I have noticed over the last several days a huge surge in folks having huge debates over being gay and Christian. What has sparked this outpouring, I don't know. I have seen some very wise and remarkable pieces written that make me more proud than ever to call myself a Christian. However, there have been some ignorant morons that have spewed the most hateful comments and then have the audacity to call themselves Christians.
I have over my lifetime been raised in a variety of Christian denominations. I have no preference. But I have been raised with the simple values of: read your Bible, follow the Ten Commandments, and love others as I know God loves me. Seems simple enough huh? For some it's not so simple. There are so many Christians that would rather beat you over the head with a Bible and shove verses down your throat than to love you for who you are.
My thoughts may never mean anything to anyone, but they are important to me. And every once in a while its nice to receive a bit of validation when someone agrees with you. But I get the feeling I'm not going to have all who reads this agree with me. I feel at times I can get stuck between the radical Bible thumpers and the extreme left. You're not going to find me picketing on capitol hill for gay marriage. BUT you're not going to find me protesting and spewing hate speech at some kind of gay rally or whatever either. I find myself uncomfortably but comfortably as well in the middle.
So this is probably the part where I piss a few people off. I could sit and rattle off Bible verses but that would do no good and I'd probably make myself look stupid because unless I looked it up I would get it wrong. Even as a child I could not remember my weekly memory verse. But anyway, we all know what the Bible says. We can interpret it in many ways. And to be honest I think that's ok because unless we just totally skew it and completely manipulate it to sound like what WE want it to sound like, maybe that's how God wants up to see His words. Look at Revelations, can you honestly say you completely understand what is being said except that He is returning? Mom and I were actually having a conversation about this yesterday and the point that homosexuality and drug abuse could be handled in the same manner came up. And before you get up in arms let me finish my point. When someone you love is addicted to drugs do you (now keep in mind you TRULY love this person) attack them with all the reasons why it's wrong and how disappointed you are with them and pretty much throw negativity at them? Or do you take them, SHOW them how much you love them, and work through it with them. Can't that same love and devotion be shown to a homosexual person even though you don't necessarily agree with their lifestyle?
I am going to steal a point from a very wise person I know. Do we really have to define ourselves by who we lay down with every night? And if that's the case what should I be considered since I go to bed with...well myself every night. I guess that makes me asexual??? It really shouldn't make any more difference than what color our skin is. I worked with a lesbian nurse for several months. She is a fantastic nurse. Did I judge her because of her sexual preference? Well of course not. It never even crossed my mind unless SHE brought it up, which was rare.
We can sit and argue and debate over whether a homosexual person can truly be a Christian until we are all blue in the face and angry beyond belief. But the true argument is this. Can YOU truly call yourself a Christian when you spew hateful words just for the sake of "knowing what the Bible says"?
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