Homosexuality has nothing to do with politics. Sure the idea of homosexuality has been brought into the arena of politics. If you are a liberal you claim the conservatives are hateful, religious folk who are ruining "love". If you are conservative you claim that the homosexual agenda is destroying the home and needs to be squashed like an icky bug. They are both right and wrong. Homosexuality is a heart issue.
As I addressed in my last blog and will do in this one is majority of Christians. I am a Christian, I follow Christ to the best that my sinful, evil self can do. So please, understand I do not mean to bash Christians. My point in pointing out the collective wrong-doing by Christians is this: they are my brothers and sisters and what they do impacts the kingdom of God.
As I talked over my blog with my father today he kept bringing up the point that I saw many Christians were trying to make this week in light of the Phil Robertson scenerio. They claimed to be taking a stance against their faith. Don't get me wrong I understand taking a stand on your beliefs. What I see though is a lot more talky talky and a lot less listeny listeny. As Christians what we often do is this:
Step 1: An issue arises
For instance the Chick fil A owner claiming traditional beliefs, Phil Robertson's opinion on Gay etc.
Step 2: State our Opinion
This usually happens over Facebook with statuses like "I am appalled that the lost world does not see that homosexuality is a sin"
Step 3: We Get Into Arugements
Now don't get me wrong, I love a good arguement; however, some people just live to start drama
Step 4: We beat our stance down each others' throat.
Step 5: We deny ever being wrong
Specifically number 1 and 2 are not bad, it is 3-5 that is where we get it wrong majority of times. I observe people, especially those who claim to be Christians. Sadly those are the same people that go out looking for a fight. For an example a Christian I follow on social media seemingly searched for conversations where people found fault in everything Phil did, they then turned around and got into arguments with people they did not know. How is that Christ like? Step 4, I get you have a belief but for the love of all things good, would you want someone constantly bringing forth their opinion? Jamming their opinion down your throat? Y'all that's how you get blocked! Once you are block how are you going to share the gospel of social media then? Step 5, this is one of the biggest things I tried to convey to my father in our discussion this morning. After I got him to silence and listen, I stated that our need, as Christians, to be right in every argument out weighs our desire to share the gospel in a loving manner. As far as I am concerned Christ defended the bible, He laid His arms across a wooden cross and hung for our bible. My job isn't to belligerently defend the Word of God so much that I lose the true meaning of the Word. Not to mention many of times those who you are up against, those you are "defending your faith" to aren't Christians, they are lost. So guess what! They are going to act lost, they are going to take offense to the Word of God because the Word of God is offensive. It's meant to be, the Gospel displays us for who we truly are; lost, evil, sinful, ugly people who need a perfect, holy, sinless God. To a lost person they can't grasp the word of God in it's entirety without knowing the Author.
As a former Chick-fil-A worker, I worked Chick fil A appreciation day back in 2012. I was slightly jet lagged and honestly didn't understand until later that night what exactly had happened since I had been in Kenya the whole week before. As I stood there and time passed the mall restaurant where I worked got so crowded many people waited in line for over an hour for chicken. As I stood there shocked at the scenario I was witnessing the question arose, why are they here? See the Chick fil A where I worked was in a run down mall where people rarely came into. In fact that December the restaurant closed. If half of these people appreciated Chick fil A so much, where were they the rest of the year? As I served many of them I was appalled by their "Christian" nature. They said hateful things towards other humans. It occurred to me about 4 hours in that many of these people didn't appreciate Chick fil A they just didn't like gays. It is the same scenario as the Phil Robertson. I see many Christians jumping on this bandwagon not to stand up for what is right but to simply take the opportunity to bash gays. Sure they aren't outright going around using hateful speech but the sly underground attacks are there.
The thing to me is this if we place Jesus into today's culture. People would know where He stood. But they wouldn't know by Him changing is Facebook Picture, by Him starting debates or by Him going out and doing all the other things that I see happening this week on social media. We would know Him by the love that He demonstrates to the broken, lost and hurting. See my Jesus is compassionate. How compassionate are you? Are you using this time to lovingly share the gospel? Are using this time to identify the hurting? Or are you using this time to check off a box in your religious agenda? Do you you see this as an opportunity to gain new brothers and sisters? Or a time to wear you "I love Jesus Sign" loud and proud without fear of being attacked without those to back you up? Because guess what, next week around this time I can almost guarantee you that this whole situation will blow over. I can also guarantee that many of these bandwagon fans will return to the religious hole that they crept out of and you won't hear another word from them until the next big controversy. Those who are gay and lost will continue to be gay and lost and believing that God hates them. I for one don't want that. See I screwed up and here's how:
When i was growing up i had a best friend who was my best friend from basically 3 years old until the 4th grade. today i am still friends with her on facebook. i took her to awanas with me {A children bible study} and she was always there are church with me for the most part. somewhere along the lines she stopped going to church with me. we lost touch, i went my way and she went hers. almost every month once or twice i go onto her facebook just to see how things are going. nearly every time my heart is broken. see i had an oppertunity to share the gospel with her. needless to say i wasn't really a christian but a church goer when we were friends. however where i am attending college, am active in my church and am seen as a "goody two shoes" she is into drugs, has a girlfriend and various other things. i can almost feel the sense of lack of love and hurt she must feel. i feel like failed.
Many times whether Christian or not, we disregard the human in front of us. We rarely take the time to get to know them, we judge them based on a box that they fit into. You see though, Christ never did that. He had every right to judge everyone of us, to send us all to hell because we all fit into a major box marked as "Sinner" but He didn't. In fact He did the complete opposite He loved us. So I guess in closing my advice and my urge is simple. Love your neighbor whether he or she is gay, straight, white, black, what have you and share the gospel in a way that is loving and kind rather than hurtful. Also don't give me some load of bologna about how you don't understand how the gospel can be perceived as hateful. Just remember back to a time when you were blind and how harsh the glorious light of Christ pained you, then remember the love of God as He wrapped His arms around you, then do the same for the lost in your world. Because trust me, they are watching.
As for you who are Gays, please let me say this. I love you and so does my God. Please bare in mind that just like you, Christians are human. We sin and though we sin differently, our fate of hell is just like yours. Please forgive us where we fail to demonstrate love. Please understand when we say we don't accept your lifestyle that it doesn't mean we don't accept you.
Have A Merry Christmas,
Amanda
No comments:
Post a Comment