That’s SO Gay!!

This is a big blog for me. It’s not been brought on by anything done recently, and I’m not sure why it’s time to write it, but when you got it coming out, might as well write it down. Please note, I’m well aware that this stuff is tricky, so please read with eyes and mind full of grace.

In my circles in my life, I generally come across four different categories of people when it comes to the issue of homosexuality. Group 1 says that all “homos” are going to hell and that’s the end of it. Group 2 says that gays can be reformed. Group 3 is Gay Okay! and Group 4 says, let’s just love people and let God do His thing.

I live about 20 miles away from the biggest instigators of the philosophy of Group 1. They hold the domain name godhatesfags . com and are the “funeral protestors” you keep hearing about on national news outlets. They claim to be a Baptist church, but are actually Calvinistic and believe that your fate has been decided for you and that only a small portion of people have been preselected by God to be Christians and get to Heaven. I don’t know what they do with the idea of Freewill, but pretty much everything they espouse blows my mind, so I quit trying to figure them out.

Group 2 is gets a bit of national attention all of their own, but they are often misunderstood and lumped into the same category as Group 1 (unfairly, in my opinion). They beleive that, yes, homosexuality is in fact a sin, but God loves us all anyway, and we all have to get our act together, so they support reformation programs such as Exodus or other support groups. This category includes men and women who are no longer practicing homosexuals. Some have married (heterosexually) and have had children of their own. They consider themselves to have been set free from the grasp of homosexuality and watch themselves, lest they be tempted. I read a book once called “Heaven’s Back Row”. It’s supposed to be about a married pastor and father who is struggling with his homosexuality, but the recurring theme that made me queasy was first and foremost, his infidelity to his wife and secondly his promiscuity. He wasn’t just gay, he got around to boot!

Some in Group 2 also promote the idea of “a gay agenda” like there is some organized group of gays somewhere smoking cigars and taking notes trying to turn us all into “their kind”. Now, I’m speaking from my own experience here, but I’ve never, ever been asked to or been recruited to be gay. (Okay, so a girl asked me to make out with her once, but I was like, “um, no.” and she totally wasn’t offended and as weird as it was, it just wasn’t awkward…) I’ve seen movies and TV shows with gay characters, and while I suppose these could be interpreted as “gay promos”, I thought they were actually more like “understand me, love me, accept me” kind of shows. But then again, I haven’t seen Brokeback Mountain. The gay people I know don’t want me either, so I’m just really not sure where this scary”organized agenda” idea comes from. I think it’s this impersonal “they” mentality that keeps a lot of gay people’s hearts closed to considering the Gospel for themselves.

Group 3 is the God loves Gays group. God made them gay. There’s nothing wrong with being gay. All the New Testament Bible verses have been mistranslated (that should say “child molester” not “homosexual”) and the Old Testament doesn’t apply anymore anyway (I mean really, who doesn’t love pork chops?), so that doesn’t matter either. So, they live gay, they love gay and they worship God, love Jesus and love themselves. I personally know a couple that falls into this category and I can undeniably say, I think they have truly accepted Jesus as both Lord and Savior and love Him. I would also be willing to say, I can’t see any reason that they would not, in fact, be saved.

Group 4 is the group I consider myself to be a part of. This group either A) has no definitive opinion or B) is keeping their cards close to their chest and nobody knows their opinion. (Although, you may be able to have me figured out by the end of this one) They either believe the same as Group 2 and don’t want to offend gays or those in Group 3, or they believe as Group 3 and don’t want to offend or upset the people in Group 2. (and Group 1 can go sodomize themselves… oh my lame attempts at humor, don’t take me too seriously) Group 4 knows that God loves us all. “Just As I Am” is truly their anthem. Most people in this group know exactly what it is they, themselves, have been saved from. They don’t want to judge other people or get involved where God doesn’t intend for them to be. Group 4 people are generally experienced in ministry and understand that love comes first. They get it that God wants people to love Him. Once God gets a hold of someone, then God convicts people about the sins He wants them to deal with, not the ones I want them to deal with. They relate to the reformed homos in Group 2. They understand what it means to be freed of something burdensome. But on the other hand, they don’t think that Group 3 is going to Hell necessarily either. This group is, in deed, a bunch of saved sinners, still working out their own salvation.

Personally, it’s been my experience that when people change, it’s because God has laid it on their hearts to change*. He not only identifies the area He wants to work on, but He also gives them the tools and conviction to bring about change. If God wants to convict someone from their behavior, whatever that may be, then He has to lead. And I do believe that sometimes, there are other areas of someone’s life that are more pressing and need to be dealt with first and foremost. You never know what God’s going to have someone work on first and more importantly, you never know when someone’s never going to get to the item you would have put on the top of their “to do” list.

*Now, I’m not saying that God will never use you to convict someone of sin. Intervention is occasionally necessary. But Jesus was very clear on this one, He said that when you go to someone, you a) go to them out of love and concern without an attitude of judgement or superiority (that whole plank in your eye thing) and b) you are sure that God has asked you to speak to that person about this issue. There cannot be offense taken when you’ve humbly gone to someone that you love and respect out of concern for their well being. The same cannot be said when you approach someone you barely know or hold up a picket sign or petition.