Hope-A Blog About Homosexuality from a Christian Perspective
4:51 PMI began writing this blog with the original intention of offending nobody. I was soon to realize that if that were to be my aim, I should perhaps get a new hobby.
What I say
here may displease you. It may even cause you to “unfriend” me on Facebook
(surely the cruelest of all modern tortures!) However, it is with weeks of
prayer, months of indecision, and years of thought, that I, at last, write the
following.
Someone in my life is gay. It’s a sentence uttered in heartbreak and moral confusion by many,
but a point of fact in my own story. He is, and always will be, someone with
whom I love spending time, someone who constantly makes me laugh with his shy,
yet ever so quick wit, and someone whose life I’ve watched reluctantly from
afar with a great, overwhelming sadness. As I watch him growing older, living
with his partner of choice, an insurmountable wall standing between he and his
family, I cannot help but mourn for what
might have been, should have been, could have been.
Although I’d known gay people my entire life (growing up in the world of theatre hardly shields you from those things), I hadn’t ever had too many debates on the subject. That is, until last year. As I prepared to leave Germany, the church I had been attending decided to confront the issue head on.
“If we allow
gay couples into our church, how can we reject them in leadership roles?” That
statement rocked my clean cut little world! I found myself stuttering and
stammering as I searched avidly for a reply.
After I
posted this magazine article "An Open Letter to the Church from a Lesbian", on Facebook a few weeks back, I was
surprised by the amount of questions and responses to this fiery topic. I
finally decided to search out clear cut answers for myself. What I have learned
and discovered I’ll now share with you.
I began by
asking myself if verses in the Bible against homosexuality were found strictly
in the Old Testament, or also in the New. This was often the argument I’d heard
on the side of the gay debate, “If we lived back then, we’d be stoned! Jesus
was loving and merciful and put an end to all that.” Well, I’m afraid that just
doesn’t add up, my friends.
ROMANS 1:21, 24-28
"For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened....Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever to be praised. Amen."
A good friend of mine put it like this, “Someone’s always playing the woman, and someone the man.” I’ve heard these verses twisted and contorted all manner of ways, but when I look at them, how can I read it other than that a life of sexual impurity, in this case homosexual, is a life in which God takes no part.
A good friend of mine put it like this, “Someone’s always playing the woman, and someone the man.” I’ve heard these verses twisted and contorted all manner of ways, but when I look at them, how can I read it other than that a life of sexual impurity, in this case homosexual, is a life in which God takes no part.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolators nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
This verse describes the people we were; the operative word in this verse being “were.” The minute I surrendered my life to Jesus, I surrendered my own game plan. If Rachel were in control of her life, it would be a lot more passion driven, let me tell you! It would also be a disaster. Once I’ve established that God’s approval isn’t in the way I’m living, and I still choose to live in it, I remove the blood of Jesus from my life.
To my fellow
believers, what makes us so different from the world? Is it not our being freed
from the chains that bound us? How can I, how dare I, take that hope of release
away from anyone? There are many people living in homosexuality that believe
they have no other alternative; that they were born this way. We hold the truth
of a redemption so great and a God so powerful, that nothing is too hard for
Him. Perhaps they did feel that way their entire life. Does that mean that
Jesus can’t save, can’t heal? Yes, save! I have yet to know a homosexual person who doesn’t
live under an impossibly heavy load of shame and guilt. My embracing their
lifestyle will never lessen that guilt; it will rather drag them away from the
light of truth and hope that could have been theirs for the taking.
And if you
do know Jesus, can you imagine your life without Him? Do you not remember what
that was like? I sure do. I remember living every day being filled with a great
heaviness and the inward knowledge that I, like Paul, could be counted among
the worst of sinners. I was wretched. If He can save me, someone whose first
memories are of horribly sinful things, He can save anyone. How could I see
someone else living in such deep, hideous pain, and not do what I can to help?
I can’t lift their heavy load, but I can bring them to the one whose yoke is
easy and whose burden is light. My affirming Satan’s lies that their life is
unchangeable and irrevocable will never bring about the healing that could be.
We Christians have been publicized as “gay haters” and “bigots.” It is time we
stop fearing these oftentimes misplaced labels and start living lives that
reflect our Lord Jesus who wasn’t afraid of what other people called Him, but
lived a life completely inside His Father’s will. It’s time we start doing
whatever we see our Father doing. We should be the first people at the bedsides
of those dying from AIDS. We should be the ones spending our nights in tears
praying over lives that are so in need of redemption. We cannot negate the fact
that what is being done is biblically wrong, but we can approach it with
attitudes of humbleness, and quiet strength in our Lord, recognizing where we
came from, who we were, and where we’re going to. Then, perhaps, those "should
have beens" and "could have beens" and "might have beens",
at last will be.
IMAGES VIA PINTEREST AND MY OWN MARVELOUS CREATIVITY ;)
5 comments
Beautiful, wise words of truth, friend. Love love love your heart, and really appreciate your perspective on this <3
ReplyDelete"My embracing their lifestyle will never lessen that guilt; it will rather drag them away from the light of truth and hope that could have been theirs for the taking."
ReplyDeleteAmen, my sister! This was so beautifully written and I have been so blessed by your boldness in this.
xoxo
Thanks for the encouragement! Am so glad it meant something to someone out there! God bless you where you're at :-)
DeleteLove it, Sis
ReplyDeleteYou know when I struggle with how I feel about a person and the life they are leading, whatever their story may be, well, I always come back to... faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. Your heart is filled with love and that shines through in this post.
ReplyDeleteFollowing you now from the GFC Hop. I'm getting my groove back in this silly little bloggy world and I would love, love, love for you to be a part of the story we're writing at Local Sugar Hawaii . I'd so love for you to share your sweet story with us at our no rules link up with friends. Save ya a spot?
xo,
Nicole
www.localsugarhawaii.com
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