In my ongoing series about what I don't like about Christianity I present homosexuality. Let me make it clear, I am a Christian I love the Lord and Jesus lives in my heart. Now that that is out of the way I have thought that some Christians focus on the gays a little too much. It is almost creepy, heck, it is creepy. Let me tell you a story.
When I was in college I went to a wonderful little international church. I loved the people there. I loved the diversity. I loved the sermons that were so simple, clear and to the point. I even liked the music and I am super picky about music. The only thing that leaves a sort of bad taste in my mouth is the memory of a Korean man. In general I hear that Koreans act as if there are no gay Koreans and as a result there is no homophobia. (Also I have never met another Korean like him.) This man certainly did not fit that stereotype. I never asked him about his views of homosexuals in Korea probably because I did not want to encourage him. I cannot remember a single conversation I had with this man that did not disintegrate to talking about homosexuals and the evils of those people. As a result the only thing I remember about this man is ignorance and homosexuality, but mostly homosexuality. I am sure he would love to know that is what I think about him. Only once I tried to debate him on a false statement he made, it was that AIDS was a gay disease and that most people with AIDS were gay men. Actually at the time black straight women were the ones with most HIV cases. I told him so and he asked me who I had heard that from. Had I heard it from a gay person? So what if I had? That did not make it untrue, I really cannot remember whether my source was gay or not. I confess I hated him.
He is not the only one with that attitude that I have met among Christians, just the only one so obsessed, makes me wonder... Anyway, when I was like 12 I bought into that homosexuals are evil thing, but once I got older and a midge of sense I saw the truth. Homosexuals are people just like me and therefore not a strawman of stereotypes and lies. They are not “other” their hearts and minds are not different except in this one little way. I also met gay people and realized they were a lot more loving and accepting than my fellow Christians usually were toward me. When I had other Christians asking me loaded questions about my faith and practice of it so they could judge me, my gay friends were enthusiastically welcoming me to hang out with them and joking with me and making me feel really accepted. What ever left over stereotypes of gays I had fell down. They had no foundation in truth they were build on sand and the wind of truth blew and the rain fell and the misconception was swept away.
What am I saying? Could I possibly be saying homosexuality is not a sin? I can't make that statement. I cannot judge others. I have read all the parts in the Bible, that you have, about how homosexual acts are wrong. Please do not quote them. I just know that there is an awful lot of stuff in this world I do not understand. While everything may be black and white to God but for me to see the world that way makes me judgmental and that is a sin, at least for me. Only God can look into the hearts of men and see the truth about them. I cannot do that, I can barely understand my own.
What is the point? The point is: Why are Christians so judgmental of homosexuals? Could it be a greater sin than premarital sex? Having lustful thoughts? Stealing office supplies? Speeding on the way to work? Lying to your spouse about how much money you spent on something you really wanted that they thought was an unnecessary purchase? No, it is not and could not be a greater sin. All sins are the same in the eyes of God. They all lead to death according to the Bible and they can all be forgiven just the same. Really, whose opinion should we care about God's or man's? Man can set degrees of sin, God does not. I am not also going to sit here and arbitrate and list all the sins someone else commits, I am not God. It is none of my business. I have hard enough time with my own, mostly heterosexual lustful thoughts. After all, having a lustful thought about someone other than my husband is the same as having committed adultery, yikes! I know I am committing sin because I know my own heart. I better fix this and the thousands of other sins I have a problem with before tackling the sins of others, or even commenting weather something is a sin or not. Regardless of all my habitual sinning I am still going to Heaven because I have a promise in my heart. I just can't see how I am better than a gay person. Maybe homosexuality is a sin but Christ said nothing about it so I am not going to worry about it and he knows best about what is important to God.
Also, scientific evidence shows therapies are rather unsuccessful at reversing it.
I think this is a very compassionate and well-reasoned look at the topic (which is rare as it's usually deluged with rhetoric). Like you, I am a firm Christian. Like you, I don't have all the answers when it comes to homosexuality. But I agree that many people place way too much emphasis on it and we lose sight of the fact that all people are PEOPLE first and therefore deserving of love and respect.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte, thanks for commenting, I love your blog. I am still working hard to try and figure it all out.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteThe church will change its attitude toward and how they treat gays and lesbians when more and more thinking people take the tact that you are taking here. When you publicly announce that you cannot condemn them and that homosexual acts are no more of a sin than any other sin the idea will spread.
Personally, when I look at the very few passages dealing with homosexual acts I see the context being licentiousness. We are not to be given over to licentiousness in any of its forms. So, gays in committed, monogamous relationships I'm not so sure that they are sinning. But I don't blame anyone or condemn anyone who believes it to be a sin. I am with you , we treat them horribly and that needs to change.
We had a big discussion about homosexuality in Finland after there was a large panel on the live TV about it. I asked from a knowledgeable person in some web discussion about where in the bible is homosexuality banned and he/she listed the references to passages.
DeleteIIRC a couple was from Old Testament and the way I see it, they don't count as Jesus pretty much changed the game.
In the New Testament, there was one explicit ban against homosexual sex listed among general licentiousness in one of the Letters. Considering this was essentially an edict from one of the early church elders (before the establishment of a common dogma) or maybe even more of a moral sermon by a Pharisee rather than anything the dirty hippie Jesus would say, I wouldn't place much value in it. There was a tone of a political leader asserting his power over a church rather than someone continuing Jesus's legacy and it's the late great JC that should count, right?
Other than that, the other passages in NT I was given only condemned licentiousness.
Considering those were given in the context of how it was back then and how much the society and civilisation has progressed in 2000 years, I'd say those should not be considered. They weren't about faith, they were about the society back then.
Then again, I'm an atheist raised as a Lutheran. I prefer secular humanism and liberalism, but they build on the ideas of centuries of Christian philosophy.