You know, for a group so closely associated with persecuting & executing anything and anyone related to the occult, Christians sure do a lot of mind-reading & divination.
I say that because, strolling around the Internet and twitterverse for content related to the Baylor University anti-LGBTQ controversy, I sure do see a lot of stupid, bigoted nonsense.
But a major statement I see people make is:
You can’t be gay and be a Christian.
Ex-squeeze me??
The word Christian was given to the early followers of Jesus, and remains the moniker for those who want to follow his example to this day. As the BBC Christianity section explains:
Being a Christian is not about keeping rules and regulations, performing rituals, or even going to church. It’s about a friendship. . . with Jesus Christ.
Do you know what a friendship is?
It’s a relationship.
What is a relationship?
It’s the state or condition of being connected.
So, the relationship between someone and Jesus—rather, a person’s choice to follow the teachings of Christ—is an entirely personal one.
Remember what’ personal’ means?
I know it may be tough to recall, especially in the sharing age (ooh, this SHAERA – sharing era) we live in, but when something is personal, it is private… entirely within someone, having nothing to do with anyone else…
When something is personal, it belongs to you and you alone; nobody else.
Justin Lee (who is gay and a Christian) advocates for reconciliation between those with differing views. And you’d be hard-pressed to find a more contentious subject than homosexuality in/and the church. In this article, Lee talks about identifying as a Christian, making the choice to take up that mantle.
Let me take you back to July 17, 2000… I was 14 years old, at Sooner Youth Camp. My friends and family were gathered on the shore of Lake Murray to witness my grandpa baptize me.
I had felt a change in what I can only describe as “my heart” & the lightbulb clicked on: I felt like I understood what it meant to make the decision to become a true follower & messenger of Jesus.
I had spent a lot of time that summer talking with my Mimi about spiritual gifts. I loved & took seriously the notion that I was given a set of natural abilities by God, and that I could/should use them for His glory, to create a sense of the kingdom of Heaven to Earth. I wanted to do like Jesus did & bring people peace, love, joy, friendship…
And that decision happened in a private moment. It wasn’t during praise time. It wasn’t a midnight revelation. It was on the walk back to the cabins after swimming.
I was by myself, walking along a dirt road in Oklahoma, sweating, deep in thought about the things I felt yet couldn’t articulate. The only thing that made sense, albeit in an abstract way, was that I wanted to dedicate myself to goodness… and the context I had for that was to be baptized, which is a signal that I am choosing to live a life that honors the teachings of Jesus Christ.
How can anyone tell me that I didn’t/don’t have those feelings?
How can someone know my intentions unless they’re a mind-reading, soothsayin’, voodoo witch??!
…and, if that’s the case, I say: BURN ‘EM AT THE STAKE!
😉
Making judgments about someone’s personal, internal processes (like beliefs) is downright stupid.
Like, on a Trump-saying-Pelosi-doesn’t-pray level of stupidity…
And, since you know I love diversity & discovering what good that people bring to the table… I came across a neat passage while going through a Bible I gave to my teenage girlcousin: