As the sister of a gay man, and
a religious leader, I ask you to please pick up your Bible and read it from
your heart.
When you read the Bible from
your heart, you will come to know how wrong it is to persecute gay people just
for being who they are.
Matthew 5:11-12 "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
About ten years ago I bought my husband a lifetime
subscription to Rolling Stone Magazine
for $100. Yesterday, for the first time in ten years he asked me to read an
article. The article, The Forsaken was a story of the rapidly rising number of
LGBT homeless youth.
“I don’t know what we could have done for God to have given
us a fag as a child,” her mother said before hanging up.
I have sat next to the pain of being LGBT. My oldest brother, who was 19 when I was born,
was half-way out of the closet. He was blessed that he could tell his family
and close friends, but he didn't want to be completely out because of how he
would be treated. He did want kids, so
he and I became very close because I was his substitute child. As I grew up, I got to know him on a sister
level. He so wanted to love and be loved in a way I couldn't love him. And it
was heartbreaking to see him not be able to find that love. Before he died, he said he wasn't afraid to
die; that he was alright with God, but he made me promise that he would not die
alone. That I could do; and he definitely did not.
Why is it, that there are many gay Christians or LGBT people
who have faith that God loves them and believe that God made them in his image,
but there are many straight Christians that absolutely fear the possibility
that God loves everyone?
Because of the new marriage equality laws and campaigns that
state “it does get better” it makes it seem easier for youth to step out. The
sad reality is that when LGBT youth come out of the closet, they are not always
welcomed with open arms.
Five percent of
America’s youth are homeless
and of that five percent, forty percent are
LGBT. All of the five stories featured
in The Forsaken
were stories of youth who were banished from
their own families
in the name of their religion.
“LGBT advocacy groups
do not want to talk about religion,” says Mitchell Gold, founder of Faith in
America. “One, they don’t want to come across as anti-religion. And two, they
just aren't familiar with it. But the number one hurdle to LGBT equality is
religious-based bigotry. The face of the gay rights movement shouldn't be what
I call '40-year-old well moisturized couples.' The face of the gay rights
movement should be a 15-year-old kid that’s been thrown out of his house and
taught that he’s a sinner.”
The truth is I do not have a Bible verse or specific
scripture passage that can solve the answer of homosexuality being a sin
because the Bible simply does not address it. I can tell you that the verses
that have been cherry picked to prove it is a sin have been cherry picked for a
reason. If you read the scripture verses
collectively and study the context and history of which it is written, you will
understand it is about something else entirely.
Julie:
ReplyDeleteI was taken by your sensitivity and compassion in the blog about your brother. You were very compassionate about, and sensitive to, his dilemma. I also thought you were straightforward and almost matter of fact in your description of your role as sibling/child. It was beautiful!
A question emerged as I finished reading. I am wondering what your church or any church can do productively to fulfill the Bible's prophetic reaching for treating all people with respect and love. Then, so much of Jesus' perspective was to lift up and defend the marginalized. You know all this, but the question is - how do we get the church as a whole to be faithful to its original Christian counter-cultural witness? Blessings. Robb
I don't believe we can, in any way, be responsible for "the church as a whole". I hold my church (my local church) accountable for it's actions and it's language and it's welcome. But there is no "Christian Yellow Pages" that would allow me to call The Pope, or John Hagee, or Pat Robertson and ask them to tone it down. I can only be held accountable by the gay community for my own actions and the actions of the church I go to. I can't pretend to influence the words and actions of right-wing religious extremists and I absolutely cannot go back in time and undo the actions of people who came before me.
ReplyDeleteWe all know those pious people whose ability to quote the clobber passages clearly makes them "superior" Christians. I'm tired of individuals and denominations who take the "my way, or the highway" approach to Christ's love.
ReplyDelete