I relate a couple of my recent experiences and tie them in with scriptural teaching to make that point in my latest Gay Christian Outreach column.
A truly active and vibrant faith is one where we are all actively learning and teaching. This needs to apply to those whom we have strong disagreements with as much if not more than those people we agree with.
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"I was taken aback by the depth of this man’s anger. While there is likely plenty of justification, I don’t believe anything constructive can come of it.Those who preach the true message of Christ are not our enemies. If they are truly seeking Christ and are led by the Holy Spirit, there is automatically common ground that we can share with them, regardless of their beliefs about homosexuality or other issues."
ReplyDeleteJim, I feel that I must respond to what you wrote about me. What I think you're missing is that, while this fellow Marlowe may indeed be seeking Christ, he is NOT being led by the Holy Spirit in his search. The Holy Spirit will never lead you to a place where ostracizing and stigmatizing your brother is justified. There can be no common ground with those who try to put themselves in God's place and mangle scripture to suit their prejudices . . . not if the ground we're standing on is supposed to be Holy Ground.
In the past, I've said that Christianity is like a fire; it has incredible power that can be used for good or for harm. Those who believe as Marlowe does are like reckless children, playing with fire and burning innocent people without knowing what they're doing. This can and will lead to tragedy. Such people need to be disciplined, so that they no longer present a danger to others. More important, they need discipline so that they no longer present a danger to Christian doctrine.
I hate to say it, Jim, but I think you and Pastor Brenda value tradition over truth to a certain extent. Just because a false doctrine has been dominant for a long time doesn't make it right. Couching it in sound doctrine doesn't make it right, either. If it wasn't right when first presented, it still isn't right five thousand years later. The Christ did NOT teach what Bible fundamentalists say He taught! Yes, the Savior's message can be interpreted in different ways, but IT MUST NOT BE DISTORTED. We cannot become comfortable with hatred being preached in the name of God.
"Not everybody gets it, but those who are seeking don’t need anger directed toward them. They need to be taught how God loves GLBT people and, just as importantly, how the Holy Spirit fills them up. The best way to show this is to allow Christ to lift you past the hurt and anger that has built up because of the pain inflicted upon you by family, friends, and the church."
Hurt and anger can be very useful emotions, Jim. When channeled in the right direction, they can be used to teach, to call attention to a problem, and to open a pathway to healing. A doctor doesn't allow a boil go untreated. He lances it, lets the poison drain out, and then applies disinfectant and bandages. You want to put the bandages on before the illness is treated! A patient can die that way! The heterosexist boil on the face of the Christian church must be lanced. It will cause a great deal of pain. That's unavoidable, but remember that healing must come eventually.
For people who identify themselves as Gay allies, you and your wife seem shockingly naive about LesBiGay anger. Let me try to make you understand a little better. Not long ago, I tried to bring the Christ's true message of love and salvation to a group of "queers." They describe themselves that way in an attempt to steel themselves against the kind of derogatory names they're called on a regular basis. That's another issue . . . well, no sooner had I mentioned the name of Jesus Christ than they attacked me tooth and claw. They told me they didn't need a Savior. They called me a bizarre wacko, coming among them with superstitious bull****. They accused me of being an ex-Gay activist in disguise.
Did I let my pride take over? Did I accuse them of being unreasonable? No, I didn't. I understand this reaction, Jim. I've been in their shoes, many times. I've been ostracized, vilified, threatened, beaten, and most recently, denounced by a fundamentalist minister AT MY OWN FATHER'S FUNERAL. I've had to fight with all my being to repel the sense of shame and doom that society presses on Gay people! I've watched people be crushed to death beneath centuries' worth of hateful doctrine. If you manage to survive running the gauntlet of relentless heterosexism, a hot temper, a surly attitude, a low tolerance for condescension . . . these are the least you can expect to come away with.
You will never be able to grasp the intensity of everything that folks like me go through, but you and your wife need to try harder to understand. You really, really do! Otherwise, your attempts to bring people together in Christian love will fail miserably, and you'll be left wondering why. I regretted reading that homosexual issues were not addressed at that conference you attended. Those issues are too important, too relevant to be ignored at any gathering like that. The boil on the face of the church is festering! It threatens to poison the entire body. However painful it may turn out to be, that boil needs to be treated. Ignoring it won't make it better!
Stuffed Animal,
ReplyDeleteYou are certainly entitled to your opinion about my approach to GLBT issues and you are welcome to express it here.
Pastor Brenda has been involved in ministry to and with the GLBT community for nearly 20 years. She is well past being naive about the anger and pain that GLBT people have experienced, as are the gay and lesbian members of my church, all of whom I have learned so much from.
I don't feel some of your comments represent what I have been writing here for the last year +, but again you are entitled to your own opinions.
God bless you.
For what it's worth, I think what I posted yesterday on other blogs is relevant here. I feel very strongly about association with homophobic churches or denominations that preach and practice the false gospel of exclusion. I posted the following on Christiangays.com; my own blogs, "A Christian Voice For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Rights," and Live Journal. I again agree with stuffed animal!
ReplyDeleteOne can't fully appreciate the animus, the downright hatred of so many professing Christians against those they characterize as "the other," "the stranger." We are usually not dealing with intellectually and spiritually honest people when we deal with homophobes who cloak their prejudices in faulty biblical exegeses, and refuse to live out the Gospel when it comes to LGBT people. This fact is not unlike the role of racists in the "Church" in the middle part of the last century. The following is what I posted yesterday on these blogs. Best wishes, Jerry.
I made the following post to a website that I thought you'd be interested in reading. This is a slightly edited version of that post.
Dear Friends: I must disagree when some encourage people to remain in
homophobic churches so as to be in a position to educate and change them. Beyond the fact that they have done more to initiate and foment anti-LGBT rhetoric and the ensuing shame, self-loathing, and suicides of
LGBT people, they have also by that rhetoric and their exclusionary practices
set the climate for the bashing and killing of LGBT people, allowing many of the
perpetrators of this violence feel they are doing God a favor by their hateful
actions.
I feel that God is leading increasing numbers of Christians to leave these
pathetic, moribund, frequently hate-filled "churches" and denominations, led by
frequently ignorant and/or mendacious clergy, and calling us into a
post-denominational era where Christians are going to form their own worship
communities that preach and exemplify the only Gospel to be found in
Christianity: the Gospel of grace (God's unmerited favor to us), faith (trusting
God over and above seen circumstances), love, peace, reconciliation, and
inclusiveness. By remaining in churches that preach and practice a religion of
exclusion, and supporting them with our presence, energies, and monies, we are
witting or unwitting accomplices to their perversion of the Gospel, and they are
far more likely to change us than we are likely to change them.
I've had occasion to teach on the "clobber passages" to fundamentalists, and
regardless of the logic of my explanations of these passages, utilizing the
original language, they tenaciously hung on to their prejudices. This battle is
not about two sets of reasonable people sitting down and reasoning together.
It's about pure, naked prejudice and hate-mongering from all too many pulpits
throughout the world that have to be confronted by our turning our backs on
them, not in any way supporting them, and going back to the model of the early
Church where people met in each other's homes, divested of edifices and careers
that had to be maintained by keeping the money rolling in. Unfortunately, many
clergy know that the best way to have and keep the money rolling in is to
practice a religion of exclusion, and encourage an "us" against "them"
mentality, that both cements in-group solidarity and reinforces a "victim"
status by professing Christians and churches that encourages even more
financial giving to enhance clergy careers.
All too much of the organized "Church" has for far too long, by practicing the
false gospel of legalism, perfectionism, and exclusion, led the way in
discriminating against assorted minority groups, from women to Afro-Americans to
LGBT people, that change of the religious institutions in society regarding
civil rights isues have never happened from within. Unfortunately, when it
comes to civil rights issues, it's been the secular society that has largely led
the way to freedom and emancipation, with the religious institutions following
suit once the hard-fought-for freedoms had been won.
It's high time we turn our backs on "traditions that make void the word of
God" (Matthew 15:3), and on the institutions that embody those traditions that
have the effect of historically demonizing assorted minority groups. The
"Church," the ecclesia, the called out ones, aren't restricted to inhabiting
buildings. Rather they are in disparate places and we have to seek each other
out and worship together "in spirit and in truth" that embraces each and every
one of God's children. To do otherwise, is not being faithful to the Gospel, or
to Jesus' call on our lives, and His call for unity of His Church.
Jerry,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that no GLBT person should ever subject themselves to staying involved in a homophobic church. Are you saying here that GLBT should not try to engage in dialogue with anyone who does not at this moment accept homosexuality? Are you writing off everyone in that group as unreachable?
Dear Jim: No, I don't write off all those who disagree with me on this issue. However, the homophobes with whom I've dealt have not been intellectually or spiritually honest, and have refused to study the Bible, read extra-biblical sources on this topic to even question why someone would voluntarily choose to become part of a despised minority group, or even listen when they're shown how their interpretation of the "clobber passages" lacks rigor and doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Moreover, they presume upon themselves the right to judge others, thereby betraying the living of the Christian life; extol as virtues legalism, perfectionism, and exclusion, and thereby don't acknowledge in word or deed the Gospel of grace.
ReplyDeleteDialogue is fine! However, it's been my experience that homophobic people don't seek dialogue, but, rather, tenaciously hang on to their prejudices, regardless of the evidence presented to them, thereby savagely hurting people, largely creating "justification" for self-injury, suicide, bashing, and murder of LGBT people.
No! I don't want to engage myself with such people, nor do I feel that the "Church" should be identified as a vehicle of God's that in any way harbors or encourages them. Such people are toxic, not only to LGBT people, but to the Church and to Christians, as they betray the Gospel, and are frequently enmeshed with the most strident, radical right wing political and social forces in society.
I don't write anyone off, but since honest dialogue is neither sought nor tolerated by the prejudiced, their attitudes are not likely to change by the mere presentation of facts.
Moreover, I think it's a mistake to see each side as being on an equal moral footing regarding these differences. "Inclusion" and "exclusion" are not equivalent values or debatable issues in the Christian life! Besides, only God can change their hearts!
Jim,
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with everything Jerry says, and I hope you and Pastor Brenda will listen to us. Put aside your pride! God has blessed you with a ministry of inclusion, but it can be better than what it is now. You must be willing to accept that some of the church traditions you grew up with are corrosive and evil. You must recognize that they have nothing to do with the Christ's message. You must realize that your battle to remove the stigma of condemnation from LesBiGay Christians is also a battle to remove the stigma of bigotry from the Christian church. They are the same! And I can't emphasize enough that we ARE engaged in a battle! A battle that will wound and disturb and divide. Remember Jesus Christ said, in Luke 12:51-53: "Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the Earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."