this culture many folks DO follow that. I still find it creepy and weird, but as long as I'm not the one doing it, hey -- what do I care?
And if you sincerely believe that it is an immoral decision, and that those who engage in this "disgusting" behavior will meet their fate eventually -- then let God take care of what he should, and you just take care of your own life and the choices you make.
and this is no exception. :-)
I appreciate your values and beliefs and have no problem if that is what works for you. But they are YOUR values and beliefs, and others don't have to agree or follow them.
While I understand the whole "men and women are meant to be fruitful and multiply" idea, honestly -- I cannot see the human race being in danger of extinction because a small percentage of us choose a same sex partner. If anything, we could use a few more couples like that before we wipe out everything in existence by our sheer numbers!
I am not trying to protect my kids from the good mroals here in Qatar, as you so humorously put it! I would certainly agree that there are many good things about life/culture here (otherwise I wouldn't have stayed here for as long as I have) -- Arab culture values family and loves children, people here are generous to a fault and would gladly give you the shirt off their back, they honor and respect their elders and teachers, etc.
But as in any culture there are also the negative aspects -- the treatment of third country nationals/imported workers; the hypocrisy of wearing their religion on their sleeves and preaching to others about their immoral lifestyle while many of them go out drinking, whoring around; the rampant consumerism brought on by the rapid influx of wealth...
When I mentioned the animal kingdom, I didn't mean they practiced homosexuality to the exclusion of hetero pairing, just that it could be found in several species of the animal kingdom.
There are even cultures in Micronesia where the practice of homosexuality is institutionalized as a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood. Village men will take a young pre-pubescent boy as a partner, and the belief is that the boy becomes a man by ingesting semen over the course of time (you can figure out how this happens probably...no need for me to explain further).
My point is that evidence that some of the population follows this lifestyle is around if you look for it, so it IS a natural behavior for some. We're not going to die out as a species. If you think it is an immoral lifestyle, then as I said earlier, don't follow it yourself. Personally, I find the practice of marrying your first cousin kind of creepy...so I'm not going to do it. But I can understand why in this culture many folks DO follow that. I still find it creepy and weird, but as long as I'm not the one doing it, hey -- what do I care?
And if you sincerely believe that it is an immoral decision, and that those who engage in this "disgusting" behavior will meet their fate eventually -- then let God take care of what he should, and you just take care of your own life and the choices you make.