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Come on Christians, It’s Time To Let Go of Your Aversion to Gays

Come on Christians, It’s Time To Let Go of Your Aversion to Gays

Last updated on: February 27, 2020 at 6:33 pm by Susan Cottrell

Come on Christians, It’s Time To Let Go of Your Aversion to Gays 2020-02-27T18:33:21-05:00 Susan Cottrell

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Forgive me, but sometimes I just have to laugh. I mean, really. This story came to mind again as Texans and politics are back in the headlines. And other past stories too, about people like Josh Duggar – you remember Josh – proudly displaying a “Godly” life while having dark secrets.

Maybe we all have secrets. But there are many people committed to transparency and authenticity and humility.

Not the Duggars. And certainly not Tony!

To watch Susan’s viral TED talk, click here!

The Texas lawmaker, Tony Tinderholt, was so blinded by his own prejudice, he could not see the hypocrisy of his complaint to a judge (the wrong judge, as it happens) about a ruling that allowed two women, together for thirty years, to marry.

Oh yeah… Tinderholt is on his fifth marriage.

Tony is a Texas lawmaker. He makes laws in Texas. Do the words “Whoever is without sin cast the first stone” mean anything to you?

Blindness to their own hypocrisy is pretty common among those who are non-affirming.

I’m not here to make fun of anybody, really I’m not. But this is ridiculous. The pot calling the kettle black. As my daughter would say… cray cray.

I am not here to be snarky. I just want to point out that this is yet another piece of evidence that the fundamental, behavior-focused, us vs. them, non-affirming, religious mindset does NOT produce life.

Rules never do.

Relationship brings life.

I remind you of this story because every day I hear from people who cannot grasp the idea of just letting go of their fight against LGBTQ people, against full LGBTQ equality — because they are so committed to this particular thing.

Nevermind the fifth marriages. And let me be clear that I don’t care how many marriages this man has. His string of marriages is relevant only because he has put himself in a position to complain against other people’s marriages. If you live in a glass house, well, you know to be cautious about throwing stones.

It’s time to admit that people pick and choose about who is in and who is out. It’s time to stop pretending that this is about your morals or your Bible or your convictions. It’s not.

Non-acceptance of gays is not about God, Jesus, or the Bible, not in the least. Don’t let anyone tell you it is.

If you don’t condone same-sex marriage, don’t have one. If you’re not having a same-sex marriage, then keep your concerns to your own marriage.

If you simply have a gut-level aversion to anything LGBTQ-related — just admit it.

Given the amount of rhetoric that was pumped out in the culture via Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority in the 70s, and continues today through Falwell Jr, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham, the Duggars and many others, an aversion to anything LGBTQ-related is not surprising.

That aversion was the point of the rhetoric.

Admit that you don’t like it, that you don’t know why (no, it’s not those misinterpreted falsely-taught Bible verses), and then we can go from there. You can begin to work on that aversion in yourself, after you admit it’s there*.*

Admitting it is the first step.

But it’s time to stop making the LGBTQ community pay – sometimes with their very lives – for the rest of the culture’s dehumanizing aversion and attack.

There are plenty of things to hate legitimately: human trafficking, poverty and homelessness, the exorbitant cost of higher education, racial injustice, rampant bullying.

Set your sights on making a difference where it’s really needed.

It’s time to let this one go.

To find out more about our work with LGBTQ, parents, educators, therapists, and churches, please click here.

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