My own personal stance against religious hypocrisy - both my own, and any others who seek to hurt people in the name of God.


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

What is it About Gays Anyway

Fairyhedgehog posted about a serious matter on her blog. The title of her post is: Death Penalty for Gays.

She is citing a New York Times article about Uganda possibly passing a law which institutes the death penalty for gay and lesbian people.

The issue of being gay/lesbian - or one of the other labels attached to people of sexual preference - is a serious one. It's one the world has to deal with. Historically, Uganda's proposed solution is not far from the way the people of the world have dealt with the issue.

The Bible seems to speak against it. And yet there are those who say the verses used to support this claim are being taken out of context. It is certainly true that Jesus is never recorded voicing an opinion one way or the other regarding homosexuality. Apparently, whether it was sin or not sin, he did not consider it worthy of his time.

And yet how many of us Christians invest tremendous emotion and activity regarding it? We openly condemn the gay community. We seek to pass legislation to inhibit gay rights, or revoke legislation which supports it.

We invest so much of ourselves in matters of sex - whether we admit it or not. We descry the unwed mother, unmarried live-in couples, and a host of other sexual related acts and attitudes.

I'm not saying the things we descry are not sin. What I am saying is this: Why don't we invest the same energy crying out against injustice? Intolerance? Stealing? Slander? Ignoring the poor? Speeding? Or anything else which constitutes sin? Why pick out sexual things as though they were the worst sin one could commit?

There is ONE sin, and ONE sin only which cannot be forgiven: Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

"And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven." Luke 12:8-10 Revised Standard Version

Can a gay man or lesbian woman be a Christian?

Many Christian talk as though that were impossible. They're wrong.

What makes a Christian? Our behavior? Are we Christians because of how we behave? Or do we behave because we are Christians? This is an important question. Are we saved by faith, or by works?

O foolish Galations! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Galatians 3:1-3 Revised Standard Version

Are you a Christian? Have you committed adultery? Fornication? Theft? Have you been prideful, intolerant, unloving, drunk with alcohol or high on drugs? Have you idolized someone, or something? Have you been disobedient to your parents?

The world is filled with sins. And Christians commit all of them. No Christian commits all of them, but all Christians commit some. And here what the Bible says about ANY sin.

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. James 2:10 Revised Standard Version

We are ALL guilty. NO ONE is going to get to heaven without first being forgiven for who they are, what they are, and what they have said, done, and felt in their heart.

So how should Christians treat gay and lesbian people? How should we treat anybody?

I find that as I grow older I am less concerned with what is and is not sin. What matters is forgiveness. And treating others the way Jesus wants them to be treated. We were never called to punish those we believed to be "sinners". If we were, we should begin with ourselves and not move on to others until we are sinless.

In the meantime, we should raise voices in oppostion to what Uganda wants to do with the same righteous indignation that we have in condemning gays and lesbians. Leave them alone.

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