love God, hate gay people?

i love God.
some of my best friends are gay and i love them.

this is quite clearly a dangerous piece to write because in this politically correct world we find ourselves in you are allowed to be anything but just not allowed to question anything – each to his own, right?
but i read this article and really thort the author, John Dickson, nailed the topic on the head…

i remember an occasion a number of years ago when i ended up chatting to one of my gay friends late into the night about a whole variety of topics. it was a guy i worked with and so we were probably more acquaintances than friends at the time [we’re friends now] and so we didn’t really know each other well, but the conversation went from hypnotism to ghosts to other spiritual things and eventually after about an hour ended up on christianity [there had been a bunch of us chatting for about the first hour but then the rest lost interest and it was just me and let’s call him ‘J’]

i remember being quite nervous about asking the question but for some reason i just really wanted to know and i knew that if it went badly it could make things difficult for us in the working/acquaintance environment we were in. I looked at J and asked him, ‘So J, what do you think my opinion of gay people is?’ He looked at me and said, “Isn’t it supposed to be love the sinner, hate the sin?” I was quite surprised that he was the one quoting that line, so I asked another nervous question, “What about me, J, have you ever felt judged by me because you are gay?” [he knew i was a Christ-follower and working in a church as a youth pastor at the time] He turned to me and said, “If you judged me, you would never have worked alongside me or come to my house or drunk out of the same cup” and one or two other things.

And for me it has always been that. I now have a lot of friends who are homosexual and they are my friends and I love them. But, according to my beliefs and my understanding of the Bible, I don’t see that as being God’s plan for the world. I really like how Dickson sums it up at the end of his article:

“But there is a third way, based on a different logic. We ought to be able to love even those with whom we profoundly disagree. It must be possible for Christians to question the moral status of sexual intimacy outside heterosexual monogamy while demonstrating respect and care for neighbours who are neither heterosexual nor monogamous. True open-mindedness is not merely accepting as true and valid someone else’s viewpoint; it is the more difficult and noble commitment to honouring people whose viewpoints you reject.”

i think as a christian, it is very easy to have an opinion on the gay/homosexual issue, until the moment you actually know some gay people and are friends with them. then it becomes completely difficult and complicated. the church has far too often made ‘being gay’ a worse sin than any other and worthy of extreme focus and condemnation and we have often lost the basic command of Jesus which is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind” but also to “love your neighbour as yourself”

hopefully, day by day, i’ll be able to do that better…

and hopefully get better at being open-minded like John says, “True open-mindedness is not merely accepting as true and valid someone else’s viewpoint; it is the more difficult and noble commitment to honouring people whose viewpoints you reject.”

take a look at the rest of the article at http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/44682.html

the point: reasons to not hate Christ-ianity

so i recently wrote a 5 part ‘reasons to hate Christianity’ blog series which was (for those who read it) intended to be a tongue-in-cheek statement on some of the basic things Christianity is actually meant to be about – things like love and forgiveness and looking after people in need which are all things that actually no-one in their right mind would hate…

but yet people hate christianity and have issues with the church… therefore there must be a problem somewhere…

james writes this, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!”

and i think that’s it. we don’t. well maybe not all of us, but enuff of us to give people outside of the church the idea that it is not the predominant thing we are about

in fact Jesus said this, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES, if you love one another.” [John 13.34-35]

so why is it that the church is more often known for being judgmental, or anti-gay, or greedy and wanting all of your money, or hypocritical and so on… cos i think that is why people hate christians and fear or despise the church…

as my friend kleinfrans once said ‘the God i believe in is not the God you don’t believe in’ and i think that’s really true and the krux of it – people are against Christianity and the Christian God only because the witness and example they have had (from God representatives) have been so bad

Jesus Christ issued this hardcore challenge to those who would be part of His team – “If anyone wants to follow Me, He must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” [Luke 9.23]

when Christ is at the centre of Christianity then it works – then it attracts – then it heals – then it brings together – then it uplifts – then it unites

and so as Christians, or my more favoured term Christ-followers (which implies that we do) cos there are so many different people calling themselves christian who are so badly not-representative of who the name is meant to be all about, we need to be the love and the grace and the forgiveness and the uplifting that it as all about

then maybe we can start introducing people to a God they are in fact desperate to believe in.

[to see the start of the series ‘Reasons to Hate Christianity’ click here]

the wages of God, are you!

when Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment in the jewish law He responded with in summary, “Love God love people” – ha, as i was typing that i accidentally typo’d “love gold” and how fitting that is but i’m sure i don’t have to go into that. Jesus added that the full law and the prophets (basically their bible at the time) rested on these two things (relationships)

in fact if you study the ten commandments from the old testament they are divided into 4 aimed at loving God and 6 aimed at loving people (maybe we get more cos sometimes it’s a lot harder to love people?)

the economy of heaven is people. that is what God puts His sight on and so surely it makes perfect sense that we should do the same – and so why can we spend so much time and energy on things like gold (money), stuff (big house, flashy car, latest gadgets), entertainment/luxury (sound system, latest phone, holiday overseas), reputation, achievement and so on, and still boldly claim to be followers of Jesus?

as one rabbi once said when asked to sum up the bible in ten words or less – “Love God, love people. all the rest is commentary.”

the economy God is interested in is you, and me, and your neighbour, and the guy at work you don’t like, and the gay muslim abortionist living across the street from you. and your parents. and your ex (girlfriend, wife, best friend, crush). God lines His wallet with people, with relationships. would you say that is a primary focus in your life or has it all become about the person staring back at you when you stand in front of the mirror?

Love God, love people. all the rest is commentary.

[that’s right – it’s as if to God, people are high-fiveable!]