Loving Gay Jesus

  Okay, I managed to stay out of the controversy for several days, but finally ran out of patience.  I can't sit by quietly while Christians appear to be so unloving and unChristlike - while thinking they are standing for Christian principles or trying to keep America a "Christian" nation (an urban myth that I wrote about in an earlier blog).

  I'm talking about the whole Chick-fil-A fiasco in which thousands of conservative Christians came out in support of the restaurant owner, Dan Cathy, who came under fire from gays for exercising his First Amendment right to free speech when he made a public declaration of his opposition to gay marriage.  Cathy had also donated millions of dollars to organizations whose main purposes are to oppose gay rights.

  The point that I want to make in this writing is that there is a better way - a more Christlike way - to defend Christian principles, and that is to ask ourselves all over again, "What would Jesus do?" and then thoughtfully and deliberately act on the answer to that question.  Jesus did not judge the sexually immoral in his time; he loved them (Jesus did judge the self-righteous religious leaders of the time).

  In fact, a foundational premise of Christianity is that of love and respect, putting others ahead of ourselves as presented in the Golden Rule and the First and Second Great Commandments.  The Golden Rule says, "Treat others the way you would like to be treated,"(Luke 6:31) and the Great Commandments state, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, and Love your neighbor as yourself."(Matt. 22:37)

  How is it that human nature - and conservative politics - carry us so far from the heart of Christ?  How are followers of Jesus so naturally inclined to behave in ways that are contrary to his commands?  He says, "Do not judge or you will be judged" (Matt. 7:1) yet we think we are helping Christ when we judge gays.  Exactly what he said not to do.  He said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who abuse you, and bless those who curse you," (Luke 6:27-28) yet in our demonstrations of opposition to gay rights, we very clearly convey to every homosexual, "I hate you."

  Let me be clear:  There is not one gay in America who understood the actions of Chick-fil-A supporters as a demonstration of Christian love.

  Now before you "de-friend" me, let me explain how I got where I am.  There are really four people responsible:  Jesus; my parents, Gene and Betty Sims; and my gay brother, the late Ron Sims.

  Ron came out when he was in his thirties and was HIV positive for fourteen years before he died of AIDS at the age of forty-five.  Fourteen years for the Sims family to live with him, react to him, love him.  My parents set the example of Christ for all of us.  In a very conservative household, as a pastor and wife in a very conservative evangelical denomination, they loved him unconditionally.  They met every one of his gay and lesbian friends that he brought to family gatherings.  They shook hands and hugged every partner he lived with.  They traveled hundreds of miles to visit him in his home and befriended all of his companions.  Never once did my folks preach at him; they saw it as unloving, and besides, as a former champion Bible quizzer, he already knew the references by heart.

  And the rest of us followed their example.  All four of his siblings traveled great distances to be next to him on his death bed.  We hugged him, we sang to him, we held his hands until he breathed his last.

  Those attending him were wide-eyed in astonishment.  As hospice workers in a diverse community, they had attended the passing of many gays, but this was the first where a gay man's entire family were at his side, loving on him till the end.  "They always die alone," they told us, "especially the ones from religious families."

Ron Sims,  1954-1999

  And I thought to myself, "Where is the love of God in that?"  Followers of Christ, of all people, born and bred in the church, taught to memorize the Golden Rule on the heels of John 3:16, should be able to summon a little more of the love of Jesus from deep down in their hearts.  That's what Jesus was all about.

  So this is why I have gay friends.  And this is why I have muslim friends (That's another story).  And this is why I stick up for the underdog, and this is why I think twice before signing an online petition or forwarding so-called Christian banners that people tell me are in defense of Christian principles.  Because it seems that in America, sometimes standing up for "Christian principles" means that I have to deny the very heart of Christ.

  

  Yesterday I posted a short comment on Facebook suggesting that if more believing Americans had a gay friend, they would put a lid on the rhetoric.  If you know and love someone who is gay, you will think twice about how your views and your comments affect them.  Mind you, we all have a constitutional right to think and say what we want, but as followers of Christ we don't have the right to hurt another human being.

  What would Jesus do?

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  Okay, I have posted my position on a Christlike response to homosexuals, but let me add some perspective on the issue itself.

  There are a total of 6 verses in the Bible that seem to condemn homosexual activity (none that condemn homosexual orientation), and there are nearly 600 verses that stress caring for the poor and needy.  This tells me that it is a hundred times more important to God that we give our attention to the poor and the needy than to give our attention to making sure that gays know the truth about their sin (Believe me, they already know what we think the Bible says about their sin).

  In Ezekiel 16:49-50 God says to Israel, "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned: they did not help the poor and needy.  They were haughty and did detestable things before me.  Therefore I did away with them as you have seen."  According to this, Sodom was not destroyed because of homosexuality but because of arrogance and a lack of concern for the poor and needy.

  I think this describes many American Christians today:  Arrogant toward gays, overfed (America is officially the "fattest" nation in the world), and unconcerned about the poor and needy.

  If the Ezekiel passage expresses God's priorities, the prophets among us should be blaming our selfish selves rather than the gays the next time a destructive hurricane or earthquake wipes out a sector of our wealth and real estate.

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  BTW, my title "Loving Gay Jesus" comes from my understanding of Matthew 25:40.  "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."  Jesus identifies himself with the oppressed, not with the religious.  We should do the same.

  If you don't have any gay friends, I suggest you find some.  Do your best to befriend a gay - at least friend some on Facebook - before the end of this year.  It will change the way you think and talk and behave with them and about them.  Actually, you may not have to look very far; they are probably right under your nose but would not dare come out until they feel they are safe with you.  That means you'll have to tone it down a bit.    Thank you!


 The President of the Barna Group, David Kinnaman, in his book, unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks About Christianity... and Why It Matters, says that most 16 to 29-year-old Americans see Christians as: 1) Anti-Gay, 2) Judgmental, 3) Hypocritical.  I see this as harmful to the true cause of Christ and intend to do my personal best to change this perception to something closer to what Christ intended.