Taking a Stand

I've been feeling bombarded on Facebook the past couple of days by the fairly obvious controversy at hand, and was thus going to write a long blog post outlining why I believe what I believe about homosexuality just because the atmosphere seemed to demand me to take a stand, but honestly I'm not that interested in arguing.  If you're interested in a polite, respectful dialogue about my beliefs, I'd be happy to chat.  But the moral of the story is that I am a Christian, and I believe that homosexuality is wrong.

I don't care about what the politicians decide at this point.  I've cast my vote, so it's out of my hands now.  I don't care about "winning" or anything like that.  Besides, with the end times so near at hand, I am fully prepared for things to get worse before they get better, particularly on the political front.  If you want to know where I stand, I don't want homosexual marriages legalized because of my belief that it is wrong.  I know that heterosexual marriages in America today don't do much for the "value of marriage" that we conservatives like to talk about a lot, but adding more wrong to something that is broken doesn't fix anything, it just makes it worse.  But if homosexual marriages are made legal, I also know that nobody is going to die.  Besides, people who don't have salvation through Christ are not--and should not be--held to the same moral standards as Christians, which is fine.  I'm no better or worse than anyone.  I wish that more people could have a relationship with the Creator of the universe who is the God of my salvation and who I've seen do such great and awesome things, but it's everyone's personal choice.

The part that breaks my heart is seeing so many people who claim to be followers of Christ condoning sin and insisting that people like me are being judgmental, hating bigots.  I know that many Christians have, and some still do, approach homosexuality in such a fashion, and that also breaks my heart, but the vast majority of the Christians you and I come in contact with every day do not.  I do not judge people because "they sin differently than I do," I simply know that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, myself included.  Just because we all sin doesn't mean we can just go for it and keep it up.  "May it never be!" as far as Paul was concerned.

A popular argument in favor of homosexuality is that they didn't choose it.  To that, I say that I didn't choose my sin, either.  I was born with a mental, emotional, and psychological bend towards an eating disorder.  I didn't choose to be anorexic,  but I was a textbook case for almost a year.  The choice came when I understood that what I was doing was wrong and chose to want God more than I wanted control over food.  I know that's tough to grasp if you've never had an eating disorder before, but anorexia for me was a friend that I could trust in a time when I didn't have very many, and choosing to want God more was--and still is during tough times--a daily battle for me.  It was a part of my identity.  A lesbian friend of mine once argued that "God doesn't make junk," but I would add to her statement.  Our human, sinful nature makes junk.  God redeems junk.  I've been on a road that has taught me that.  Recognizing that you were born with that kind of sin component hard-wired isn't easy, and choosing to deny that part of yourself is even more difficult, but the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:13-14).

By definition, the road I've chosen is a difficult and, at times, also a lonely one.  The stand that I am taking right now in this blog post is a difficult one, because I know that I have many friends who will not only disagree with me, but will also attack me for it.  I know I'm putting myself out there and just asking for more of those comments about how I'm judging, how I'm hating, how I'm being a hypocrite.  I've heard them all, and I know that I am most likely about to hear them all again once I post this, but I can take it.  I'm on the narrow path.

Besides, I say all of this to my dearly beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.

Christians, I challenge you: Love the sinner, love the sinner with all your heart because your Lord and Savior does.  He lived a perfect life and died a brutal, criminal's death to pay for anorexia, homosexuality, idolatry, dishonesty, every sin that you or I or anyone else has ever committed, and then defeated sin, death, and darkness, as we are so timely celebrating this week!

But it's okay to disagree with the sin.  Take a stand for Truth, because without it you have nowhere to stand at all.