My friend, Bob

I have gotten a lot of questions and emails regarding my last post. So let me clarify what I believe.

As I Christian I have a struggle that continuously haunts me. There are plenty of instances where the liberal part of me says "yes, fight for that belief!" and the Christian part of me says "whoa, slow down a second. Would Jesus fight for this?" And that is where it gets iffy.

Though we have the Bible, there are so many things I am unclear on. Take homosexuality, for instance. Yes, it clearly says in the Bible that homosexuality is a sin. But so was prostitution and Jesus spent most of his time with the prostitutes and tax collectors. Jesus preached love--love everyone. We are all sinners and sin is sin, period. Whether it's not forgiving our brothers and sisters or prostitution or lying or homosexuality or lusting after that man or woman on TV, it is sin. Sin is sin. So why is the church pushing away homosexuals? Why is the church hating someone who had an abortion? Why does the church look down upon a man or woman who is divorced? Why does the church turn its back on people who need to see the love of Jesus more than anything?

More importantly, why hasn't the church turned its back on me? I am a sinner. And believe me, I am not better than any one else the church "looks down upon". I hold grudges and sometimes lie and sometimes I stuff my face with ho-hos. I find myself gossiping and sometimes I admire God's creation of Michael Vartan a little too much... Why has the church accepted me? Who decided those things are okay and I can repent and be forgiven but my brother who is gay and my sister who had an abortion and my brother who is divorced--they can't repent? they won't be forgiven? they aren't worthy??? (by my brother and sister I mean brothers and sisters in Christ).

True, they aren't worthy. But neither are you. Niether am I. No one is worthy, I am sure of that much.

So, though I don't really think that this guy who wrote Initiative 957 is really going to get his point across, I support the point he is trying to make. Which brings me to my next frustration (then I'll get off my soap box).

I have a friend whom I will call Bob. Bob and I were joking around one day and I said "you're going to go to hell for saying that" and he said "well, I don't believe in hell, so I guess I'm safe." That got me thinking.

You can tell Bob that homosexuality is a sin all you want but he doesn't believe in God, so why would that matter to him? If he doesn't believe in an after life, who are we to tell him he cannot be happy in his life on Earth? You see, I often see the corrupt world and remind myself that I am not home. That I have hope because I will be spending an eternity with God. Bob doesn't have that hope. He is home. This is his life--he only has one and he will live it to the fullest. I'm not saying that Bob is gay, but if he were, who are we to tell him he cannot be happy? Why can the government tell him he cannot get married?

Now some of my other Christian friends (particularly those friends from Calvin) would tell me that marriage is a unity between a man and a woman under God. True. So let's not let the Buddists and the Muslims and the agnostic and the atheists get married then too. If non-christians can get married in a courthouse (which is not a unity under God, by the way) then why can't homosexuals? So even if Bob isn't gay, because he doesn't believe in God does that mean he cannot fall in love? Does that mean he cannot commit to spend the rest of his life with a woman? Should we not allow him to get married because it would not be a unity under God because he does not believe in God? How is that fair? If marriage is about God, why do we get marriage certificates and it becomes a legal act? Where is the seperation of church and state?

If I get married, you better believe it will be a unity under God. I believe in God and I will marry someone else who believes. We will get married in a church and become one in God's eyes, but we will also become united as man and woman legally. The legal part is all the non-christians are looking for. They just want to be united legally.

As a Christian, I believe Jesus loves homosexuals just as much as he loves me. I also believe Jesus loves me just as much as he loves rapists and murderers. I believe he loves murderers just as much as he loves you. I believe he loves you just as much as he loves pastors and preachers and priests. I believe he loves priests just as much as he loves my friend, Bob. I believe he loves my friend, Bob, just as much as he loves my dad, who is becoming a Deacon. I believe he loves my dad just as much as he loved Judah, who betrayed him. I believe he loved Judah just as much as he loved his other disciples. I believe he loves his disciples just as much as he loved the prostitutes and tax collectors with whom he spent so much time. Get my point?