It's the big topic right now in California.
Really Big!
Okay, not that huge, but you get the picture...a lot of people are talking about it. I'm not necessarily the biggest blogger as far as writing on my own blog goes, but I do read a lot of other blogs to fill my time. I was reading a blog I subscribe to called "Vintage Faith". The author of the blog, pastor Dan Kimball, takes a "theologically conservative viewpoint on the practice of homosexuality and biblical covenant of marriage". Basically, he believes that marriage is designed only for a man and woman to come together under God. The liberal mind that I have compelled me to write this today.Now, I'm not exactly sure where I stand on the gay marriage issue, but I do know that there are a lot of Christian men and women out there who are gay. They live in fear of their own communities. They avoid other Christians because they fear rejection from the church. They avoid other gays and lesbians because Christians have a bad name in the gay community. They are outcast and very alone.
Many Christians believe that gays have a choice to be straight. I would love to challenge that by asking any straight person if they could just "choose" to be gay. Likely, the answer is no. I would begin to accept the question of "choice" if all heterosexuals would first apply it to themselves. This would mean asking "Why am I straight? When did I first realize I was straight? What makes me straight? Oh no, is something wrong with me?" These are the same questions most homosexuals have to ask themselves every day. Aside
from the fact that the majority of heterosexuals NEVER face these questions, I also dispute the question of choice because I'm forced to ask why any sane person would actually CHOOSE to be put in this state of rejection and ostracization. No one. No one chooses to be less than equal. Whether one identifies as a woman, as black, as Jewish, as republican, as gay, as straight, as white male. Nobody consciously chooses any of these stereotyped identities. They just are.
Many say that homosexuality is a sin. Again, I don't know what I think about this, but I do know that according to Leviticus 19, so is eating your meat rare (v. 26), getting your hair trimmed (v. 27), getting tattoos (v. 28), and even using faulty measurement equipment (v. 35 - better make sure your rulers are accurate). Of course, the verse about gays in the next chapter is attached with a decree, "They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads." But then, didn't Jesus spill his blood so that we wouldn't have to? My only point here is that you can't pick and choose which sins are "worse" than others. Sin is sin in God's eyes and every little white lie you've told and every time you've dishonored your parents and any time you've looked at people or material things with lust, you've committed sin in God's eyes...so why condemn the gay "speck of sawdust...when all the time, there's a great plank" in your own life?
What really makes me angry is hearing people like my mom say "Well, if gays can marry, why can't you just marry some animal?" Now, I have some really close gay friends, and when I hear them compared to animals (and I'm sure when God hears his most beautiful creation compared to other animals), it breaks my heart. I'll tell you why you "can't just marry some animal". While a gay couple can consent to marriage, an animal, which doesn't have the capacity for speech or for human thought, can't make that decision and/or that commitment.
Are gay men and women doing any harm to anybody? I can't honestly say that they are. It's not fair for them to have to face the rejection which they encounter daily. I'll leave you here, with one last thought and a couple of questions. If we remember the two most important commandments, summed up as love God and love others, and put those above the ten commandments, and above all of the ancient laws which form Leviticus, and above our own personal convictions, then why is it so hard for us to be accepting and to embrace the gay community in love? Why can't we recognize that many homosexual men and women have committed much less sin than we have? Are we really so narrow-minded as a Christian community that we can't even TRY to recognize the struggles these people face, often much more difficult than our own?
Please leave feedback through comments. I'd love to hear what all you bloggers have to say :)
P.S. If there are any Christians interested in looking at life from the perspective of Christian gays, I recommend the video "For the Bible Tells Me So", a documentary on homosexuals in the Christian community.
