I am going to address a delicate subject today, because I can. I have not ever been overly intimidated by controversy. Feel free to add your two cents.
Some of my friends and I had a conversation about homosexuality, which seems to be a dynamic topic in any circle. A bunch of right-winged bible-thumpers, such as we tend to be, have gotten a bad rap in our response to this culture's emerging acceptance of homosexuality as a common lifestyle.
Why? We want to appear righteous on a personal level, and most of us would like a certain social conformity to our moral values.
When you look at the bible, though, you'll see that Christians are never supposed to squeeze folks in our culture into some mold of Holy living.
We are very much to uphold a standard with those within the Church, which is to say, that those who declare an intention to live for Jesus can be expected to uphold His virtues. There is absolutely a standard of accountability.
Those outside of the church, however, are not for us to pound into submission.
When I was growing up, I had an uncle who was gay. We didn't talk about it, but such things can be quite obvious. The silent disapproval of some in the family was shown in a reluctance to socialize with said uncle.
He never claimed to be a Christian. What should our response have been? I think that we should have had him over for dinner and shown him friendship, and love, and Jesus. Not because his lifestyle is approved by all, but because he is a person for whom Jesus died, and rose again. This is a person loved by my Lord! As Jesus said, "it is not the well who need a physician, but those who are ill."
Homosexuality is not wrong because I think it's wrong. It is wrong because the Creator of All says that it is contrary to His design for Creation. Getting drunk is wrong, too. Or Fornication. I am far more comfortable socializing with friends who are fornicating, than those who are gay. Why? Because I can relate more readily to the desire to fornicate.
We Christians need to learn to look the homosexuals around us right in the eye, and love them when the opportunity arises.
Jesus didn't blush at the offer to chat with a prostitute. Right?
I have a neighbor who frequently has his girlfriend spend the night, but I don't hesitate to help out with his kids, or lend him sugar, because he's sinning. That would be ridiculous. Same thing. I think we need to look at the homosexuals around us as people who need Jesus, instead of getting hung up on what they do in the bedroom.
Do you know why this touches a nerve with me? I have a little sister who has chosen this particular life for herself. You can imagine the mental wranglings as my family struggled to figure out how to relate to her. But I have other siblings who have chosen more 'acceptable' lifestyles of sin. The family hardly struggled at all to figure out how to relate to the acceptable ones.
It occurred to me to wonder why 'acceptable' sin doesn't break my heart. Don't you think it should?
Don't you think that I should be alarmed at the damage wrought by sin, in the lives of those I love?
Shouldn't I be alarmed at the results of sin in me?
I love all of my siblings. I wonder why they do not seem to have the strong moral convictions that come from knowing Jesus. Sometimes I wonder why they get off so easy, to be honest. I'd love to live with some guy, and have more babies. I have chosen to wait on God for that, so why hasn't He heaped on the blessings for my fantastic behavior? These are the thoughts of a spoiled child. I remind myself of the Prodigal son's brother. Shame on me!
But it also has taught me something which I think is so profound:
When I stand back and watch those I love choose to play with fire, I know they will be burned. I know well how bad a burn can be. And it strangles from my lips a particularly powerful prayer. This must be the way that Jesus intercedes for me with the Father. Those "groanings too deep for words."
We Christian must struggle with the question of how to love the hurting ones around us. We must learn to do it well. This is, after all, why Jesus died.
8 comments:
I agree with you that all sinners should be reached out to with Jesus' love. "Love the sinner, hate the sin" is a good m.o. for all kinds of sin and sinners. Maybe homosexuality bothers us inside more than male-female fornication because it is against God's natural laws. He calls it an abomination, and vile affections, and we feel it that same way. But you are right: we should still love the hurting ones and so may need to hide our instinctive wish to turn away from homosexuals. It's another chance for us to ask Jesus to help us be more like Him!
And, your day will come, Kelly! It surely will! The Lord will bless you as only He can. I believe that.
Look at you, commenting on that. No one else wanted to touch the topic!
If you think about it, all sin really defies natural affection because it seperates us from the One Whom we ought to love more than anyone or anything else.
True. But still, God made women to love men, to desire men, and vice versa. Not for any of us to lust for animals or children or our own gender, so those things seem more . . . ooh, I want to say more wrong, but without being judgemental. (Is that possible?) I'm still wanting to love the sinner, and you're right that all sin seperates us from God, whether it be small or large in our human (faulty) eyes.
I think that saying it's against God's natural law is a cop out. It gives us a way to secretly feel like we can still judge them. In nature many animals have homosexual sex (I've witnessed it with dogs on more than one occasion). The natural law is that heterosexual sex happen for procreation, but that doesn't mean it the only natural sex.
We feel more uncomfortable with homosexuals because we don't UNDERSTAND their lifestyle, not because it's wrong.
Personally, my stance is that God is a God of LOVE. I believe that He is more concerned with the state of our hearts and whether or not we love others than what physical acts with participate in. We should have trouble with Christian couples who are in unloving marriages (or who are unloving people). Homosexual couples who are in a loving relationship and demonstrate love toward other people are showing the heart of God just as much as heterosexuals do.
Whoo Hoo! Now, there's some discussion!
I, personally, have found that all I thought to be true about this particular issue was turned on it's ear when confronted with my little sister's choice.
Personally, I think it's been very good for my dogmatic-holy-self.
We need to ask the questions, and explore where we might need to learn and grow. As Christians, it's so easy to stand in our little bubble and point judgemental fingers at all sorts of people we don't understand. It's so much harder(and more effective) to roll up our sleeves and get a little dirty loving people.
Whoo Hoo! Now, there's some discussion!
I, personally, have found that all I thought to be true about this particular issue was turned on it's ear when confronted with my little sister's choice.
Personally, I think it's been very good for my dogmatic-holy-self.
We need to ask the questions, and explore where we might need to learn and grow. As Christians, it's so easy to stand in our little bubble and point judgemental fingers at all sorts of people we don't understand. It's so much harder(and more effective) to roll up our sleeves and get a little dirty loving people.
I just stumbled upon your blog from a link on the Nester... and I love what you have to say here. I have a dear friend who is gay and I think that he thinks that I look upon this lifestyle as worse than other friends who make sinful choices. As you pointed out, a sinful lifestyle is a sinful lifestyle. Praying for those who are 'playing with fire' but also loving them as much as Jesus does is truly the way to go. Infinity kudos to you!
Welcome! Thank you for joining in the discussion. It's great food for thought, no?
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