Is being gay or trans a sin? After all it is how we are born and if you believe God made everything, including humans then you have to believe that He made us as well. How is being born gay a sin any more than being born straight? Either way, sex still comes into the equation because of our innate human nature, but that is another matter for another day.
Needless to say, if it is a sin, well then - most good things in life are and have been called "sinful" - so what?
To my knowledge, the Bible never actually calls being gay a "sin" using that word - but it calls it an "abomination", which is listed with eating pork and eating shellfish. Before you start hyperventilating and getting ready to jump up and down pointing fingers like the quite sane and friendly folks down at the Westboro Baptist Church, "abomination" is a word used to mean a ritual or cultural transgression of ancient Hebrew laws which just means you are not the best "most righteous" person you can be. It does not mean you will be condemned to hell for it.
According to the bible there is only one "unpardonable" sin anyway - to curse the holy spirit - which to my mind means that hey - whatever our sins (as long as they do not include this one) - if we as GLBT know this god then we have little to fear from him.
Those who call themselves "true Christians" and yet commit hateful acts against us while claiming to follow the Law of God are the ones who really have reason to worry.
Let us examine this claim of theirs. I call into evidence the following quote from the New Testament of the Christian Bible, which makes use of a quotation from the older Hebrew Torah (Old Testament):
The Bible, Mark chapter 12 verses 28-31
"One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," Jesus answered, "is this: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.""
So then, to sum up:
- Love God
- Love your neighbor as yourself.
- There is no commandment greater than these.
"There is NO commandment greater than these." He said. To me as one who has dabbled in programming, that means point 3 above is really saying :
'Go to 1'
Nothing at all in there about sexuality, persecution, stoning, hanging, "ex-gay", celibacy, "corrective rape", hate or making outcasts of gay or trans people - now how about that?
"NO commandment greater than these."
While the debate about sexuality being sinful will doubtlessly continue, this indicates to me that Christ is saying that those who sin will face their own judgments and fates - but that such is up to God to judge and deal with - and not Man.
The Old Testament is the Old Testament, but Christ is the New Covenant and this is what He said. Chew on that for a while.
Kind of makes you wonder how many of you nice folks down at the ACDP, CDA, FPI, and in gay-hating churches and groups break these two most important commandments by your own words and actions of hate against your neighbors? Huh, guys?
I cannot therefore reconcile your cruelty and your vicious attacks on us with "love your neighbors as yourself" - unless you folk are a bunch of masochistic bastards with a distinctly sadistic streak. (And you call us sick?)
And before you say "Yes, but -" and "there are these other verses" that you think address issues of sexuality, condemning us - THIS part is not about US - it is about YOU.
How YOU deal with your neighbors, namely us. Love your neighbor as yourself says the second half of the greatest commandment of all - and yet YOU manifest against us hateful acts of oppression and persecution.
There is also the tiny detail that God said "whosoever believes in Him"? Remember that one? "Whosoever" - so to burst the bubbles of these nice folk, if you are GLBT or I or even Q and have faith in a loving God, you will not be condemned - but will have eternal life.
Girlfriend, doesn't that idea ever piss off the bigots? Imagine them having to share eternity along with us? I can think of no greater - or more fitting - irony. After all, there isn't exactly anywhere else for them to go, although pointing their alternate destination out to them could be quite satisfying.
But once again, I digress.
Seems to me these folk should rather concern themselves with the state of their own lives and their own personal relationships with God instead of making the lives of their neighbors a misery. How about it, folks - instead of trying to excuse themselves from that little thing Christ supposedly said about "There is NO commandment greater than these."?
Food for thought, huh folks? Eat up ;)
I hear in the stony silence the shuffling of feet.
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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.
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