There are very few things that upset me faster than someone who is hateful and judgmental and in no other arena is this more apparent to me than when it comes to homosexuality/bisexuality/transgender issues.
I have a dear and beloved friend who is currently transitioning from male to female and she is in a committed relationship with her partner (male) and has been since long before she began her transition. This lady has listened to me cry, vent my spleen, talk about God, cuss like a sailor and be ecstatic with praise. She has loved and supported me through a great many things. When she first told me that she was going to transition it just made perfect sense. "Yes," I thought, "I can see that. I may not know how but I will love you and support you forever." It was vastly important to me that I be there for her because I knew it would be hard. I couldn't even imagine how hard but that's what friends do; they support each other.
My daughter's attend the Gay Pride Parade here in Portland every year. It happens on Father's Day and their dad takes them just to show them a good time and teach them to support others. I think it's fantastic! I do not want to raise my children to judge people. The Bible clearly says that only God should be doing the judging.
I realize that many people will feel that I am way off base here. That's fine. I think it's important to note that I fully believe everything that the Bible says about homosexuality, I just think that it's intensely wrong to force those who don't believe in the Bible to live by it's precepts. That's a good portion of my worldview in a nutshell. I do my best to live by the Bible because I have chosen to believe in Jesus and so part of that is trying to live according to His Word. But I have a real problem when Christians attempt to force Biblical law on people that don't believe in Jesus/God. Why do we do this? There is no logic in it. I don't want a person of another faith attempting to control my choices based on a sacred document that I totally don't believe in. I would be livid! And so I do not do that to others either.
There is nothing holy about forcing things upon people in this way. God gives each one free will and it is up to us to decide what to do with it. I will tell you too that this approach of mine has led to far more open and cheerful discussions about faith than I am betting resulted from someone picketing/judging a person for their beliefs. My friend I first mentioned and I have talked about faith a bunch. She knows I go to church. I talk about Bible study. She talks about the parts of faith that she likes and has even pondered going to church just to check it out again. I don't say any of this to indicate that I am attempting to subversively convert here. Just that by showing love it can create a much better picture of what people of faith can truly be. I don't want Christian to be synonymous with hate and judgment and yet for many people in the LGBT community that is all they get from the church. It's really sad.
Whatever the reason was that people of the church thought that they should be forcing their beliefs on others (and incidentally it was the forcing of belief upon people that led to the founding of this country - amongst other things), I really think it should stop. Let's just love others as we would ourselves. I want people to love me in spite of how they feel about my choices and so that's what I put out into the world.
I hope this post has made you think even a little bit about how you view those around you. It is vitally important. People's very lives depend on it.
I have a dear and beloved friend who is currently transitioning from male to female and she is in a committed relationship with her partner (male) and has been since long before she began her transition. This lady has listened to me cry, vent my spleen, talk about God, cuss like a sailor and be ecstatic with praise. She has loved and supported me through a great many things. When she first told me that she was going to transition it just made perfect sense. "Yes," I thought, "I can see that. I may not know how but I will love you and support you forever." It was vastly important to me that I be there for her because I knew it would be hard. I couldn't even imagine how hard but that's what friends do; they support each other.
My daughter's attend the Gay Pride Parade here in Portland every year. It happens on Father's Day and their dad takes them just to show them a good time and teach them to support others. I think it's fantastic! I do not want to raise my children to judge people. The Bible clearly says that only God should be doing the judging.
I realize that many people will feel that I am way off base here. That's fine. I think it's important to note that I fully believe everything that the Bible says about homosexuality, I just think that it's intensely wrong to force those who don't believe in the Bible to live by it's precepts. That's a good portion of my worldview in a nutshell. I do my best to live by the Bible because I have chosen to believe in Jesus and so part of that is trying to live according to His Word. But I have a real problem when Christians attempt to force Biblical law on people that don't believe in Jesus/God. Why do we do this? There is no logic in it. I don't want a person of another faith attempting to control my choices based on a sacred document that I totally don't believe in. I would be livid! And so I do not do that to others either.
There is nothing holy about forcing things upon people in this way. God gives each one free will and it is up to us to decide what to do with it. I will tell you too that this approach of mine has led to far more open and cheerful discussions about faith than I am betting resulted from someone picketing/judging a person for their beliefs. My friend I first mentioned and I have talked about faith a bunch. She knows I go to church. I talk about Bible study. She talks about the parts of faith that she likes and has even pondered going to church just to check it out again. I don't say any of this to indicate that I am attempting to subversively convert here. Just that by showing love it can create a much better picture of what people of faith can truly be. I don't want Christian to be synonymous with hate and judgment and yet for many people in the LGBT community that is all they get from the church. It's really sad.
Whatever the reason was that people of the church thought that they should be forcing their beliefs on others (and incidentally it was the forcing of belief upon people that led to the founding of this country - amongst other things), I really think it should stop. Let's just love others as we would ourselves. I want people to love me in spite of how they feel about my choices and so that's what I put out into the world.
I hope this post has made you think even a little bit about how you view those around you. It is vitally important. People's very lives depend on it.
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