Since Friday evening, social media, news media, and I'm sure, bible studies all over this state have been hammering, not just a lifestyle that differs from their choice, but the people living that life style. I've seen everything from "those faggots want everything their way," to "go pray to your gay porn god." Again, it's sickening. It's gotten me thinking over the past few days, why have we (the church) cashed in all of our chips on this particular sin? Why do we ignore certain sins and go hard on homosexuality? This is a stretch, I know, but what if the church was consistent in it's approach to sin? Let's look at a few (ONLY A FEW)...
Gossip.
Wait a second here. I've been looking all over facebook and I have seen nearly no outrage towards gossip. Yes, maybe an obscure post here or there, but there is nothing near the level of anti-homosexual comments that I've seen recently. Odd.
Gluttony.
Holy cow...how many sermons and status updates do we get centered around this topic? Plenty, right? Huh? None? Dang...wonder why that is. Maybe it is because a majority of pastors partake is this particular sin. Can't preach on things we actually struggle with, can we? Might offend some of the people sitting in front of us.
Hatred.
The bible says that if we hate with our heart, we are murdering.
Adultery.
Look upon a man or woman with lust? Yep, you guessed it...sexual sin. Guilty yet?
Oh man...my favorite...DIVORCE.
It's getting hot in here now, right? How many of you know a homosexual? Some, I'm sure, but I bet not a majority. Now, how many of us know someone who has been/getting divorced? How many of of those friends do we run up to shouting Malachi 2:16 at? Probably not very many. Jesus had very little to say about the actual act of homosexuality, but more broader in terms of sexual immorality. Guess what, guys and girls, that doesn't just apply to homosexuals, that applies to every single human being breathing right now. We are worried about homosexuals ruining the sanctity of marriage all the while we are sleeping around like we are trying to break some type of record. We are cheating on our spouses. We are trying to keep up with all the free porn we can handle. Guess what my heterosexual friends, that is sexually immoral behavior. And guess what else, in the eyes of God, that is as bad as the homosexual monster that you're so scared of. This "God Hates Fags" mentality that we have attributed to Westboro Baptist Church actually runs much deeper and broader than them. It has infected our churches, too.
At the end of the day, we are all sinners. It's just easier to pick out homosexuality because it only applies to roughly 1 out of every 16. It's easy to beat up on minorities. Honestly, I'm just over this holier than thou act that the church puts on. If it's not our sins, they're horrible. If they are our sins, we accept God's Grace like it is going out of style.
Had this question asked to me the other day. "Is it judgmental to call people to repentance?" Almost laughable because it isn't that simple. That's not what is being done. We are treating human beings as less than human beings because we believe their transgressions are worse than ours. It's like me boycotting all-you-can-eat buffets and making them illegal because I can't handle them. How would you like that? What if I was standing outside of Golden Corral with a "God Hates Fat Slobs" sign? Pretty ridiculous thought. Why, when meeting a homosexual--we lose our minds and have a sudden grievance in our heart and feel that urge to call them to repentance? We meet a divorcee' and what? Not the same feeling, right? Why is that? God hates both, right? Could it be that the topic of divorce hits too close to home? Hypocrites. That's why we are losing a cultural battle and we are going to lose generations of people who could advance the Kingdom. We can't be consistent because it might affect our friendships, congregations, and maybe our families.
Here is what I AM consistent on, however.
God loves you, as you are, not as you should be because we will never be as we should be. (Brennan Manning)
The better biblical answer? Hate the sin, love the sinner! Right? No. I'm suggesting something different. I am not sold on the idea that it is humanly possible to separate the sin from the sinner. I know you think you have it down pat but I am sure that if you did a really good soul searching, you would find that separating the two is harder than you think. I'm thinking I might have a better way.
Love The Sinner.
Yes. Leave the sin alone. I have found it easier to love the sinner when I am focused only on loving them and not trying to fix their issues. Besides, as an active sinner, I have enough on my plate for me to worry about. I find it difficult enough to keep myself on the narrow road without trying to fix other people. I believe that if I love them (like Jesus) and they see Jesus in me and Jesus works through me, they will want what I have and I will be there to tell them how to get it.
I'm sure there will be naysayers. I have grown quite fond of them over the last year. I know my thinking goes against the majority of church thinking but if I might say so, I believe the church has gotten it wrong in a lot of areas. How to handle sinners is just one of the many. I'm sure I will get to the rest eventually. ;-)
By the way, I just smirked thinking of the conversations some of you will be having while reading this. "How arrogant. He thinks he knows more than my church, pastor, sunday school teacher." "This dude is going to hell." "Wait, what does HERETIC mean again?" lol.
Bring it on.
No comments:
Post a Comment