Recently, I have seen several people share a link to a blog post titled "I'm Christian, unless you're gay."
(http://www.danoah.com/2011/11/im-christian-unless-youre-gay.html)
I finally read the post. While the author makes an attempt to tackle a difficult issue, and promotes kindness toward others (both laudable acts), in the end, Christianity was oversimplified and misrepresented.
One of the first examples used is that of Westboro Baptist Church, the group that has become famous for outrageous protests. The vast majority of Christians with whom I associate find this behavior distasteful at best. Protesting at the funerals of soldiers or hypocritically condemning corporations whose products they use (http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/312445) is a poor representation of Christianity. Fortunately, the author quickly moves from this topic.
The author makes reference to a personal friend who feels lonely and avoided because he is a homosexual. He points out that many Christians will actively reject, ignore, avoid, and worse any that do not believe the way that they do, even to the point of courageously admitting that he once did himself because of his Christian beliefs.
The author asserts that these judgements are based on self-righteousness and that they do not represent the true roots of religion. He says that Jesus taught "love one another" and "he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her ("Her" being a woman who cheated on her man)." Christ did say both of these things.
Finally after examining the teachings of several other faiths, the final conclusion made is that they all focus on love. Not love unless a person is homosexual, but just love. The author's point is that "The greatest spiritual leaders in history have all preached love for others as the basis for all happiness, and never did they accompany such mandates with a list of unlovable actions or deeds."
After oversimplifying religion, the author then proceeds to discuss sin. He points out that regardless of where you live or how strongly you believe, someone else somewhere believes that you are wrong. Ultimately the claim is as follows:
"It doesn’t matter if you or I think anything is a sin. It doesn’t matter if homosexuality is a sin or not. In fact, it doesn’t matter if anything anybody else does is a sin or not.
Because sin is a very personal thing! It always has been and it always will be!
And it has nothing to do with love."
This point is certainly popular. It is politically correct. As of right now, the post has been shared more than 32,000 times. Notwithstanding the popularity of this concept, it is wrong.
To the secular observer, Christianity might be reduced to a philosophical concept of love. It is a common misconception. Christ certainly preached love, forgiveness, kindness, and humility. None of these concepts represent the core of Christianity however. The true root is Christ himself. He is never wrong. He is the way the truth and the life. He is the only way men can reach their potential. Sometimes accepting Christ means learning to love others. Sometimes it means recognizing and avoiding evil.
Sin is not a personal thing at all. It is universal. It is general. It is determined by God himself. While there may be those that disagree on what the will of God is, or how to interpret the words of prophets, the beliefs of men do not shape right and wrong. The tail does not wag the dog. In the end, every person will be judged on their actions by Jesus Christ.
A fair point is to say that Christians should not demean or hate those that are guilty of sin. An unfair point is to say that Christians should not consider politically correct activity to be sin.
"I'm Christian, unless you're gay" is really not all that different from "I'm Christian, unless you're a child molester."
Of course there are those who will say that homosexuality is nothing like child molestation. While it may be said these acts are different, in the end, they are both sin... as is adultery, as is murder, as is theft, as is bearing false witness, as taking the name of God in vain. Christ taught that all of these people should be treated with kindness on an individual basis. This says nothing about the responsibility of society as a whole, or even important judgements to be made on an individual basis.
It would be foolish for society to simply forgive child molesters and serial murderers and let them wander free. That does not mean a Christian society should strive to draw and quarter those that are guilty of these crimes, but just punishment is appropriate.
On an individual basis, the stance of Christianity is to forgive, even those guilty of crimes so awful as child molestation. This does not mean that Christians should hire them as babysitters for their kids. We should not feel forced into accepting the incorrect choices of others in the name of kindness. Avoiding those that openly propagate wrong is not always unjustly cruel, even if it is perceived as such.
It is possible to love the sinner and hate the sin, but finding the line that divides mercy and acceptance of sin is not easy. How does a person express kindness and simultaneously make it understood that they cannot condone wrongdoing? That is the real question.
Certainly there are many Christians that do not have it right. I can think of many occasions where I personally have failed either by being cruel to a person I deemed sinful, or by failing to stand for what is right in an effort to fit in with the politically correct.
Christians are not perfect... but our master is. When he comes again to save us, it will not be to save us in our sins... it will be to save us from our sins. He will not come to save those that demand acceptance, but those that plead for forgiveness. He will not come with love in the form of a blanket pardon; he will come with fire and fury and he will destroy those that have maligned and abused his disciples - and he will be right in all that he does.
Christians must strive to remember that we are not Christ. We do not know all things. We are all guilty of sin. We need forgiveness for our shortcomings as much as the homosexual and the child molester because sin of any kind should be avoided. Promoting good and rejecting evil should be done carefully... standing for what is good does not have to mean being cruel... and fighting against sin does not have to mean bullying.
Declaring "I'm Christian, unless you're gay" is obviously wrong... but not just when it comes to being unkind. It is also wrong to cast off Christianity in the name of accepting a lifestyle that is immoral. A Christian should never accept relativistic concepts of good and evil. A Christian believes there is one truth, one way, and one Lord for all people, and his name is Jesus Christ.
