TAF not FAT

Writing in the Baptist Standard, Trey Turner of Canyon Creek Baptist Church, Temple comments on “Who Needs The Gospel? They Do!” saying this passage (Romans 1:18-32) is “the clearest condemnation of homosexuality in the Bible.”

This surfaced the strong feelings I have against homosexual acts—“wrong” doesn’t begin to describe my aversion. My first reaction is to “Feel”. I first react to the wrongness of homosexual acts with negative feelings and it is a small step to transfer that attitude to the person doing it. So then I take some action, for example, such as saying something I regret once I think about it. Not “thinking” first, I follow the FAT path to an unhappy experience.

But a friend, Dale Graham, taught a ditty once that goes like this: Think, Act, Feel, not Feel, Act, Think. To illustrate, he kept saying “Trains Are Fun” to get TAF into my head. He used a little model train with an engine and two cars labeled with T, A, F. As he talked he rearranged the cars to underscore his message. Here is a page discussing TAF, but it is not written from a Christian perspective.

When confronted with an emotion-arousing situation, Dale taught that I should Think, Act, Feel and not Feel, Act, Think. To apply this to the lesson, people who practice homosexual acts need to hear the gospel. But the only way I can ever hope to share my testimony with them is to think first, act second, and feel later. Otherwise, I will miss an opportunity to witness by following my negative feelings rather than what should be an attitude (or predisposition) to love people as Christ does.

Teach the TAF principle to your class!