Saturday, August 11, 2012

Brain Stew.


It seems the issue of same-sex marriage has become the Christian vs. Non-Christian war, and the new enemy – or ally, depending on which “side” you are on – is Chik-Fil-A.

Let me start by saying this: I am a Christian. I have grown up as one; my parents raised me in a home where Christ was the center of it all and as an adult, I have found my own place in my own Christian faith.

But, while I am an avid follower of Christ, I’m also in support of gay marriage. (Let me pause while all the conservative Christians pick their jaw up off the floor.) Why? Many would ask and do ask me that question. Well, it’s simple. I believe in the most basic of Christian beliefs: LOVE.

It seems public Christianity has become about segregation and judgment. There are some that seem to think that as “followers” of Christ, their job is to condemn other people when their beliefs don’t match. I find this to be horribly ironic. Aren’t we taught as Christians that only God can judge us? Aren’t we called to love our neighbor as ourselves? Aren’t we instructed to follow as closely as we can in God’s footsteps? And, was it not Jesus, when he was walking on this earth, who hung out with the most hated of people? He was the one who spent time with tax collectors and ate dinner with prostitutes. He didn’t come to earth and wag his fingers in their faces and tell them they were evil and condemn them to an eternity in hell. He didn’t protest at their places of employment and tell them how wrong they were and how right he was. He loved them. He showed them love. He stood by them when others wouldn’t. 

I cannot understand why anyone on this earth thinks they are so special that they have the right to do what even Jesus would not. Has we become so arrogant that we think we know better than God?

The latest Chik-Fil-A debacle is only the latest way Christians are figuratively peeing on their territory, claiming something they have no claim over. Christians do not own this world; this world was given to us by God, for all his people to live on. Whether or not we believe same sex marriage is biblical or right or wrong or we don’t care, it’s not our job to create a world of hostility and segregation and oppression. It is our job, given by God, to tell others about Him; to show love to others, to embody Christ, to live our lives in the manner of Jesus, and to stand behind our brothers and sisters when the world is against him or her.

So, that is why I am in support of same sex marriage. Because I believe they have the same right as I do as a human to be with the person he or she loves, despite what my Christian faith says and what I follow. I believe tolerance goes both ways and that they have the right to believe what they do just as much as I have the right to believe what I do. I believe that I am no more right in what I believe as someone else does and it is not my place or job to take away someone else’s legal rights because I think they are wrong.

And I believe our job is to embody love and not hate.

“Let us stop just saying we love people. Let us really love them and show it by our actions.” -- 1 John 3:18 

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