GOOD NEWS FOR GOD’S HOMOSEXUAL CHILDREN

but very bad news for some Christians

by adam harbinson

First off, I want to state categorically that God does not hate homosexuals. Can I also add that for someone to claim that they hate homosexuality but love the homosexual is hypocritical in the extreme? You cannot separate what the person is from the person.

The arrogance and self righteousness of some people who call themselves Christian is breathtaking. They single out people who are not like them, they marginalise them, they label them as pariahs, they throw the word ‘abomination’ about, and the nauseating thing is that they seek to legitimate their despicable views by misinterpreting the Bible. And to make matters worse, when those marginalised people are beaten up on the street or when their homes are attacked, they wring their hands in horror and say, ‘How can anything I said provoke physical attacks?’ – now they’re being disingenuous as well as arrogant and self righteous.

We have long known that certain brands of Christian fundamentalism have convinced themselves that homosexual people can and must be ‘healed’, but I heard a minister on TV the other night say something that can only have come from a darkened corner of some very shoddy theology.

To an extent I can see what they base their belief on that homosexuals are an abomination, although considerable intellectual gyrations and blind spots are called for to reach that conclusion. But this man went totally beyond the pale, claiming than unless they are ‘healed’ they cannot be Christians and are bound for eternal damnation. What he was really saying was, ‘If you want God to love you, you have to be like me.’

Now I know I’ll make a few more enemies by what I’m about to say, but if you share this minister’s view, can I ask that you suspend your convictions for just a minute, can you allow for the possibility that they might be built on a misunderstanding of Scripture.

Let me ask a couple of questions. We all believe that Jesus died for the sins of the world, don’t we? So who says some sins are so loathsome that he wouldn’t or couldn’t forgive them? And who decides which sins are in which category?

Paul and Silas told the prison governor; ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved’, but this minister added his own homophobic condition – ‘But you have to be straight first!’ Where did that come from if not a mind full of fear and superstition and hatred?

I acknowledge that in Leviticus there’s a verse that says; 'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination,’ but did you know that word abomination appears 117 times in the Bible and only once does it refer to same sex relationships? And of course Jesus was silent on the subject. Does that not strike you as a little odd? And did you know that the ‘A’ word also applies to eating rabbit meat and shellfish? So why do they ignore the other 116 abominations? I would tell you what I think if I’d time and space, but email me if you want a discussion.

The news is good folks, but only if we’re prepared to be consistent; God created us all, in his image, all loved equally, and all died for by Jesus. And the bad news? Well, the bad news for that particular minister and thousands like him is that like it or lump it, he will have to spend eternity with millions of God’s Gay children – on the assumption of course that he makes it past the Pearly Gates.