I guess I still have a long way to go in the personal standard I have set to treat everyone with equality.
The other day I was listening to the music of Mary Gauthier. She had caught my attention while searching for tracks on emusic.com. Her sound and style reminded me a lot of Lucinda Williams who happens to be one of my favorite performers. I found it interesting that they are both natives of Louisiana.
As I continued my research of Mary I soon discovered that she is a lesbian.
My initial reaction was of disappointment.
Then my secondary reaction was of further disappointment. Disappointment with myself.
Why should I stop enjoying and appreciating the work of an artist because they are homosexual? I shouldn’t and neither should anybody else.
As a Christian, I realize that most of my fellow believers look down at gay people with disgust and revulsion. This is not as it should be. We are all created equal in God’s sight. The scriptures tell us that we have all sinned and have fallen short of the perfection that God requires from His creation. It took God’s son, Jesus, dying on the cross that has broken the wall that had previously kept sinners set apart from a most Holy God.
Now the question was posed to me this evening by my oldest daughter: Are homosexuals born that way? I can go a little further and ask “Are “alternative lifestyles” sinful in the eyes of God?”
A cursory reading of the Bible would seem to indicate that a gay lifestyle is sinful. Which means this “sin” can be lumped in with lying and cheating and bigotry and gossiping and overeating and a host of other vices. I believe that some gays are born that way and if it is sin then why should we treat this situation more harshly than we have other sins when it comes to accepting people into the fellowship of the church?
I became a Christian back in 1980. Before then I drank too much, definitely ate too much, fibbed from time to time, laughed at dirty jokes, looked at women with lust in my eyes and watched bad movies. Since that time, over the past 30 years as a believer, I have occasionally done all these things and even more! Yet I am still accepted as a member in good standing at my church.
Yet gays are not allowed into the evangelical church as members. I have a hard time believing that sexual sin is the most horrible sin in God’s books. The problem is the church puts such a powerful emphasis on perceived sexual sins that these types of sins are far graver than any others. (Though rarely do you hear any messages in the church today about pre-marital sex, or sex among single adult Christians.)
Is being a lesbian worse than being a bigot? Is being a lesbian worse than being a “self-righteous, holier than thou” member in the church? Is being a lesbian worse than being a person always willing to cast the proverbial first stone? Is being a lesbian worse than the one who is so quick to gossip and slander the one who is sitting a few pews over in God’s House of Worship?
Really, honestly, what do you think?
The key to spiritual health is simply to take care of one’s own business before judging others.
Pretty radical, isn’t it?
We are so quick to judge and ban the gay community yet not so willing to throw the self-righteous and the bigot and the gossiper under the bus.
Perhaps this is a good thing or else there would be no one left in our evangelical churches.
