Yes, I realize I'm coming at you with guns hot. That's half the idea of this blog: I have no intention of pulling punches, which means I'll be bringing out the big guns first and foremost (to use militant metaphors, with which the people of my hometown are familiar).
Homosexuality, in my mind, is the issue that is going to make or break the church of our generation. Every previous generation has had an upheaval that has been the same for them: the issue of women in the church and government (which still hasn't been properly addressed in my eyes), African-Americans, Native Americans, "liberal atheists", "darn Catholics", followers of Islam and other Eastern faiths: the list of scapegoats is endless.
Homosexuals are the new one that's fashionable to hate on.
This ought to be a surprise to no one.
Despite Christ's doctrine of love for all and all for love, the Church has done a damn good job ostracizing and making enemies out of anyone it can. And that is the sort of ungodly behavior that seriously needs analyzing and adjusting.
I will start with an illustration:
Every Christian is in at least some way familiar with the story of The Good Samaritan. And this is how most people read the story: a Samaritan, who is usually always bad and selfish, goes out of his way to be good for once for the benefit of a burdened man. This, of course, is not the same story that Christ told to his brothers and sisters. Allow me to put the story into contextual perspective:
For those of you who know your history of the Tribes of Israel, this will be a memory-jogging for you. The Israelite kingdom, after the return to Israel after the exile to Babylon, was divided into two kingdoms: Samaria, the northern kingdom, and Judea, the southern kingdom. The Samarians, according to the Jews below, were considered a dirty half-breed, for having made husbands and wives out of the people of the surrounding area, people who did not share the blood or God of Abraham; and even those who adopted Yahweh as Lord were not accepted. This thought pervades our modern situation. Most fathers are not happy when they find out that their daughter is intending to marry someone of an opposite race, and may even treat their children together as less than grandchildren of the same race. This even occurs in reverse of the white standard: I have a white friend who is engaged to a young black woman with whom I am also friends, and her father was more upset about it than his parents. (Racial tenstion is rarely a one-way street, but I'll save that for another day.) In any case, the Samaritans were certainly looked down on as less-than by their pure Israeli brethren. They were to be spit upon and not allowed as a guest in an Israeli house. Quite harsh treatment, even by today's standards.
Now let's go back to The Good Samaritan. A Jewish man is traveling down the road when a tragedy befalls him. He is attacked by bandits, his possessions stolen, and left for dead. Then comes along well respected individuals in Israeli society. First, a Jewish priest of unknown origin comes along, but continues to pass as the man cries for help. Then a Levite comes, and being a Levite, the Tribe of Priests, we can only assume that is priest is held in higher regard and even more worthy than the priest who came before him. But even he ignores the dying man. Then the unthinkable happens.
A dirty half-breed with no respect for Yahweh and the purity of Abraham's blood comes along. He cannot allow this Jewish man to die on the road. Not only does he bandage the man's wounds, but he gives him his own steed to ride, feeds him later, and gives him a proper bath and even an anointing in oil (in some translations.) And he even goes a step further by giving the man a part of his purse and letting him spend whatever he needs to get back on his feet.
Like I said earlier, this is not a story about a bad guy being good for once.
This is a story of shock and revelation for the Jewish audience. The Jewish man is the story watched a good priest pass him by, a better priest pass him by, and then he gets saved by a man he has been taught from his youth to hate? And further more, Christ says be as THIS man? Wait, they say, I'm supposed to be as this dirty half-breed? But how can he be good? He's a Samaritan!
And yet thousands and thousands of Christians say the same thing about gays and lesbians. "How can this lesbian be good? She's a queer!"
Christ always illustrated the people you have been taught to hate are the exact people you must be trained to love. He spent more time with the gays, the crossdressers, the blacks, the women, and the liberals and atheists than he did the religious right, the staunch conservatives, and the capitalists, metaphorically speaking.
If you aren't reading this in your Bible, you're just not reading it.
God loves the unloved, whether you do or not. So imitate God, and love those "queers" you can't stand. For what you have done for the least of these, you have done for Christ. Treat a gay to dinner, or call a gay a faggot, you have just done the same thing to Christ. He said so. Love them better than you love your own children. He said that too.
I love my gay friends and my gay Christian friends, because they need my love as much if not more than others. Lord knows they're not getting that kind of love from the rest of the Church. And I take them as they are, because that's the best way to have them. God said come as you are. So they do. Gay as they darn well please.
And for those of you who say that you cannot be Christian if you are gay, or that being gay prevents you from being a good person, then you best have a talk with my friends over at Bible Thumping Liberal and Unnatural Humor. In fact, if you're of the opinion that gays cannot to Heaven, then Bible Thumping Liberal has a whole series dedicated to why not only gays are fine with God in that regard, but why, if the Rapture is true (I personally don't think it is [and neither does Christ], but I'll save that for another day), gays will be swept off with all the other fundies. And if you are scared or revolted by the words "bible thumping liberal" in that last sentence, it might be best for you remember that when lived and practiced correctly, Christianity is the most liberal and radical lifestyle you could possibly live.
Enough for one day, I shall return later this week.
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