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LGBTI

Equal love for the Gay Community

A plea from a young Christian man….

by Benji Watson ([email protected])

I’ve been warring with myself for a while on how to write about this. I even had to ask myself, “Benji, why do you want to write this article? What is your motivation?”

Finding the motivation behind every choice, I think, is an important practice. I mean, in 1 Corinthians 13, Paul describes how regardless of what you are doing, if you do not have love, it’s all worthless and selfish. So, what is my motivation?

Some things for your consideration:

  1. The Conversation is hurting people.

2 Corinthians 5: 17-20 says, “…Christ … gave us the ministry of reconciliation: … not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

In recent decades, we have not seen the conversation teach us how to LOVE the Gay Community, and see them fall in love with Jesus. Instead, the conversation has only divided the Gay Community and the Church!  It has only caused hurt – more than you could imagine. We are called to be ambassadors of Christ, and let God make His case of love for people through us, but all they often experience from the Church is judgment, slander, hate, persecution, oppression and abandonment. They haven’t met Jesus yet and we are trying to dictate to them how they should live, and holding them accountable for actions they are well within their right to make. Whether or not homosexuality is a sin is irrelevant. You can’t tell someone who does not know Jesus that they need to obey Jesus!

On the other hand, the damage this does to gay Christians is horrific. Instead of feeling loved, supported and safe enough to be open with how they are feeling, and how they are processing the way they feel, we have shown them exactly what to expect from us should they ever “come out”, and they are petrified! To hear a young man tell me that he over-heard people from his church community comment on his body-language and laugh at the assumption that he is “probably gay”, angered me, and still angers me now. This beautiful young man’s stomach sank and he hid himself further in the closet. How do you think Christ looked to him, after seeing these so-called ‘ambassadors’ tear him down behind his back? This kid was and still is carrying personal shame and pain, and cultural shame and pain. As a gay man myself I endured years of torment from my peers, but I also sensed the cultural pain that the people I had begun to identify with had endured throughout history. These wounds ran deep, and still affect me today. It’s a shame that the way Christians have treated the Gay Community has resulted in gay Christians questioning their salvation and whether or not they are loved, and worth loving.

  1. If you must speak, apologize.

I’m reminded of Kevin Rudd’s apology on behalf of Australia for the poor treatment of the indigenous community. It has been a slow process since then, but we are starting to see wounds healed, and a people have returned to them their dignity. The Gay Community’s history is filled with violence, bloodshed, and suicide. If we are unwilling to acknowledge that as a people, Christians carry a heritage that only serves to remind another people (the Gay Community) of their personal and cultural pain and rejection, we could lose a people group. Is your heart breaking yet?

When it comes to someone who doesn’t know Jesus, acknowledging someone’s hurt and pain and asking for forgiveness is the beginning of healing. You don’t have to agree with someone in order to acknowledge their pain.

  1. Actions speak louder than words; make a statement. (The right statement)

In the gospels, Jesus was particularly harsh with the religious leaders. Why? Well, they made the Gentiles feel isolated and unworthy of God’s love. An example is when Jesus was angry with the Temple being turned into a “den of robbers” (John 2). See, the Jews were the only ones allowed to enter the Temple to worship God. Gentiles were only allowed as far as the outer court of the Temple. But the Jews had set up market in the outer court and left no room for the Gentiles. The Jewish leaders had allowed a people group to feel alienated from God’s people, and from God Himself.

It’s so clear if you read the gospels. Jesus’ motivation behind every choice He made, behind every word, was love. His concern was the heart of the individual. Reading through the Sermon on the Mount, you can see that when Jesus says things like, “Even if you hate, you are a murderer in your heart”, and “if you lust, you have committed adultery in your heart”, you see it. Jesus was more concerned about the condition of your heart, than your actions. We have not shown a care for the heart of Gay people and especially Gay Christians, only contempt. It was love that moved Jesus to the dark places, to speak with people, to enter homes, do life with people. If you aren’t prepared to do that with the Gay people, to love them without an agenda – a gay person is not your project – then you have no right to speak into the heart of the issue. Ask yourself if you are even making it a safe environment for Gay Christians to confide in you. If it’s never happened before, I guarantee you it’s because you’re not a safe person, not because they aren’t around. Be a part of the change that brings reconciliation, and stop participating in the conversation, because it is a major reason why Gay people feel anything but loved by us and by Jesus. People will want Jesus if we represent Him well.

Go love or go home.

 

 

Discussion

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  1. Gay Christian?? I have never heard of anyone referred to as a fornicating christian; an adulterous christian; a murdering christian; a child abusing christian; a lying christian; an embezzling christian so why a gay christian?

    As I understand it a Christian is a sinner saved by grace. To label oneself otherwise is to deny the power of God to change.

    Posted by Dick Tate | December 5, 2014, 4:17 pm