The big, gay issue...

Despite all the other issues that the Church could be going after with as much venom and fervor,  so often the nastiest attitudes and panicked (sometimes hate-tinged) actions seem to center around homosexuality (a close second maybe to the creation vs. evolution debate). It isn't that I think it is bad to discuss this matter through our lenses of faith, I know that most people have the best of intentions in this debate. But seriously, the energy, fear (which is not of God, btw) and resources put into this topic I think are largely disproportionate to its importance.


If one of the devil's schemes is to get God's people to pour their energies into demolishing a molehill while he dances off to add more casualties to his hideous mountain of child sex trafficking, environmental destruction, murder and torture, then I think he has succeeded.

This victory of his is often at the expense of people who want to follow Jesus but know that in most churches they would be objects of intense scrutiny, subjects of the condescending phrase 'love the sinner, hate the sin', banned from any leadership role and possibly kept at a safe distance from children. 

Wanna make the devil smile? Put a stumbling block between Jesus and someone who longs to know Him. 


Because I grew up in church, I have had to work out my thoughts on this issue. I have generally always had the same opinion, though I did have a phase of 'love the sinner hate the sin'. That was until something in my spirit poked at me and said "how would you feel if that line was applied to you?" After really considering it, my answer was "I would feel as though I was inferior, beholden to other's approval,  in need of charity love, and a little bit too dirty to be considered a true follower of Jesus'.   

OUCH. That isn't how God loves me. And that is not how I am called to love others.

I repented of that attitude.


I love my gay friends. PERIOD. No 'buts'. No qualifiers, no agenda.

Wait, there is one BUT: I can never fully understand a homosexual's struggles personally or in society. BUT I know what it is to struggle. Clinical depression and anxiety suck. Especially when people who don't understand think that they have a single, simple answer for you. I do not want to be one who adds a rock to what can already be a heavy burden. I'd like to be one who helps to remove a rock or two, or help to carry them at the very least...Whatever that looks like.

I want to take each person as an individual with a unique story who has probably made the choices in how they live their lives with as much care as I have. I know homosexuals who love the Lord, share their faith, want people to know Jesus, pray for people who are hurting, praise God with as much enthusiasm as anyone else and spread joy wherever they go - to me, that is what the Gospel is about...When it comes to someone else's relationships, well, I have about as much right to speak into their lives as they do mine. Some things are none of my business. 

If Papa wants it to be my business for any reason in any circumstance I am confident He will let me know. 

I'm turning in my molehill smasher and walking away. There are mountains I am more interested in moving.  

And I'd like to wipe that smile off the devil's face.

 


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