Definition: Heterosexuality

Heterosexuality - an attraction to the physicality and character of the opposite sex

Most people after struggling to define heterosexuality would agree that heterosexuality is about being physically and emotionally attracted to the opposite sex. If heterosexuality was merely a physical attraction then the only thing that would draw one to the opposite sex in particular would be physical beauty. This would mean that the only value you see in the opposite sex in particular would be their ability to satisfy your physical desires. To exclusively attribute value to the opposite sex based on their ability to satisfy one's physical desires is an objectification of the opposite sex. Such an objectification would be a form of lust. Thus, if heterosexuality was merely a physical attraction to the opposite sex then heterosexuality would be a form a lust.

Heterosexuality is not merely a physical attraction and I think most people would fortunately agree. I, along with most people I've talked to, believe part of heterosexuality is being emotionally attracted to the opposite sex. When I ask people to expound on this they widely agree that being emotionally attracted to the opposite sex means that you are attracted to the apparent character seen in the opposite sex. With this added attraction heterosexuality would not be a form of lust because it involves being emotionally attracted to the character seen in the opposite sex. Thus the definition of heterosexuality being an attraction to the physicality and character of the opposite sex is consistent with the common usage of the word. More importantly this definition is consistent with Biblical teachings concerning pure sexuality.

Definition: Stereotype

Stereotype - a rigid, exaggerated and irrational over-generalization of a group of people

Definition: Culture

Culture - The collective character of a community.

This is my definition of culture. This differs from most definitions of culture in that it is concise. I will attempt to show that my definition is consistent with the common usage of the word so that my definition is useful for dialog.

What Culture Is Not:
-Culture is not a stereotype
-Culture is not necessarily static

Here is a widely accepted definition of culture:

• Programmed beliefs and values that provide a collective reality for a community and influences the individual's reality. Are dynamic and can contain sub-cultures. Marked by common symbols, knowledge, folklore, conventions, language, rules, rituals, information-processing patterns, lifestyle, values and attributes.

I believe that the most important aspect of a culture is its communal values. Communal values are the core of a given culture. All symbols, folklore, rules and rituals of a culture serve the purpose of reinforcing the core values of the community. A language's construct is reflective of cultural values. The presentation and processing of information is done in order of importance which is determined by cultural values. Thus the essence of a culture is its values. The symbols, folklore, rituals, etc all serve as evidence for communal values which is the essence of culture. I say that the essence of culture is communal values. Just as an individual has values and those values describe the character of a person a community can have values that describe the character of a community. Thus the essence of culture is communal character. This reflects my definition of culture which is the collective character of a community.

Heterosexuality

I have been asking several people how they would define heterosexuality. There have been some expected and unexpected results. I have expected that people would not have thought about it before because it is deemed as normal and so most people simply overlook it. What I have not expected is that even after pondering upon what heterosexuality is they still cannot come up with a good definition. It's odd that most people consider themselves heterosexual yet they cannot define what that means. There is a strong tendency for people to say what heterosexuality is in saying how it differs from homosexuality. Again, the difficulty is knowing what heterosexuality is as opposed to what it isn't. Christians have gotten a lot of heat for their stance on homosexuality so the least we can do is defend our creed. If we say homosexuality is wrong yet we cannot define what homosexuality actually is then I think we Christians have a big problem.

People should really know the difference between homosexuality and heterosexuality. Since people define homosexuality in terms of its deviation from heterosexuality but they cannot define heterosexuality it is safe to say that people don't really know what homosexuality is. Thus they don't really know the difference between the two and so they don't know what may be morally good about the one and morally bad about the other.

This means that people don't know why homosexuality may be a deviation from God's intent of creation. When you don't know God's intentions you don't fully know God's heart which is what all Christians are pursuing. So for the sake of knowing God's heart better we should attempt to know why homosexuality is a deviation from God's intent in creation.

I do believe that when people truly understand what heterosexuality is then they will have a good foundational understanding of what it means to have unity within cultural diversity. This is because I believe all heterosexuals have an intuitive understanding of what it means to pursue cultural diversity by virtue of what it means to be heterosexual. Thus I believe that since most people are heterosexual most people have an intuitive understanding of what it means to pursue cultural diversity. I recognize that it's unintuitive to say that heterosexuals inherently have high intuition in understanding pursuit of cultural diversity. Nonetheless, I want to show that understanding the idea of pursuing cultural diversity is an inherent intuition for heterosexuals. The fact that I have to go to great lengths to show it would suggest that it is not an inherent intuition but I'm attempting to show that heterosexuals are overlooking the obvious with respect to their heterosexual desires.

In summary my motivation for defining heterosexuality is to be able to define homosexuality in order to have a definition of what we are saying is morally wrong, to understand why homosexuality is morally wrong, to understand God's heart and to reveal heterosexuality's inherent concept of pursuing cultural diversity.