So my church, Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles, is going through a discernment process this summer about an incredibly controversial topic: LGBT Christians. In most churches, this is one of the most “hush-hush” topics that are either avoided by ministers or brushed to the side as something so blatantly obvious that consideration of its resolve would be a waste of time.
But for the longest time, I’ve found it to be one of the greatest hypocrisies of my religion, to supposedly love your neighbor, to love everyone, because God first loved us… except for the LGBT community because they don’t count. They’re not people, they are second class citizens in society and in religion. Go ahead and love everyone else except for them. I’ve had conversations with my family about this before, and I always felt persecuted for siding with gays and lesbians. They’re people too, aren’t they? Even with their sexual preferences, not all of them are bad people and a lot of them are actually amazingly awesome people who do God’s work, just like any other heterosexual person. I’m so happy that Pastor Ken is such an obedient servant of God, because this is something that definitely needs to be discussed out in the open.
This is definitely not without difficulty. Essentially, we are fighting against the church. Because it’s really the church that has created this mess in the first place anyway, right? They considered being gay/lesbian as this incredible sin, this sin that can not be forgiven. Why? I still don’t understand why they make these ultimatums, because sin is sin. Can’t you separate the sin from the sinner? Do you consider yourself perfect? Jesus did say, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
I mean, speak for yourself. I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve always struggled with myself being worth God’s love, and working hard to earn his love. I didn’t believe I deserved his love because I knew I was unworthy. But after 22 years, I am finally coming to believe that I am worth loving by a god like my God. To cast this kind of judgment, to claim who is and who isn’t worthy of God’s love and favor is something I can not understand, because none of deserve the grace God has given us all. That’s right, all of us.
God has forgiven them all, He has forgiven US all, and I don’t see why we keep persecuting them for things when we do things just as bad in different areas of our lives. Who are we to make judgments when judgment only belongs to God? This is why so many people hate Christianity. It’s why they hate Christians. We’ve created an institution of hate and judgment, and because of it we’ve driven so many people away…
To me, Christianity is pretty straightforward. My relationship with God is very simple. It only gets complicated when my judgments get clouded by these rules and exceptions that the church implements. And these rules? They just get farther and farther away from what God’s message is, which is love. People forget why God came to Earth to rescue us… they forget the real reason for why we exist… they’ve forgotten His divine message and instead have pursued personal agendas, and for what? To feel worth it? To feel power over others? To be visible? Why?
After reading this, I can sense a little anger in my diction. But I’m not angry, I’m disappointed. During this discernment process I’m praying that God uses me in some sort of way so that I can lead people towards God, so that I can be used for His glory. But for now, I’m gonna pray for all the pastors, that they have the same courage as Pastor Ken so that they can address this issue that so desperately needs attention and resolving.