God Delights in the GLBT Community

Jason Wallace recently posted on his blog Hopelessly Blind Tangents an entry entitled "Love the Sinner, Not the Sin." For those of us who have advocated for the rights of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) communities -- you could easily surmise where his post was headed. He quoted verses from Leviticus (18:22 & 20:13) and he expressed frustration that today's society attempts to dictate what he should believe -- especially on TV. He asserts that "God...says [homosexuality] is wrong" and that's what his faith tells him.

He continued,

"Whether you like it or not that’s the way it is. Those that can’t accept that need to shut their pie holes and understand that it is my right to believe that and not their right to tell me not to."

I left him a comment that I believe that homosexuality is NOT a sin, in which he responded with "Don Pratt is clueless."

If you recall, Leviticus states that gay sex is detestable [or in my version of the Old Testament (NAB) it's an "abomination"] and that those who engage in it should be "put to death." Jason aptly points out that the phrase "put to death" should probably NOT be taken literally, but rather it means that those 'sinners' should be denied eternal life in the Kingdom (i.e. burn in hell). He said that judgment should be left up to God. After all, he later points out that he's not one of those "God hates fags wingnuts."

I wonder if Jason feels as strongly about the rest of the verses in Leviticus? As the word "abomination" was used for anything that was considered religiously unclean or idol worship. Therefore, I wonder if we'll see him post that he's tired of the TV trying to dictate what he should eat as that must be against his faith too. Leviticus clearly states that unclean animals are forbidden food, specifically rabbits, pigs and shellfish -- shrimp, crab, lobster, etc. I wonder if he is as frustrated with those Red Lobster &/or Oscar Mayer Weiner commercials; companies that are pedaling their "unclean" foods. Clearly, there's no room in the Kingdom for them pork eaters!

I certainly hope that Jason hasn't eaten shellfish recently. I also hope that he hasn't touched a woman while she was menstruating, or I hope he hasn't sat in a chair after a menstruating woman has sat in it. If he has and hasn't atoned for it, he's as good as dead (not literally -- but destined for the fires of hell). It says so right there in Leviticus. Oh...not to worry though...if he's a priest and he slaughters a bull -- offering it to God, he should be saved (also from Leviticus).

Obviously, I'm being sarcastic. My point is that most people aren't even aware what the Leviticus clean laws are, let alone practice them. Yet some seem to remember one law regarding 'men laying with men' and use that to defend their belief that homosexuality is wrong. There's a hypocrisy with this inconsistency in choosing what to believe or not to believe from Leviticus.

Jesus never addressed homosexuality or sexual orientation directly. As a matter of fact, he discounts the clean laws (Mark 7:18-24). Paul the Evangelist also rejected the absolute commands in Leviticus (see his Letter to the Colossians 2:9-24). Jesus refers directly to Leviticus ONLY once in the Book of Mark, "You should love your neighbor as yourself." (Leviticus 19:18) -- which Jason cited. In other words, Jesus used Leviticus to teach love.

I like Jason. I like him not only because he is my Christian brother -- but also because he DOES allow for the fact that he (or I for that matter) could be wrong about our beliefs. And to be fair with Jason -- he sent me an email warning me that he used the "clueless" remark to get my attention.

In the "Don Pratt is Clueless" post he states:

If more people were to talk about things and look at them from the other person’s perspective more likely than not they will find there is middle ground. Between the two is the truth.

Though Don and I disagree on some of these issues. I think we both can agree that If you have accepted Christ as your personal savior, and live for him, you are saved. You will walk with him in heaven and all things will be made known to you. Until then. I pray that God will send a message to all of us, not just Don and I, that will expose the truth of these things before we leave this earth. So that we can better teach the love that is Christ our Lord.

I don't think that there is a middle ground here; homosexuality is NOT a sin, nor a disorder. However, I do share in Jason's prayer that the truth be revealed.

Peace.