If I hold to the above scripture it
keeps life and what I'm supposed to do much simpler. Otherwise we quickly
descend into interpretation, definitions, context and then what did the
original Greek word mean. It just never ends. Scripture is hurled back and
forth like word grenades. No quarter is given.
As an example, would it be
neighborly or loving of me to call a gay neighbor an abomination? If that neighbor
is a "None" (No religious affiliation) that I would like to talk with
about Jesus, being saved and Christianity? That really wouldn't be a good way
to start a conversation let alone build a neighborly relationship. The problem
we have in building the faith is that MILLIONS of Christians are SHOUTING from
the rooftops and the World Wide Web that gays are an abomination before God as
well as citing any number of other hateful, non-loving scriptures to anyone
that will listen.
Churches are being busted up and/or
closing over the issue of homosexuality. People are leaving the faith. Families
are being torn up. In the United States, the Christian faith, based on the
bible, declines in numbers with each passing year. People have made an idol of
words. They worship the words.
There are some hard words in the
bible. Real. Hard. That’s the truth of the matter. We have to live with that. But
we do have the example of Jesus before us as well and those two great
commandments. So would gay people be an abomination before Jesus? No. No, they
would not.
Do we as Christians fulfill the
second great commandment if we deny our neighbor a service like baking a cake
for their wedding? Jesus would have baked them 2 cakes. People will argue with that. People will
argue with any number of simple acts of kindness and love. In the final analysis
Jesus had a servant’s heart and encouraged the same in us.
We reduce arguments to niches,
clichés and often make it personal. I read a comment that said if we want our
nation to be Christian (I'm paraphrasing) then we need to stop voting for
Liberals. Then we place people in niches as being conservative, right wing,
left wing, liberal or some mix thereof.
If we’re going to use clichés and
niches then Jesus would qualify as a bleeding heart liberal with the things
that he says. At least that is what the Pharisees would say. He put the poor waaaay before the rich. It
seems I remember him telling some rich young guy to sell all his stuff and give
it away. He didn’t. He liked his stuff. What would Jesus tell the “one
percenters” of today to do with their incredible wealth?
I'm old enough to remember the time
when people who were divorced were looked down upon by the church. (Some still
do.) If Christianity hadn't loosened up as to the treatment of divorced couples
the numbers of church members would have been decimated even further.
People can't talk me out of my
faith. Even for the four decades that I didn’t go to church I never lost my
faith. It’s like that for some of us.
The Nones may not even want me
trying to talk them into the faith. That’s their call. That’s the way it works.
But if I do try, I don’t plan to insult or vilify them first.
So as believers we're stuck in a Catch 22
because we're supposed to talk about our faith; bring people to the faith. We
certainly aren't supposed to deny it. That's why our actions, how we behave and
what we say are so important. We have to look like we have something that
people want, something that they can apply to their daily lives that will have
relevancy; that will make them want to talk to us. Whether they talk with us or
not we have done what we are supposed to do. We have served humanity and a
higher purpose by looking past ourselves in the service to others.