There was a time (semi-recently) where I was invited to accompany a neighbor to her church one night. I was ecstatic that she would extend this offer to me. Without thinking, I accepted and plans were made to visit this church in the next couple days.
On the car ride there, I can tell she was making a respectable effort to get to know me and to see where I've come from. We prattled on about my coming to this city, to my site, and my faith journey. The air in the car seemed to get more dry as we talked more and more about my relationship with God.
We couldn't have arrived to the church on a more pronounced moment as a majestic building appears as we drive up a hill out of nowhere. Ahhh... the typical suburban evangelical Assembly of God church. What the bible says is what is true and what is to be believed. As this was being explained to me, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself when the bible, here, is taken so literally word by word. But. . . I have to wonder. . . . . does anyone in this 1,000 congregation eat shellfish? :p Alright I know, I know... I won't go there. BUT, it was intriguing, so I was even more intrigued to see how the service went.
The beginning was typical. Modern, contemporary christian worship songs with a young worship leader on stage with a hip, small band behind her accompanied by a modest sized choir on stage right. Alright...not bad, I thought. I like contemporary worship.
The service started and they introduced a speaker that only comes once a year. He seemed great and definitely influential. Perhaps....too influential? After getting the crowd riled up and getting their hands to almost touching the ceiling and having everyone so spiritually wound by his words, I'm sure he had every person in there thinking there was no roof.
Regardless, I just was not getting totally into it. He then asked if there was anyone who has not given their life over to Christ as their Savior and accepted Him back into their life. The lovely neighbor I came with insisted I go up.
No. You cannot make me go up to reclaim God back in my life. Plus, I've already done that. What might give you the reasoning that I have not. Quite offensive if you should ask me.
The car ride back was anything but a quaint little drive home. So, with the willfulness I had, I decided to prompt the question: Do you think a gay person can be a Christian. The facial reaction was as if I was asking for a couple million dollars to borrow---a hybrid between disbelief and hysterical. She then began her response by "No. I do not think a gay person can be a true follower of Christ." Enlighten me, I thought. I'm ready for this (with an almost demonic grin). Without saying, she continued "the bible specifically says homosexuality is a sin and it is not right, it is not what he wanted, and it is a sinful lifestyle." Touché I thought-- the bible indeed says homosexuality is a sin. However, if I am not mistaken, the bible also states if a women does not cover her head, she should cut it off! As it happened to be... she was not covering her head of beautiful luscious hair.
Hark! I am not here to bash, nor detriment any person, church or assembly. Rather, I'd like to pose an argument that I've been struggling with. Surely, this follower of Christ is not the only one that believes "being gay is not what Christ wanted" and that "being gay is a simple choice. You have the choice to not be gay if you didn't want to. It's just like if I had a choice..." A choice to be gay, you mean??? Oh...of course not, you mean... "like if I was a prostitute..." ahhh yes, lets compare being gay with being a prostitute. After all, apples sometimes look like oranges, right? "if I was a prostitute, I could change my lifestyle if I wanted to. It would be my choice and I could change if I really wanted to." Ahhh.... it all makes (no) sense now :)
So the question, or rather more of a quote, I pose now to yinz, is this (not sure what translation this is...but I like it ):
"Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck in your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye.
So..... :)
I mean, let's think about this. "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye, while the log is in your own eye?" It was made explicit that I am living a horrible horrible, corrupt, nefarious lifestyle. Ok, judge me. Judge me all you want. But we are true believers in Christ then we know that how we judge others is how we will be judged when we come face to face with Him. Also, here I am setting all my wicked immoral life sins on the table. The question prevailing is: where is your stuff to put on the table?
Through this .... endeavor I've come across (and quite frankly still trying to defeat) I have taken a deeper meaning into how we treat others and most importantly, if my faith I have been working on since I moved to Pittsburgh has been all worth it if the words these Christians are telling me are indeed truth. I haven't let it get too much to my head, however. I figure.... if I believe in Him, and I love everyone as my brother and sister, isn't that the most important thing He asks from me? From all the times 'loving one another' is mentioned in the bible, isn't that such a powerful message and stipulation we should follow more often than not over the seldom times things such as homosexuality was mentioned? Here me now, I'm not trying to say homosexuality isn't a sin. Maybe it is, I really don't know. But what every follower of Christ knows, is that our main goal is love one another. And if my brothers and sisters want to go around bashing me for who I love because they can't grasp the meaning of 'love one another' and would rather judge me for something like that because they believe that is more important to make themselves feel better for this moment than to stand in front of the face of God at the end and be judged the same way....well all I have to say is...
Peace to you.
