“Beloved, let us Love one another, because Love is from God; everyone who Loves is born of God and knows God. Indeed, whoever does not Love does not know God, for God is Love … No one has ever seen God, and yet if we Love one another, God lives in us, and his Love is perfected in us.” ~ 1 John 4:7-16

Now that the United States Supreme Court (in an embarrassingly close 5-4 decision) has ruled that throughout the land homosexuals now have just as much a right to legally express their Love as straight people do, the backlash from the far right (especially from evangelical & fundamentalist Christians) has already begun to rear its less-than-attractive head.

With that in mind, I thought I would offer the following concise analysis of the five most frequent arguments you might encounter from those who still harbor less-then-humble & less-than-accepting feelings for homosexuals & homosexuality … It is information important for all homosexuals (and all heterosexuals who have friends or family members who are homosexual) to know, an d it is important information for all conservative Christians to consider …

ARGUMENT #01) “But we aren’t judging gays; we are only judging their sin” … This statement is one of the more frequent rejections of homosexuality one might hear from fundamentalist Christians (and fundamentalist Muslims, for that matter), AND it is an argument that ignores the following three very important points —

*A) that choosing to worship a God who clearly DOES judge some sins worthy of eternal damnation (e.g. homosexuality) while judging other sins to be worthy of forgiveness (e.g. ignoring Jesus’ call for us to be humble as a child in Matthew 18:3, or ignoring Jesus call to forgive others seventy-times-seven — the 7 meaning completely & the 70 meaning everyone — in Matthew 18:22) IS judging others by proxy. In essence, hiding behind God is no excuse when it is your choice whether or not to worship such a condemning God …

*B) that it is hypocritical to judge others of their sins when you have not cleansed yourself of your own (Matthew 7:1-5) … and,

*C) that it is bigotry plain & simple to isolate and condemn one particular group of “sinners” for damnation when their “sin” is innate to their genetic makeup and when many other groups are (at least according to the Bible’s Old Testament) equally worthy thereof.

POINT #02) “But the Bible says so” … This is another argument that judgmental Christians use to justify their intolerance of homosexuality, and it is just as fundamentally flawed as its predecessor. Aside from the FACT that nowhere in the entire Bible is homosexuality itself deemed to be a sin (only homosexual lust &/or gay sex is so denounced), there are literally THOUSANDS of verses of scripture in the Bible that also “prove” that homosexuals need not be condemned at all in order for a “believer” to still qualify as a devout Christian. It is intriguing to me that conservative Christians will so readily tout the raw wrath of Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13 or the ignorant intolerance of Romans 1:26-27 & 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 while completely ignoring the mass of other verses in the Bible that speak of acceptance & humility & compassion & Love. It inspires me to ask them: what about Matthew 5:48, where Jesus notes that God’s Love for all His creation is without exception? What about John 5:22, where Jesus notes that God judges NO ONE? What about 1 John 4:18, where the author notes that God’s perfect Love contains no fear, and therefore contains NO PUNISHMENT? What about Luke 6:36, where Jesus tells us to “be merciful, in the same way your Father is merciful”? What about Matthew 18:22, where Jesus points out that we are to actualize that perfect mercy by completely forgiving ALL our lives’ trespassers? What about Mark 12:31, where Jesus points out that his commandment to “love your neighbor” is the most important one in the entire Bible? And what about the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, which shows that the “neighbor” to which Jesus refers in this commandment is our CULTURAL ENEMY — in this case, homosexuals?

Bigotry is negatively judging &/or denouncing a subset of humanity that behaves or believes differently from oneself, and hiding behind a few verses from the Old Testament and a handful of verses from the ‘”apostle” Paul does not make it any less so … The Bible gives each and every Christian ample room to refuse to denounce gays for being gay, and as such it is a form of bigotry to read it otherwise.

Oh, and by the way, the Bible also says THIS:

“Why do you judge the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the beam in your own? How can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the beam is in your own? You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your neighbor’s.” ~ Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:3-5)

POINT #03) “But gays choose to be gay” … Setting aside for the time being the ever-growing body of scientific studies showing homosexuality is actually a “God-created” (or at the very least “God-allowed”) state of being that gays have from birth, we must ask the following important questions: How is it that gays — who are born straight — can suddenly choose to become sexually aroused by members of the same sex? Most of those I know (including myself) do have this capability, so why have homosexuals been granted this ability? Or better stated, why would God only give some of us the ability to choose to be gay? Or even better stated, why would God make roughly 10% of the human population essentially bisexual from birth — and then punish them for eternity for being true to how He made them?

POINT #04) “But God doesn’t send homosexuals to Hell; they choose to go there” … To be fair, what fundamentalist Christians are mostly saying here is that it is gays choice to sin by being gay that has them in effect “choosing” their eternal damnation, and yet the very important question still remains: If gays do indeed inadvertently choose to go to Hell, then will they be allowed to leave after petitioning the all-Loving, all-powerful & all-knowing God for mercy? “The Apocalypse of Peter” (a Biblical writing that was considered holy scripture for the first several hundred years after Christ’s death — and a book that 2 Timothy 3:16 says is still holy scripture to this day) says that they WILL be able to do so. Of course, the Christian church says that they won’t … Either way, if homosexuals are forced to remain in Hell forever, it will most certainly NOT be because of their choice to go there — but rather it will be because of God’s decision to keep them there.

POINT #05) “But we Love gay people. We are merely warning them of their imminent damnation” … Really? I wonder. I wonder if this is really as close as conservative Christians can get to the perfect LOVE of the Father that Jesus openly describes in the Gospels (see Matthew 5:48 + John 5:22 for starters) … Indeed, how it is possible to truly LOVE who a person IS by encouraging them to become who they are not (or who they “could be”) … And most importantly of all, how can anyone truly LOVE homosexuals while openly & fully worshiping a God who they know will in all likelihood allow them to burn in Hell forever?!?!?

In conclusion, the aforementioned Supreme Court rally hasn’t changed much … Homosexuals are going to keep on Loving other homosexuals, and at least some conservative Christians are probably going to keep on denouncing that Love.

I simply wanted to use this post to give you all the greater ability to A) gently stand up for yourselves if you are gay and find yourself attacked or condemned by a Christian, or B) to gently stand up for homosexuals if you are straight and hear or witness similar bigotry.

May we all one day realize that we are ALL an equally worthy part of the same, beautiful Family … and may we ALL have the Humility & the Courage to act accordingly.

Amen … Let it be so.

“This is my Commandment: that you Love one another in the same manner I have Loved you.” ~ Jesus (John 15:12)

Filed under: My Favorite Verses by Scaughdt