Saturday, July 5, 2008

Church's acceptance of homosexuality (OneNewsNow.com)

A new survey finds that Americans are split almost evenly over perceptions of homosexual behavior as either sinful or acceptable to God. LifeWay Research, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, surveyed 1,201 adults in April to determine their attitudes about homosexuality. Forty-eight percent responded that homosexual behavior is sinful, but 45 percent said that it is not -- basically a statistical tie when the margin of error is taken into account.

My point: Who cares what the average rank and file church member thinks or believes about this issue. I really don't care what you know until I know how much you care. Much more critical to our walk in this world is this question; Suppose your best friend, your son, your daughter, were to inform you that they were homosexual...how would you handle it? To me that is the question!Some may say, "that is completely irrelevant..." To them I would ask, "Have you ever loved a gay man or a lesbian woman? Or do you turn away in complete disgust?" Many evangelicals (I was reared "holiness" and we were good at this one)  have a visceral response that totally denies the love and understanding of Christ. Remember, Christ touched the untouchables and reached the unreachables, and my friend, they were not only homosexual men but they were pious religious people like you and me. He touched me! Me in my filthy, despicable, self-righteous rags...when no one else understood me, He cared and when I knew how much He cared, I opened up to His Grace.

There was a woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8) and you might remember, Christ knelt down, doodled/scribbled/wrote in the dust after He asked one of the most piercing and stinging rebukes in all of history. "You who are without sin, throw the first stone." The tragedy of my life is my pockets are always full of stones and had I been there, I wonder if I would have thrown one? Rubbish, someone says! Nay, says I...your hand has a rock in it as well!

So, back to the question at hand...I think it is much more pertinent is suppose your best friend wants you to accept him and love him and he is gay? Can you get past your own stuff that causes you to turn away in disgust and allow Christ to love him through you? That is what the Church needs to investigate...that is what I need to investigate!

Church's acceptance of homosexuality (OneNewsNow.com)

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