Not Everyone Who Calls Themselves Christian, Is
Imagine if you will sitting in a church - a nondenominational congregation with great music and charismatic preacher who goes on for nearly two hours about forgiveness and God's love and it is a really, really great sermon.
Now imagine that you're a person struggling in life. You've been through some horrific things as a child. Things that have turned your world upside down. Things that have (perhaps) led you down a certain path. Perhaps it wasn't those things you experienced. Perhaps your DNA is such that you were born with a certain preference for same gender relationships. However you got there. There you are. Someone who is struggling with who they are; someone who has studied the Bible. Someone who has it bookmarked and highlighted and knows it inside out and backwards.
Okay so after listening to nearly two hours of how God loves us no matter what, who will forgive us no matter what - who, like our parents wants the best for us and who will never turn His back on us if we but reach out to him... you go to speak for a moment with the preacher's wife. You think she's a God-loving lady who must certainly share her husband's belief in how God loves us. You think that if you talk to her for a little while and ask her something she'll help you.
So you ask. Will God still love you if you are a homosexual. Will He still embrace you if you turn to him but you don't walk away from your homosexuality.
And the answer?
No. You are going to hell.
Do not pass go, do not collect eternal love and forgiveness.
You are of course in shock, devastated, horrified and more than ever convinced you are a horrible person.
Never mind the concept of love the sinner, hate the sin. Never mind that God loves us no matter what. Never mind that there are so very many things that hurt God besides homosexuality: murder, drunkenness, adultery, theft... walk on down the 10 Commandments, you'll find plenty that upsets God. Let's not forget that the book of the Bible that rants and raves against homosexuality is the same book that says it is okay to stone a woman to death for adultery but not the man involved in the same act. The same book that says it is okay to sell your daughters into slavery (not your sons) and so on and so on.
But let's not forget Jesus' commandment: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR (as yourself).
Let's not forget "judge not, lest ye be judged". Judgement is NOT our role. We have no right to judge another person's choices, their life... especially when we have no idea what they have been through. We do NOT determine who is going to hell. People who live in glass houses and all that...
Judgement is God's job. Not ours.
If you follow Christ. If you honestly call yourself a Christian than you MUST know this: God is love. We are to love each other. We do not determine who goes to hell. We should not judge. For if we judge won't we be judged and won't we be found wanting? How can any of us cast that first stone when our own lives are filled with the bits and pieces that we are ashamed to bring before God?
The preacher's wife is wrong. People like those who follow the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church are wrong. So many so-called Christians are filled with this misguided righteousness that tells them they are so much better than everyone else. That only they know God's will. We can't any of us truly know God's will. It isn't for us to know. The choices we make in life are between us and God.
The preacher's wife probably meant well. The Westboro Baptists think they are Christians following God's law in picketing the funerals of soldiers and all the ranting and raving they do.
To be a Christian means to follow Christ and His teachings. And Christ is love. Not hate, not bigotry, not narrow-minded meanness... Christ is love. To follow Christ we should strive to be like Him.
Not all who call themselves Christians seem to have gotten that memo. Not all of them have learned their lessons well.
As is said in the musical Godspell: "there's gonna be a quiz at your ascension".
Now imagine that you're a person struggling in life. You've been through some horrific things as a child. Things that have turned your world upside down. Things that have (perhaps) led you down a certain path. Perhaps it wasn't those things you experienced. Perhaps your DNA is such that you were born with a certain preference for same gender relationships. However you got there. There you are. Someone who is struggling with who they are; someone who has studied the Bible. Someone who has it bookmarked and highlighted and knows it inside out and backwards.
Okay so after listening to nearly two hours of how God loves us no matter what, who will forgive us no matter what - who, like our parents wants the best for us and who will never turn His back on us if we but reach out to him... you go to speak for a moment with the preacher's wife. You think she's a God-loving lady who must certainly share her husband's belief in how God loves us. You think that if you talk to her for a little while and ask her something she'll help you.
So you ask. Will God still love you if you are a homosexual. Will He still embrace you if you turn to him but you don't walk away from your homosexuality.
And the answer?
No. You are going to hell.
Do not pass go, do not collect eternal love and forgiveness.
You are of course in shock, devastated, horrified and more than ever convinced you are a horrible person.
Never mind the concept of love the sinner, hate the sin. Never mind that God loves us no matter what. Never mind that there are so very many things that hurt God besides homosexuality: murder, drunkenness, adultery, theft... walk on down the 10 Commandments, you'll find plenty that upsets God. Let's not forget that the book of the Bible that rants and raves against homosexuality is the same book that says it is okay to stone a woman to death for adultery but not the man involved in the same act. The same book that says it is okay to sell your daughters into slavery (not your sons) and so on and so on.
But let's not forget Jesus' commandment: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR (as yourself).
Let's not forget "judge not, lest ye be judged". Judgement is NOT our role. We have no right to judge another person's choices, their life... especially when we have no idea what they have been through. We do NOT determine who is going to hell. People who live in glass houses and all that...
Judgement is God's job. Not ours.
If you follow Christ. If you honestly call yourself a Christian than you MUST know this: God is love. We are to love each other. We do not determine who goes to hell. We should not judge. For if we judge won't we be judged and won't we be found wanting? How can any of us cast that first stone when our own lives are filled with the bits and pieces that we are ashamed to bring before God?
The preacher's wife is wrong. People like those who follow the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church are wrong. So many so-called Christians are filled with this misguided righteousness that tells them they are so much better than everyone else. That only they know God's will. We can't any of us truly know God's will. It isn't for us to know. The choices we make in life are between us and God.
The preacher's wife probably meant well. The Westboro Baptists think they are Christians following God's law in picketing the funerals of soldiers and all the ranting and raving they do.
To be a Christian means to follow Christ and His teachings. And Christ is love. Not hate, not bigotry, not narrow-minded meanness... Christ is love. To follow Christ we should strive to be like Him.
Not all who call themselves Christians seem to have gotten that memo. Not all of them have learned their lessons well.
As is said in the musical Godspell: "there's gonna be a quiz at your ascension".
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