Firstly, to anyone who has ever been attacked for their lifestyle choices by someone pertaining to be of the Christian faith, I'd like to apologise on behalf of my posse. My bad. In fact, all our bad. Unfortunately, being born as sinful men and women sometimes makes you say stupid things in supposed defence of your 'faith'. Now, reader, read on….
I often feel that the biggest enemy of Christianity is Christians ourselves.
This isn't always through deliberate or malicious actions; in fact more often than not it's just through people trying to do or say what they think is right based on what they believe the Bible teaches. But sometimes people, myself wholeheartedly included, let their own selfish ambitions or skewed views on the world cloud their judgement of their fellow human beings.
One great example of this is the treatment of homosexuals (henceforth known as 'the gays') within our modern society.
There seem to be two common reactions to 'the gays' within Christian circles - the 'New Testament' reaction; that Jesus showed love for all mankind and that we should do likewise, and the 'Old Testament' reaction; that homosexuality is a sin and that 'that's all she wrote'. I personally like to believe that the true Christian position takes a little from column A, a little from column B, so to speak.
I agree that the core of Christianity is love, and that we are to 'love thy neighbour', regardless of what they believe or how their views on life, the universe and everything may differ from ours. Even if they're living in complete disregard and even disdain of the principles which we hold so dear, even if they deny the God we believe in and mock us, or even (and this is sometimes more difficult than all-out disagreement) if they pertain to stand for the same values we do but somehow seem to not quite understand things in the same way, we are still to show love. Because you know those goofy 'WWJD' wristbands that some people (losers - i kid, i kid) wear? Well THAT's what Jesus would do.
Nevertheless, I also believe the Bible clearly lays out guidelines about how we are to behave with our fellow humans, and no matter what 'seems' to be right in today's postmodern society, I'm personally going to try to follow the rules laid out by God down to the letter, even if it might seem regressive and maybe even a little crazy to live my life by a 2000 year old book. I believe the Bible clearly states that homosexuality is a sin, but this doesn't mean I'm going to chase the gays out of my village with a pitchfork, it just means that I can try my best not to commit that sin (which is a lot easier for me than for some….). At the end of the day (using a football manager's term to prove that I'm 100% not gay), that's the best any of us can hope to achieve, with all sin. Let's not forget that while I personally might find the idea of kissing a guy repulsive, others may not, and also that I probably commit around 100 other sins per day, which may be better (better?!) or worse depending on your viewpoint. I'm not gay, so unfortunately (not sure why I'm saying unfortunately….latent repression??) I have no understanding of what causes a person to develop feelings of that nature towards someone of their gender. You might say, therefore, that I don't really have any right to comment on whether it's right or wrong. Thankfully, I believe the Word of God took away any need for discussion on whether it's right or wrong, but like I say, when Christians get hold of the Bible, they can often twist it to meet their own failed and sinful agendas.
The bottom (no pun intended) line for me is, I can't imagine Christ showing anything but love towards someone with a same-sex orientation, just as I can't imagine Him showing anything but love towards a thief, or a murderer, or a rapist, even if they are all condemned in one way or another in the Bible (please don't judge me for kinda almost nearly possibly equating homosexuality with rape; I'm in NO WAY drawing a parallel, I'm just trying to think of things the Bible calls 'sins'). So in an effort to be as like Christ as possible, I must show love to the gays too.
(not in that way)
(not in that way)
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