Gay-Okay

As I said in my previous post, this escalating debate of "Church vs. LGBT" may be, in it's own weird way, a really good thing. And I only realized that after reading about former pastor Rob Bell's interview where he sided with marriage equality. Here are his words:

"I am for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love, whether it's a man and woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man. I think the ship has sailed and I think the church needs...I think this is the world we are living in and we need to affirm people where they are."

Rob Bell, author of What We Talk About When We Talk About God

I've read some articles referring to this apparent change in doctrinal stance an "evolution" in the church/society, but I think the word "evolution" is infers improvement, when what our society really does is just change. For instance, on the same page where I read this article, I linked over to another article about a teenage boy convicted of triple homicide who, in his hearing, wore a t-shirt with the word "KILLER" written on it, then against the counsel of his attorney, flipped off and insulted the parents of his victims in the courtroom. Ever heard of that happening before? Our society is changing, not evolving.

What I'm not implying is this: a man loving a man is the same as a man killing three innocent people and reveling in it. 

What I am saying is this: It is not an adequate religious/moral response to judge the values expressed in our society based on the filter statement "this is the world we're living in and we need to affirm people where they are."

Our world is a mixed bag of great innovations, horrendous actions, good intentions, unseen kindnesses, bared feelings. It is diverse, and it has the capacity to hold good and evil right against each other in the same blue and green container. Everything in it is not the same, and treating it as such would be a far more apt description of foolishness than it would be of tolerance. "Affirm people where they are." What a vague thing to say.

So yes, I disagree with Rob, but I'm not in control of what he believes and I don't need to be.

The Christian and LGBT communities have been defined through their battle by this one common ignorance: they have sought to control each other. That's why it's a "debate" and not a conversation. That's why it's a "fight" and not a disagreement. As an American, I'm confused that we're warring about this at all inside of the context of democracy. Gay marriage is in its state of acceptance/rejection by the people's vote, and do any of us ever feel any more than only partial representation by the people's vote? Personally, I've joined a line of Christian thought that wonders why the government has forced us all into this crucible in the first place, because the marriage issue is different from the disagreement issue and it has given birth to the control issue.

So how in the world is this all a good thing for anybody?

Well it's been good for the church and here's why.

Most of the growing we do in life is thrust upon us. We learn how to study by the shock of failing an exam. We learn how to raise kids by the surprise of having them (before we could read all the books about it.) The church is learning how to mesh responses that are at once Biblical, and loving, and true by stumbling through a period where "outsiders" have breached our doctrinal walls and actually demanded explanations about why we believe what we believe. We are thrust from our monologue into dialogue and we're growing because of that. Because it's important to push through this time and learn how to do it right. We're growing because it's hard, and plenty of people are willingly vocal about reminding us of this.

What a good thing that we're not going to be able to just sweep this one under the rug. That our answer has to be thought-out, not just thought-up.

^{Galatians 1:6} I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

When I read this, I think about how Rob's words have weight for him and how mine do for me. How important the Church's response is to tough questions, and how easy it is for those answers to go fifty different directions because we're also so influenced by our feelings and personal desires.

I believe people will answer for who they have chosen to be before God. And for me to say that is not followed by a sneer for some preacher that I don't see eye-to-eye with nor a wag of the finger towards people who I'm convinced are sinning and either don't know or don't care or don't agree. It's a conviction about me. In fact it's the very thing that convinces me that I need to grow by loving the people who are very different from me, the ones I disagree with the most. And that I can be okay with "loving you" and "affirming you wherever you're at" not being the same thing.

So when I talk about putting the Christ's Gospel and Kingdom ahead of my personal agenda...

Now that's what I'm talking about.


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There is simply not room for all the disclaimers I would have liked to add to this post. So I'll just say thanks for reading. I hope it adds to the conversation and makes you think, and that you know that if you disagree, that's ok. Because you don't have to explain me to anyone. Except you, mom and dad...you have a ton of explaining to do.