There actually was a time when I first started writing blogs where I actually wrote about homosexuality. The struggle I experienced to understand it, how this related to the Bible and the what God thought about it. I met a young woman online who was a lesbian, got saved and delivered from homosexuality and I got a chance to reach out to her, have a real conversation and she helped me understand some things that were beyond my scope of understanding. The blog that I wrote, was about that conversation that I had with her, but here we are... three years later and it still sits in my drafts...never published. Fear.
I had a conversation a few months ago that laid heavy on my heart in regards to homosexuality. It lays so heavy that I have to push pass this fear and share with you. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind
Fear is not of God, it is from the devil and he uses it as an attempt to stifle us into not speaking or doing as God says. If you pushed pass that fear and spoke (or acted) it would mean that you would speak a message to someone that needed to hear that message which could, in turn, change their life. This message is for you (including myself), Christians and I hope it convicts you:
I was having a conversation with a group of friends in regards to men and women in the church who are homosexual and serving in ministries. Let's take a worship leader for example, is it appropriate for him/her to lead worship if they are homosexual? Is that hurting or helping the body of Christ? A point of view was given that if they have been in the church for years and hearing the Word of God and are a Christian, by now they should have come out of that lifestyle? Why haven't they changed by now?
Please note I will hold my response to these questions until the end of the blog.
The conversation then switched over to homosexual artists. If you liked a singer and their songs and you then found out later down the road that they are homosexual, would that change the way you viewed them? A comment was made that this would change the way the person would think about them, they might not listen to them anymore or support their music anymore. This made me think of other conversations that I've had where people (remember I'm talking about Christians here) would stop watching a movie if there was a homosexual scene in it or not go see the movie at all if they knew ahead of time. Or some choose to not watch TV series such as The Fosters because it's about a homosexual couple. Oh no, we're not going to look at that...right?
My response to all of this:
Since when did it become okay to put the sin of homosexuality in a complete category from every other sin? Do we not say that one sin isn't bigger than the other? Are they not all the same? Just because a lot of times homosexuality is more visible to the eye than others that aren't easily seen (such as lust, fornication, masturbation etc) doesn't mean that we have a right to judge that more harshly than other sins. I don't think we understand that, that is what we do. We judge the sin that can seen more than the secret sins.
For the worship leader that we were we speaking about earlier. My response to that thought is: it's unfortunate that the person is still in that life style and hasn't been delivered yet. However, there are many of us in the church struggling with our own sins whether it's fornication, adultery or addictions, there is something that we struggle with or have struggled with, and we too have been in the church, serving in ministry and hearing the Word for years. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's okay to stay in that place, we need to be intentional about praying for deliverance and doing our part (i.e. take action) to get free. So why is it taking that that gay man or lesbian woman so long to get free? Probably the same reason it took you a while to get free from your mess.
In regards to homosexual artists, or acts on TVs and movies, I thought to myself that it was interesting how some of us choose to draw the line there. We're Christians, we don't condone and therefore will not watch it or not support those artists. Yet, we'll listen to songs and watch movies with foul language, degrading language, explicit sex scenes with an unmarried couple (or hook up). We'll tolerate seeing things that promote pride, lust, fornication etc and we'll be completely unphased by it. But homosexuality? Oh no that's not okay.
So what am I trying to say? I'm saying we need to do better, myself included. I too am guilty at times of separating one sin out from another as if one is worse that the next and that's really not the case. Just because a sin can be seen better than another does not give us the the right to judge it more harshly than another. Most of the times we shouldn't even be judging (can I be real?). We are called to judge each other righteously which means that I am sharing the truth with you or correcting you in love. If we're honest with ourselves, a lot the times we (Christians) judge, it comes from a place of hate or level of superiority where we are looking down on you for what we have "caught" you doing. Now I'm not telling you what artists you should and should not listen to, what movies you should and should not watch, that's between you and God. Just make sure that whatever you choose to do isn't contradictory.
Let's do better guys. Let's be Christ representers. Let's be love.
For those of you who may be intrigued by the blog I wrote three years ago but never published out of fear. I will finally break out of that and publish that blog next. Stay tuned.
Tasha
In regards to homosexual artists, or acts on TVs and movies, I thought to myself that it was interesting how some of us choose to draw the line there. We're Christians, we don't condone and therefore will not watch it or not support those artists. Yet, we'll listen to songs and watch movies with foul language, degrading language, explicit sex scenes with an unmarried couple (or hook up). We'll tolerate seeing things that promote pride, lust, fornication etc and we'll be completely unphased by it. But homosexuality? Oh no that's not okay.
So what am I trying to say? I'm saying we need to do better, myself included. I too am guilty at times of separating one sin out from another as if one is worse that the next and that's really not the case. Just because a sin can be seen better than another does not give us the the right to judge it more harshly than another. Most of the times we shouldn't even be judging (can I be real?). We are called to judge each other righteously which means that I am sharing the truth with you or correcting you in love. If we're honest with ourselves, a lot the times we (Christians) judge, it comes from a place of hate or level of superiority where we are looking down on you for what we have "caught" you doing. Now I'm not telling you what artists you should and should not listen to, what movies you should and should not watch, that's between you and God. Just make sure that whatever you choose to do isn't contradictory.
Let's do better guys. Let's be Christ representers. Let's be love.
For those of you who may be intrigued by the blog I wrote three years ago but never published out of fear. I will finally break out of that and publish that blog next. Stay tuned.
Waiting in line to learn how to salsa dance last year
xo Tasha
Great Post Tasha!
ReplyDeleteI have so many thoughts. I was intrigued by some of the questions posed - such as if a worship leader was homosexual, would folks still attend/praise along side them. I have found that while some Christians see them as not delivered, others are of the belief that to be a homosexual isn't a sin in the first place. They don't believe that God does or will condemn them, but rather love on them - and they emphasize that he is just and a liberator, rather than oppressive force. As I encounter these various point of views and hear different reasoning and biblical interpretations I and many others battle with where to stand - especially in light of the fact that the bible has historically been used to oppress. For example, verses have been used to justify the slave trade and the oppression of blacks (i.e. the story of Cain and Abel). In no way shape or form do I want to be an oppressor, and silence those like people of color have been and continue to be silenced through the use of the Bible. I ask myself questions like, as whites were erroneous in their interpretations of the bible, could those opposed to homosexuality be too? Is this a possibility? If we as the body of Christ have returned to and reassessed the verses about slavery, should the same be done about those dealing with homosexuality?
Yet, I also realize that slave owners were motivated by economic gain and wealth, and thus were actively seeking a tool of oppression, where as in the case of homosexuality, folks within our body don't want to exploit the homosexual population, but rather free them. Moreover, there is a more clear cut statement made against homosexuality in the bible, as opposed to other issues of our time.
(This is what I get for having so many theologians as friends/studying systemic oppression for a living - knowledge, insight, yet uncertainty. I look forward to working through these ideas...)
Hey Channon. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I know a lot of Christians including me wrestle with the same questions that you do so you're def not alone. I 100% agree with you in that the Bible has been twisted and used to oppress others for the benefit of a particular group. That's why I find it so important to read it for oneself and also take a moment to ask God "what are you saying here? what exactly do you mean?". Take slavery for example, the word "slave" in the Bible really means indentured servant (for our modern understanding) but it was used and is still used to endorse something so awful and ugly from what God intended (we, humans, tend to do that a lot). I think you'll see a little bit more of my wrestle regarding the topic of homosexuality in the blog that I referenced in this one (the one that I feared to publish because of potential backlash). I think I'm at a point where I have an understanding of what we, as Christians are supposed to do but still wrestling of how that looks practically. Stay tuned!
DeleteThanks Sis
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