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An Anderson pastor spoke out against homosexuality in the Teachers College Sunday night, which drew protests from some students.
Sponsored by Ball State's Christian Student Foundation, senior pastor Jim Lyon of North Anderson Church of God spoke to students and Muncie residents about the topic through a presentation titled "The Teaching of the Bible About Homosexuality and God's Design for Sex."
"The act of marriage is a sexual union between a man and a woman, as is said in the scripture," Lyon said.
Lyon said he began teaching about homosexuality 10 years ago and respected the fact that many people viewed the subject differently.
Homosexuality, however, has always been forbidden in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, Lyon said.
"The Bible is uniform in its condemnation of homosexuality," he said. "I'm coming to say what the Bible says, speaking as a person who believes that the Bible is an authentic revelation of God that shows us how to live."
Lyon said everyone, however, has the right to make their own decisions about how to express themselves, but everyone must also walk with discipline to experience life in the way God desired them to live.
Science can't prove that people are born homosexual because the evidence sufficient to stand up in court does not exist, Lyon said.
"God is interested in disclosing this truth about homosexuality to us because he understands who we are and wants the best for our lives," Lyon said. "He wants to maximize our experience, not diminish it."
Brad Grammer, member of Hope and New Life Ministries in Indianapolis, also spoke about his struggle with homosexuality in a presentation called "How God Changed My Life."
Grammer said when he was six years old, he used to daydream about growing up to become a woman and then marrying a man.
Grammer was also missing a close connection with his father, which caused him to feel lonely, he said.
"I felt like something was wrong with me," he said. "I felt like I maybe wasn't male, but I didn't feel like I was a woman either."
Grammer said when he finally asked Jesus Christ into his life, he didn't think his homosexual tendencies could change. However, after 10 years of struggling with homosexuality, he said he eventually changed from being exclusively attracted to men to being attracted exclusively to women.
Homosexuality is a broken place, Grammer said.
"I wasn't born that way," he said. "My fight with homosexuality was the result of all these unresolved issues in my life, which I had to work on."
Muncie resident Andrea Replogle said she was also a lesbian while in college but later accepted Jesus Christ into her life.
After becoming a Christian, Replogle said she struggled for 15 years to drop the lesbian lifestyle in pursuit of Biblical truth, which was difficult but worthwhile.
"I have four children I love desperately, and I wouldn't have had that if I didn't change my lifestyle," Replogle said. "The presentation was great because it set the record straight, and the speakers were compassionate in dealing with this issue, which is the way God would have wanted them to be."
Members of Spectrum, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender alliance group, held a silent protest during the speech.
"We wanted to voice our concerns regarding our own beliefs about homosexuality," senior Spectrum member Dave Sikma said.
During a question-and-answer session, some Spectrum members spoke up and said they interpreted the Bible differently from Lyon, therefore believing homosexuality was still right; however, others said they began to understand Lyon's point of view.
"I'm glad I could hear a different perspective, but I still disagree with it," former Ball State student Jeff Sumner said. "But I think the presentations caused a couple of people to read the Bible more in-depth and find out where they are in their religion," he said.
Sumner said he was glad attendees had the chance to listen to more than one interpretation of the Bible regarding homosexuality.
Sikma said he was also glad group members could attend the presentation to provide a fairer representation of homosexuality to the public.
"It was really productive," Sikma said. "It was worthwhile for everyone to come here to see it," he said.
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