The Cross and The Rainbow

What is there that I can say about this weekend? For those of you who live under rocks the Supreme Court has made a decision that will affect the very fabric of America as a society. The decision the court made was to legalize same sex marriage across the US in all 50 states. Not only did they legalize same sex marriage, in doing so they have now made marriage a constitutional right. All of the  while the constitution being a document that doesn’t address marriage whatsoever.

For a person such as myself I take issue with the court's decision on the grounds that instead of the government staying out of the business of marriage in the first place, they have now directly inserted themselves inside of the issue. Now, please hear me out I am not saying that I am directly opposed to gay marriage. Being a Christian I do not support it in the sense that I won't vote for it at the ballot box, but the other side of my Christianity teaches me that my goal is not to dictate and reign in a society and force it to see the world the way that I see it. I believe in the sanctity of peoples free will, and that they are able to do what they will, until they surrender to Christ. Jesus told us to go out and make disciples of all of the nations, he didn’t tell us to go and subdue the nations. There is a major difference. There is also a difference between not supporting something and tolerating something. Two people who are near and dear to my heart are members of the LGBT community, both of them know where I stand personally, but they know that those fundamental beliefs do not mean that I hate them.

Unfortunately for many people in both camps (the LGBT community, and my brothers and sisters in Christ) have very skewed views on what it means to love something and someone, and tolerate something and someone. The best example of love that I can think of that applies to  members of both the LGBT and Christian worldview would be that of their parents. Your parents loved you and nurtured you as you grew up, but they had rules I am sure. And if you did not follow those rules there were consequences. There are also I am sure some things that you did in your childhood that your parents did not support. But that does not mean that they did not love you! As a Christian we are taught to love, but just because we do not support certain things does that mean that we do not love you.

The United States was started by a few groups of Christian pilgrims who traveled across the ocean in order to practice Christianity the way that they saw fit outside of the rule of the Church of England. Throughout the years relations between the colonies and England grew ever more strained, and a revolution occurred. These men who found themselves framing this new country were not all Christians, but they did establish and make decisions based off of a Judaeo Christian worldview. To deny the Christian roots of the United States of America would be an injustice and create a lack of understanding on what this country was founded upon. It could not exist as it is today if it was founded on a Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, etc. worldview.

I think for many people the reason for so much of the upheaval about the supreme courts decision is that they ruled in favor for a group of people who makes up 2% at the lowest and 8% at the highest of the population, over a group that makes up at least 95% percent of the population. A reason that so many Christians find themselves in a conundrum is because now the government has sanctioned something that many feel is diametrically opposed to their faith. That being said there is a fear that the government can now force Churches and pastors to participate in same sex nuptials. Some will ask “well wouldn’t the first amendment protect from that?” Well let me ask you a question. Has the government in the last 15-40 years seemed the least bit concerned with the constitution period?

For us American Christians this is the first time that we have found ourselves in a truly pluralistic society and it scares us! But should it? The world of the prophets was pluralistic, the world of Jesus Christ was pluralistic, and the world of the apostles was pluralistic. The Church throughout history has thrived in pluralistic societies, in the face of persecution, and even when all hope seems lost. Look at the Church in China for instance, it is illegal to even own a Bible yet against all odds the Church is exploding! The Bible teaches us that it is a blessing to find ourselves in the face of persecution, and that we should remain joyful at all times.

There are few times I can say that I am ashamed of America and it is coming to a time where I feel that I am and here is why. We are more concerned about the way that murderers who have ruined their lives die, than protecting the life of one who has yet to live it. We are more concerned about the government enforcing gay marriage, than the fact that ISIS, Islamic Countries, and Russia are killing homosexuals. We are more concerned with the fact that for the first time ever in America Christianity is facing a bump in the road than the fact that Christians and Jews are being crucified and slaughtered daily at the hands of ISIS. The issue of homosexual marriage is not the biggest issue facing the Church and the world today, yet we treat it as if it is the only thing that matters. We should be ashamed of ourselves. We should be ashamed for blatantly ignoring the heinous crimes and atrocities occurring all in the name of Islam, while being so quick to lambast Christians as bigoted and intolerant  because they don't agree with gay marriage. Are Christians killing people? Are Christians crucifying people? Are Christians throwing homosexuals off of rooftops? Do not be tempted to use the crusades as a scapegoat, because Jesus was no part of the crusades. As Christians we should be ashamed for spewing so much hate and anger, it is high time we take a good hard look in the mirror and ask if the face staring back at us is that of Jesus, and if it isn't then get to work.

If we can learn anything from the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles is that Christianity is terrible at affecting the society from the top down, but is extraordinarily powerful at affecting society beginning with the individual. Quite frankly if we as the church had been doing our jobs all along, we may not be where we are today. For better or worse this is where we are. To my Christian brothers and sisters, I love you. To those of you in the LGBT community, I love you, I may not agree with you, and you may not agree with me, but that is okay I am not asking you to agree with me, I would just ask for the same respect and understanding that you ask of me. I would also ask that the next time you throw around the term bigot that you take a look at yourself and ask are you also not willing to be open to other options and opinions because if not, you have become the very monster you have set out to defeat.