Gays, Lesbians, Christians and Others - 3

What about the purity of the church?  of the faith?
That’s so easy, you probably already have it figured out.  
If we exclude the people who fall short, there is no one left.  Purity = Empty.  
But, you say, even if we aren’t perfect, we need to represent the holiness and purity of God to the world.  We can’t have someone up front who cheats on her husband, or someone in a position of leadership whose views are “liberal” or “conservative”.  
Or homosexual.  Or heterosexual.  (The roman catholic institution has been very effective in making asexual the preferred state for the true Christian.)
In other words,

• excluding certain people is not representing the purity of the church
• including only people like “us” does not demonstrate the purity of the church
• being uptight about sexuality does not bear witness to the purity of the church

We only delude ourselves and make a mockery of everything Jesus lived and died for.
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Gays, Lesbians, Christians and Others - 2

To summarize my thinking:

• We all fall short of God’s intention for humans
• Even right-wing politicians, evangelists, ranters and ravers fall short
• (We must agree that they are humans, too, although they don’t act much like it)
• The Christian “Good News” is that Jesus came to give his life for those who fall short
• No boundaries -- “For God loved the world so much...” (John 3:16
• Therefore people with differing sexual preferences are included in God’s love.

Although “inclusion” is not an English word used in the stories of Jesus, the concept of inclusion underlines Jesus’ behavior in the face of religious opposition.  In his day it was “tax collectors and sinners” who were excluded by the mainstream, and who were included by Jesus.  

In my view, inclusion is what people of Christian faith must be all about.  

Exclusion is what we must not be about.  God will handle that if God needs to.  In fact, churches and other Christian oriented groups would do better to hold classes on “Ways to Include Others” than to hold classes on the Trinity, the Deity of Jesus, or I and II Chronicles.  Most Christian folks I know aren’t very good at including others, even others they believe conform to their doctrinaire positions.  

By extension, then, gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and heterosexuals along with Middle Eastern people must all be included.  

If you worry about the “purity” of the church, read my next blog.  It turns out to be easy.  

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Gays, Lesbians, Christians and Others

Here's my take on the gay/lesbian issue (as though you asked for it, which you didn't):

First, it is LESS than what God intended for humanity
      Point A:  so is predatory heterosexual behavior
      Point B:  so is gossip, backbiting, lying, cheating, treating other humans with less than respect
      Point C:   so is the behavior of pastors/priests/imams and other religious leaders who bully, etc.
      Point D:  so is bullying in marriage, cheating in marriage, doing the minimum in marriage, etc.

LESS than what is intended by God also includes:
      being born with a birth defect
      being less whole physically, mentally, emotionally, work-ethic wise, etc.
      being born to abusive or absent parents
      being born into nasty neighborhoods
      doing your best to take people's freedom from them


OK -- who have I left out.  You might be able to add to the list.


Assuming God INTENDS wonderful, well-adjusted humans, most of us fall short.  Some more short than others, but SHORT.


The anti-gay folks assume that their shortfall can be redeemed by God even when they have to live with their shortfall every day of their lives, but that people whose sexual orientation is homo rather than hetero MUST NOT and CAN NOT live with it, and God cannot love them.


Hmmm!  VERY faulty spiritual logic. 


I'm nearsighted.  I seem to have been born with a defect (or 2 or 10,000).  Perhaps I cannot be redeemed and welcomed by God.  Is that my fault or God's fault?


Some will use the story of Sodom and Gomorrah to excoriate homosexual behavior.  But they don't get the story. 

    First, the host of the "angels" offered his virgin daughters to be raped by the mob.  That's OK???
    Second, the mob was guilty of many things the the BIG thing was failing to show hospitality to strangers and failing to HONOR the person who did show hospitality.  It has nothing to do with their weird sexual preferences.    Hospitality is a BIG, BIG thing in the Middle East, and was especially so at that time in history. 


So, whether or not anyone cares about my take on this, I have come (years ago) to
    a)  not identify myself as homosexual
    b)  not believe I have any right to exclude people based on sexual preferences
    c)   not believe that child abuse of any sort is right
    d)  not believe that predatory behavior of any sort, hetero or homo, physical or mental or emotional, is right.  It fails the agape' test 100%.

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