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Anti-Gay Christians, Please Don’t Try to Justify Hate

Anti-Gay Christians, Please Don’t Try to Justify Hate

Last updated on: June 27, 2015 at 12:06 pm by Susan Cottrell

Anti-Gay Christians, Please Don’t Try to Justify Hate 2015-06-27T12:06:58-05:00 Susan Cottrell

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careful

A mom from a small, conservative town said to her son: “There aren’t any gays in this town.” Her son laughed and said, “Yes there are, Mom. They’re just deep in the closet… or they’ve moved away.”

I know it’s easier to imagine that gays are some other people, some other place, not here, not anyone you know. Then your child comes out. Meanwhile, all those things you said, or the church said about “those gays” are ringing in your child’s ears… and have been for years.

If your child is not the one who is gay, you can bet that someone you know is. Even your nice, conservative, Bible-preaching church has gay people in it, because gays didn’t choose gayness–they just are.

Let me tell you the story of the soldier, just returning from war, who called home from the nearby pay phone before just showing up on the doorstep. “Mom, I’m coming home! Yes, I’ll be glad to see everybody, too. But… I’m bringing my buddy with me. He lost his legs in battle so he’s in a wheelchair. But I hope you won’t mind.” Then he listened as his mom explained that they don’t really have room, and that the house is not set up for a wheelchair, and she’d prefer he not bring his buddy home. “Yeah, I understand.” Then the soldier–who had no buddy with him, but was himself confined to a wheelchair after being injured in battle–shot himself and took his own life. He had used the story to test the water, and decided he would not be that burden to his family.

I am not kidding when I tell you that your kids, or other family members, or friends, might very well be testing you to learn what you are truly thinking.

Most of them know someone who’s gay, that’s certain. I am not comparing being gay with an injury… I am talking about how in someone’s eyes, a person has changed. You cannot prevent your son getting injured in war, and the injury may be permanent, but you can love him unconditionally if he comes home changed. And you cannot prevent your son or daughter from being LGBTQ, it is who they are, who they have always been. But, you can love them as God told you to love them, even if in your eyes, they have changed.

I personally know parents who have found their gay child hanging from a rope or with their brains blown out. If you now feel assaulted by such a gruesome image, then that’s all the more reason to be part of the solution instead of unwittingly being part of the cause.

That means creating a welcoming environment for anyone… and that means anyone. It is what we, as followers of Jesus, have been called to do. As my husband Rob recently said… Be radically inclusive because we have been radically included.

Because someone you love might just be navigating their way through an environment you’re helping maintain.

If you want to be a fundamentalist about something, be a fundamentalist about “love thy neighbor.” Jesus did not call us to discriminate on those we don’t agree with – he told us to love others and let God be God.

As Christians, there is absolutely no excuse, no scripture whatsoever to justify this message of hate, rejection and condemnation we so often convey to anyone with whom we disagree.

According to St. Augustine… no matter what interpretation of scripture you arrive at, no matter how clear you think the Bible is being or how faithful you think you are being to the words on the page, if your interpretation (and therefore way of life) doesn’t adhere to the greatest commandment – love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself – then your interpretation of scripture is wrong. Period.

Remember…

Be careful who you hate. It could be someone you love.

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March 9, 2015

Something Is Missing From The Gospel

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March 13, 2015 Dear Susan: Why Do Gays Think Christians Hate Them?

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