Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Homosexuality and What It Means to Christians

Now, this is a serious topic up for debate. My feelings on this is based on  my understanding of God. People always use the Bible to support being anti-gay, but aside from one verse in Leviticus stating that a man shall not lie with a man as he does a woman, there is no Scriptural support for all the anti-gay stuff going around. Sure, the Bible mentions homosexuality in it as a sin, as being sexually immoral. But, I feel two things are going on here: 1 the Bible was written by men, most men think the act of two men having sex is quite nasty, but they love watching two women do it, which is why gay women is never specifically mentioned, unlike gay men. 2. The people who translated the Bible didn't quite know what they were doing and of course people who work on translating, to get better and better translations out there, are not going to admit that certain things are wrong for fear of what it may start. These are merely my thoughts. Don't take it as fact. Ok, well you can take part of one as fact, the Bible was written by men. 
Ok, now let's get to what homosexuality means to Christians. It doesn't mean a thing. Jesus spent time with gay people, you can believe that. They would not have been in with the normal groups of people they would have been in with the people Jesus spent time around. God made gay people. Being gay isn't a choice, choosing to act on being gay is a choice. One's sexual preference is not one's own choice. One is born with one's sexual preference. However, it might take years for a person to even realize he/she is not straight. I was in my mid 20's when I realized I'm bisexual. Yes, that's the truth, I'm bisexual. This is why I feel men put their own thoughts and feelings in the Bible about homosexuality. The ancient Hebrews were a patriarchal society. Men were in charge. Women were no more than property and had little to no rights. Don't get me wrong, I firmly believe God inspired the Bible, however, men still wrote it, and I just can't believe everything in it comes from God. It doesn't agree with my understanding of God. Now, let me clear this up a little here. My understanding of God comes from the Bible, but it also comes from my relationship with Him. Yahweh is a great and powerful God. He loves us, protects us, listens to our prayers. Grieves with us, for us. He is ever present in our lives. God is amazing, He's beyond that actually. There isn't a single word known to man past or present that can describe Him. Because of all that He is, I can't believe that He would ever turn away from homosexuals, bisexuals, or any other person, especially when they dedicate themselves to Him. I have gay friends. I have quite a few gay friends, some Christians and some not. But, it doesn't matter. God made them, and He loves them. He expects us to be the same way. He's not saying we have to agree with their choice of lifestyle, it does go against the grand design, but there are a lot of sexual acts we partake in that go against the grand design. Oral sex for example, what good does it do, if we swallow the semen instead of the man putting it where it is supposed to go? Not a bit of good. I mean in the grand design of things. It isn't exactly going to get a man's wife pregnant going into the stomach instead of the uterus. Now I could sit here and write about sex and marriage and all that, but I'll save that for another time. 
When we decide to pick a side in this debate, we have to do so knowing the side we pick is the right one for us. But, here's the thing: There shouldn't be a side to have decide on. We should want all people to be happy and marry who they want to marry and raise kids with who they want to raise kids with. Being raised by gay people is not going to turn kids gay. Look at all the people who were raised by straight parents and are gay. That logic holds no grounds. Ask God how He feels about gay people, and talk to Him about how you feel and pray He guide you where you need to be. I support gay peoples' rights. They should be entitled to the same ones we have. Let's not allow religion, man's religion to get in our way. Let's gain an understanding of God's religion and let God, not man tell us what to do. A preacher is a man, he'll tell you what he was taught to tell you, not what God wants to tell you. It's sad but true. I am no longer a part of man's religion, but God's. I listen to God, not man. God tells me, we need to love Homosexuals. He tells me He loves them just as much as the rest of us. He welcomes them into His Kingdom when they choose to be redeemed just as much as the rest of us. It's not our place to judge, only God's. If we want to pass judgement on a person because of who they choose to love, then there's a problem. What makes this any different than the Civil Rights Movement? Nothing except it's about gay people and not just black people. Gay people come in all shapes, sizes, and skin color. God's children do too. There's no difference there at all.