I recently read an article re-posted by a dear friend. The title was, “I am Christen Unless you are
Gay.” Whilst I cannot agree with
everything the writer said I think that he lays a charge at the feet of Christ
followers that we must address. I am not
going to weigh in on what is sin and what is not here. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict
the world of Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment.
I have to worry about my own sin too much to try and take God’s job away
from him.
What I will address is the failure of the church both
universal and local to love people whom they believe are “sinners.” That the world can charge us with hating
people whom we believe are “sinners” is shameful. We are supposed to be so loving that it is
the first thing people say about us. One
could pick any sin that is common among Christ followers and place it into the rhetoric
that we use for the “really bad” sins and we would see the absurdity of the position
we posit.
Let us take for example pride. At some point all of us struggle with this
not so silent but oh to prevalent sin. So
let us do a little pride bashing. Why do
we not carry signs that say “God hates the proud” or “Prideful People Burn in
Hell” or “The Proud Deserve to be Destroyed”?
We should deny prideful people health care and insurance. We need to hold rallies demonstrating against
anything that allows the prideful to feel loved and accepted by God.
I see much more said in the Bible about pride than I do
homosexuality. If we could justify
treating anyone badly it would surely be the proud. Those who lack humility are told clearly that
they are at odd with God.
Pro 16:18 Pride precedes a disaster, and an arrogant
attitude precedes a fall.
Jas 4:6 But God shows us even more kindness. Scripture says,
"God opposes arrogant people, but he is kind to humble people."
1Pe 5:5 Young people, in a similar way, place yourselves
under the authority of spiritual leaders. Furthermore, all of you must serve
each other with humility, because God opposes the arrogant but favors the
humble.
The growing church in Acts is faced with accepting people
outside of the Jewish faith as being equal in the sight of God. Peter is told clearly to accept everyone who
wishes to follow Christ. How can we ever
hope to be seen as loving if we do not stop treating people as lower than us
because of the flavor or their particular sin?
Again I am not laying a charge to any individual here. What I am saying is that I cannot afford to
risk tarnishing what is to be my benchmark, love, by judging others.
I do believe some things are clearly wrong. I do believe it is worse on the human level to
kill someone than it
is to lie to them.
I do not, however, think that on the Divine level there is very much
difference. My opinion is not what matters. It is my place to love every single person
that breathes no matter what the personal cost to me. Any Christ follower who argues with this is
not hearing what Christ commands.
Again I would have you imagine with me the impact of a
church free of prejudice and judgment. I
would have you consider the power of a people who were so humbled by Christ’s
love for us that it overflowed into every community without consideration for
that individual’s particular race, social place, or sin. Who would not wish to follow Christ were his
current followers to act in this way? I
only hope that I can tear away my own pride enough to love everyone to the
degree that Christ loves them.
Wishing you joy in the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer
who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home
owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure
store."
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