The Gospel According to Bill
Today I'm gonna preach so get comfortable or feel free to leave. (There will be no offering, but if you're so inclined…) I'm not a preacher by trade, but I come by it honestly. Of my 64 years on this planet, approximately 35 of those have been spent living with a Methodist preacher. That preacher was my Dad for the first 18 years and has been my wife since 1998. By last count, I've been a member of 13 Methodist churches and attended many more. Church has always been a part of my life.
I love Christians. Some of my best friends are Christian. They can be the most loving, sincere, generous, open-minded, congenial people on the planet. They can also be petty, vindictive, narrow-minded, controlling, and judgmental. The problem with Christians is that they're just people, and people are flawed. Try as we might, we all fall victim to the human frailties that have plagued mankind since the beginning of time. Not that that's an excuse. It's not. We owe it to ourselves and everyone else to do the best we can with what we've got as often as we can.
Most of our problems start with “others.” We don't like people who are different, and for good reason. They're different. They make us uncomfortable and we don't like that. I sometimes wonder if God's great experiment with humans was to create all kinds of differences among them to see if they could work things out. So far, we're not doing too well.
We seem destined to divide into groups: black & white; Muslim & Christian; Sunni & Shiite; Northern & Southern; Catholic & Protestant; Methodist & Baptist; Republican & Democrat; Conservative & Liberal; Cowboys fan & Texan fan; the list goes on and on.
Let's get back to Christians. We are all united behind the teachings of Jesus in the Holy Bible. That should be simple enough. We all read the same book. Then why do we have dozens of different denominations, and each denomination has variations of scriptural interpretations within it? How did this Christian tower-of-Babel effect come to be? It's just like Jesus said in the good book, “Verily, I say unto thee [“thee” was one of Jesus' favorite words] where two or three of you are gathered in my name, there will be two or three opinions about what I said.” That might be a slight paraphrase, but I believe it holds much truth.
It is possible that many Christians unknowingly spend their religious energy defining God in their “image” rather than seeking God's true wishes for their lives. [I deplore people who judge others, so this is my judgment of them.] That might explain why we have so many different understandings of God. I can fix that. Let's use mine.
Some of Jesus' harshest words were for the religious leaders of his day. They were so hung up on following rules and political standing that they completely lost sight of the primary message of God's love for all. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Of course, the hottest topic in the church today is what to do about “the gays.” Sadly, the Bible/church has a history of being grossly misused in the guidance of our behavior. Church doctrine for centuries was that the sun revolved around the earth, and the first people to challenge that were put to death. Scripture was used/misused to justify slavery, and organizations like the KKK even used a brown-skinned Jesus to promote white supremacy. Many “sincere” Christians today still refuse to accept female clergy based on a couple of quotes by the apostle Paul that were clearly meant to address a completely different issue in one of the early churches. [Note: “sincerity” is not the issue here. One can be sincerely mistaken.] Some Christians handle poisonousness snakes because of one scripture that says, “you shall not be harmed.” They get harmed.
So it seems to me that when we get so hung up on a few scriptures that we fail to treat others with love and respect, something is seriously wrong. After all, these few scriptures are often taken out of context without reference to the culture and times for which they were written before being translated multiple times into different languages. So let's talk about sex. That's always interesting!
Most people have been told (all their lives!) that the Bible condemns homosexuality clearly and without question! Well, I've read several books and listened to several respected scriptural authorities that disagree. Facts: there is no mention of sexual orientation in the Ten Commandments and neither Jesus nor his disciples addressed the issue. And yet, many try to make this a core issue of the faith. Really? Most of the people who vehemently swear to the Bible's same-sex judgment have little knowledge of what the good book actually says.
Without going into much detail (which I could), know that technically the Bible has nothing to say about same-sex relationships because this was a completely foreign concept at the time of Jesus. Any time you see the word “homosexual” (or variation thereof) in the Bible know that it is a modern translation because there is no word for it in Greek or Hebrew. The same-sex acts condemned (allegedly) by Paul are most likely referring to pedophilia (common in Greece) and male prostitutes in the pagan temples. In the Old Testament, the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were rapists, not committed couples in same-sex relationships. The few other references to “a man lying with a man” carry the same moral weight as bans against eating catfish and wearing garments of multiple fabrics. At the very least, this is a debatable issue.
Why are good Christians so eager to believe that same-sex activities are evil? Does it make us uncomfortable? We don't like things we don't understand.
Also note that the Bible never gives its blessing to the use of computers or motorcycles. I guess that's understandable because these are modern inventions. Our understanding of different sexual orientations is equally modern. Anyone who still thinks that sexual orientation is a choice is clinging to archaic logic. No one chooses his or her sexual orientation; it is discovered in the act of growing up. Tragically too many of our youth are raised in environments where there is only one acceptable orientation. Kids who discover that they are different then have important choices to make. Some reveal who they are and responsible adults continue to love and support them as they approach adulthood. Unfortunately, most are not so lucky. Some hide their true identity as long as possible, even to the point of marrying (doomed to divorce) and having kids. Some pray for God to “make them normal” every night for years to no avail. Some are never able to reconcile who they were born to be, with who the church tells them God expects them to be. They take their lives. You cannot listen to the stories told by people of the LGBT community and be unchanged.
I think the colossal failure of Exodus International (Google it) proves the point that sexual orientation is not a sin to be “cured.” Everyone in the program, staff and clients alike, believed that God would change sexual orientation with enough faith and prayer, but in spite of their best efforts they were not able to “pray the gay away.” Instead, their failure left a wake of emotional devastation for which they have since apologized. They disbanded in 2013.
So if homosexuality is not a sin, why shouldn't same-sex couples marry? A majority of Americans and the Supreme Court have decided they should, but the church is digging in its heels. Why do Christians worry about redefining marriage? Read the Bible with its many variations of marriage! Even at the time of Jesus, marriage was between a man and his property. That's what we want to preserve? Jesus gave specific instructions not to divorce because at that time it usually left the woman destitute. Somehow we've moved beyond that directive (and rightfully so) while some still cling desperately to a few words in Paul's writings.
The Bride of Christ who should be leading the way to show God's love to the world instead talks of judgment and end times. Surely this makes Jesus weep.
Fortunately, there are churches that openly accept people of all orientations. What many people don't (want to) know is that there are thousands of gay Christians who want nothing more than to be a part of Christ's church. Maybe if more Christians understood this, they would be reticent to meet them at the door with nothing but judgment. These well-meaning Christians are driven by fear and misinformation. The stereotypes of the gay community are just that---stereotypes. Instead of the perverted monsters they've “heard about,” they need to know that we all want the same things out of life. The only real difference happens in the bedroom and that's no more our business than it is anyone else's what we do there.
The gay Christians I know are dedicated church members, most living in committed, long-term relationships, and many raising families. To make them feel less is to make us less. The same moral code of conduct to which we allegedly hold heterosexuals should also apply to homosexuals: non-consensual sex is wrong, sex with children is wrong, and the physical expression of love belongs in a committed relationship. Anyone who claims that homosexuals fail to follow these rules needs to admit that many heterosexuals also fall short. Supporting marriage for all will strengthen these morals.
Christians are still a good lot, for the most part. We are flawed, and sometimes we get it wrong, but I hope that we all keep trying to do what's right. It's all about the journey.
My heart was strangely warmed by a quote I read today by Ellen DeGeneres, “Do we really need to know who's straight and who's gay? Why can't we just love everyone and judge them by what car they drive?”
Amen.
enough
