(I'd send this off anon but I never know when I'll actually log in so this'll have to do) I've just seen a series of posts saying - summing it up - 'homophobia wins' and it's making me wonder what the the people were thinking/ if they know what it means. Isn't homophobia bad?? Like, hating/being afraid of your fellow humans just for supporting/being LGBTQ+ (unless I'm the one with a messed up definition)
I’ll be honest I’ve been off social media for a while so I’m not super sure of the context of this, and when I google “homophobia wins” all I get are political articles spanning back to January, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you’re referring to Christians who claim that homophobia shouldn’t be considered a bad thing since homosexuality is a sin. Let me know if I havie this wrong but this will be the premise I respond to here.
I’ve made it very clear on here that I believe homosexuality to be a sin but I also have made it very clear that I believe the solution is not hate but a loving support and education of scripture. We all sin, not all sin should be illegal, no sin should be promoted by a Christian.
Let me go through this one at a time. We all sin. We’ve all lied. We’ve all cheated. We’ve all stolen. There’s not a single person who has gone their entire life without doing this. Sinning is not good, but we all do it. (That being said, NOT all sin is created equal. That is not what the Bible says and people who claim as much don’t make much sense biblically or ethically. I can’t imagine anyone genuinely believing that murder is on the same wavelength as lying to your mom about eating a cookie.
Okay next up, not all sin should be illegal. That would be ridiculous. The ancient Jews tried this and the result were the overbearing Pharisees that we see in Jesus’ day who valued the image of obedience more than the actual faith in God. If your standard is following a list of rules, your life is going to be a lot more shallow that having a standard of being more like Christ. I think lying is bad. I don’t think people should be arrested for lying to their friends. I think hitting is bad. I don’t think my 2 year old nephew should be arrested for slapping me when I hold him sometimes lol. In the same vein, I believe homosexuality to be sinful, and a homosexual marriage to be invalid in the eyes of God. Likewise, I believe atheism, Islam, (and to a lesser extent) Catholicism to be sinful and a marriage between people of those beliefs to be invalid in the eyes of God. That being said, I don’t think that these marriages should be LEGALLY invalid. That’s silly. There’s a difference between a social/legal marriage and a religious marriage. One is a union between people until they die or agree to split as a statement of love and trust and dependence while the other is a union between two people and God which (in theory) does not end. You can disagree with something and not demand its removal from existence.
Okay finally, no sin should be promoted by a Christian. Similar to what I just said, a Christian shouldn’t go around saying “Wow guys have you heard of Islam? It’s really convincing!” That doesn’t make sense. It’s in direct opposition to your beliefs and what you are supposed to be doing while operating within those beliefs. In the same way, Christians shouldn’t be saying “Being gay is super awesome and more people should do it.” That’s in direct contrast to Christian beliefs. THAT BEING SAID, I can have Muslim friends. I am capable of being friendly with Muslims. I disagree with them. They disagree with me. If I can nudge them my way, that’s great, and it is perfectly acceptable to try to share the Gospel with them or to just lead by example. All of that is fine (not ideal, but fine) so long as I’m not actively working against Christianity. In the same way, I can have homosexual friends. I am capable of being friendly with homosexuals. Often times, I disagree with them and they disagree with me, and if I can nudge them my way, that’s great. You get the point.
I say “not ideal, but fine,” because in an ideal world, I’d be sharing the Gospel with every person I see, and honestly that’s what I should be doing. Someone dying without faith means eternal death. Not sharing the Gospel is like not helping someone out of a burning house. However, I’d be lying if I said I do this. It’s not super socially acceptable to shout scripture at people and it’s a good way to split people away from you. I make my faith open and transparent, I make sure people know I’m open to questions, and a lot of times those questions get asked. I feel like that’s an at least decent middle ground and I still try to share the Gospel when I see a good opportunity, but I definitely don’t do it as often as I should and that’s probably the case for most Christians.
