On Facebook, a friend posted something about how his fellow Christians should learn to live and let live when it came to the issue of homosexuality. This caused quite a stir, including one person who said she would never accept her child if he was gay. The following is my response:
If the gay people aren't allowed to live freely, what then should they do? Pretend to be straight? Pretending is, in this case, in any case, a lie.
My roommate, who is also one of my best friends in the world and, also, consequently, a gay man, once told me that there is nothing more painful or dangerous than having to live closeted.
When people make it so socially unacceptable for you to live how you truly know you are, when you have to keep that kind of secret, it consumes you. You have to constantly be scared that everyone is going to find out that you're different. When you live with that kind of consistent fear, you can never be happy. You can never be at peace.
I know at this point, you'll probably argue that people don't HAVE to be gay. You'll tell me no one is born this way, it's just some perverse choice people make. You're wrong. I'm not even going to debate you on the issue.
I've known too many people of various sexual orientations to think the ones who truly self-identify as gay are any likely to change this or choose this than the ones who only desire the opposite sex. People don't choose this. And quite often until they can finally admit it to themselves and come out to others about it, they are miserable and they make others miserable as well.
Is it a sin? I don't believe it is. Yes, I know the Bible says otherwise, but the Bible also says that if a woman isn't a virgin when she gets married she can be stoned to death. I don't believe that's true either. But you know what, even if it is a sin, I don't care.
Because lying is a sin, and we don't tell two liars they can't marry each other. Borrowing money is a sin, but we don't tell people with house loans they can't adopt children. Gossip is a sin, but we don't have groups of people who target gossipers and beat them to death. People don't have to live in fear of losing their jobs because they have graven images of God hanging around. No one tries to pass laws against people who do any of these things.
There is another reason I don't care if it's a sin. And that reason is because I do know that if I don't show love for someone, show acceptance for someone, I am the one who is sinning. And so I will hug my gay brothers and sisters, I will let them eat at my table, I will march with them hand in hand, I will stand up for their rights, and I will defend them against those who would hurt them. I'm here to love people. Their salvation and the way to it is between them and Jesus.
As for your question about how one is to feel if their child is gay, let me ask you this . . .would you rather be the mother who welcomes her gay child into her home and prays for understanding or the mother who buries her child knowing her disapproval was the last straw before he killed himself?
No comments:
Post a Comment