Shades of Grey

A couple years ago I got hooked on watching Grey's Anatomy. I'm always a sucker for interesting characters, which they were in the first season... But I also got really interested in the story of Derek (Sorry, I just can't call him McDreamy!) and Addison trying to put their marriage back together after each of them had done their level best to destroy it. Their spirit of "it's worth fighting for" really grabbed me.

Like many bad habits, this one has lasted even without the substance that gave birth to it, and now we watch Grey's Anatomy online thanks to abc.com's full episode viewer. That means I'm usually running a few episodes behind and watch several at a time. Well, I recently watched the 5/9 episode (or was it 5/2?) and got a splash of cold water from my conscience.

When the gay boyfriend of a male soldier in the hospital for an experimental treatment sat in bed with the soldier-patient and kissed him before surgery, I have to admit that I had a negative, phsyical reaction. What bothers me about this is that I don't have the same reaction to every other damaging, sub-Biblical kind of sexuality in this show - and let's be honest, they are myriad. Why am I, without thinking about it, more comfortable with heterosexual extramarital sex than with homosexual sex? Probably because I am shaped more by Americal cultural expectations than by Biblical teaching. To make matters worse, I've even taught publicly about the hypocrisy of Christians who condemn homosexuality but tolerate adultery and premarital sex. Now I stand guilty of the same hypocrisy.

I've had more than enough friends feel the relational risk and pain that comes from using sex outside its marital context. You'd think I would be sensitized to this.

I still plan to watch the next episode, but I'll be watching through newly re-opened eyes. I wonder what the usual relationships will look like.