Are evangelical Christians too tough on homosexuals? Monday’s USA Today featured an article called An Evangelical’s Plea: ‘Love the sinner’ by Jonathan Merritt who takes on this issue. Merritt contends that his fellow American believers are hypocritical by claiming to follow Jesus Christ yet condemning gay men and lesbians.
While Me
rritt believes that God’s model is “lifelong, monogamous, heterosexual union,” he’s asking where the love is these days. The old mantra of “love the sinner, hate the sin” isn’t working out he claims. There’s plenty of sin hating but little sinner loving.
I remember sitting offstage in a TV studio a few years ago as Dr. Tony Campolo, radical evangelist dynamo conducted an interview for a future broadcast. I had escorted Tony and his wife Peggy from the airport. The host asked about all the tough issues facing Christians and what Campolo believed. Then that host asked for a clarification to a point.
The question went something like “so we should love the sinner and hate the sin?”
Peggy Campolo backhanded my forearm and gulped a sound that seemed to mean “oh brother” and yuck all at once. She had heard this before. I was intrigued.
On the stage, under the lights, Dr. Campolo squared against the interviewer and responded. “No. You should love the sinner and worry about your own sin.”
I will never forget that. You shouldn’t either whether you’re a Muslim, atheist, Catholic, or whatever.
Campolo has not made a career out of telling people what they want to hear. Pick up a book like Speaking My Mind, and you’ll proba
bly find points that grind into your bones. What the “radical” preacher does say again and again is that Christians should love.
Meanwhile, back in the USA Today piece, Merritt discusses how the Jesus in Scripture spent all of his time hanging out with and loving sinners. I think I could add that Jesus didn’t spend time in partisan politics or trying to change laws in the Roman world.
Many evangelicals feel their mission is to stop cultural decay, the erosion of morality. They believe that God has stated how we should live and America is off the mark. The goal then becomes fixing society or saving the country from evil. The problem though is that focus goes off course from the primary commands to love neighbors, enemies, and everyone in between.
Good luck going out into all the world if the place reminds you of a bathroom stall in a highway rest area. Many Christians refuse to go near any of the world but instead remain in their bubble of seclusion. That is standoffish and does not achieve the goals of God. Do you need to convince others you are right all th
e time? Where’s thou humility oh prideful dude?
If Jesus is the standard for Christians, what about the times when he brought the hammer down on hypocrites? He told his followers to forget about what other people are doing wrong. “Why do you worry about the speck in your brother’s eye but do not perceive the plank in your own?” The point is that nobody’s perfect, so nobody gets to accuse. The command is to love. Love God, then others.
Why is it that many churches embrace pregnant teens and drug addicts, but gay people aren’t always on the list? Why would someone enter a church or listen to a sermon if they think the story ends with God hating them?
I understand that many folks feel like they are losing their country. America isn’t what it used to be and all that. But maybe we’re not called to save the nation of America for God. Maybe he can handle himself. Maybe it’s not about us at all. (By maybe I mean I’m totally right).
Following Christ means following his example. That means loving everyone, even those who do things you find repulsive. Don’t worry about how messed up other people are, realize how screwed up you are. As Merritt points out, you don’t have to compromise your convictions to do this. Speak out against that which is wrong, but beware how you do it. If you really crave opposition, fret not. You’re guaranteed that the world will hate you if you act like Jesus. The catch is that you’re not allowed to hate back.
If you believe in God then you should be ready for His judgment. In the end, He’ll ask how you treated the least of those He made, and that comes down to what you did, not what others did.
Campolo got it right.
Elton John says, “tolerance is an evil word” and that his desire is for everyone to celebrate his lifestyle. Well I can understand that and wish everyone would celebrate my lifestyle. But that ain’t gonna happen. So on a social level it seems tolerance should be at least the minimum for us to get along.
Campolo is going even better by not letting us xians get away with erecting false standards that are suitable for our cultural preferences. Example in Ephesians 5 greed as evil is in the same verse with sexual sins. Greed can be the favorite sin in America and no one will ever say anything about it. Yet greed on one side of the planet can cause suffering poverty on the other side of the planet.
I don’t know if I’m clear here but I’m just trying to say the most human religion will favor condemning others and yet being blind to myself.
Thanks for your article
You’re right about how we grade different levels of sin. To us, some things are more taboo than others. Specific “sins” differ from the general condition of sin or fallen nature. If you’re gonna use God’s perspective in the Bible there are two types of people, those who accept Him and those who don’t. He doesn’t leave any room for some of us to be better than others. The standards in place are a guidepost for personal direction, not a whipping post to beat others over the head with. Thanks for your comment.
Great post. The thing about religion and faith is that it’s soooo complicated. Or maybe complex and multi-faceted are better words. I read somewhere recently that to question your own faith is a good thing.
I don’t know exactly where I stand these days, but I do know that if we accept the idea of God, what hope would us mere mortals have in understanding ALL of him? That’s what makes me angry when I see religion dividing us rather than uniting us. Surely that isn’t what He intended?
And while I acknowledge today’s world – not just the US of A – has its problems and issues, I don’t believe it’s in a state of moral decay. Every generation has foisted this criticism on its younger counterparts since life began, I would say.
Keep up the good work – I look forward to reading more!
My dad is a pastor with the tag “Community Church” after the name. His congregation is very diverse but is mostly made up of either people currently in a rehab program or people who have been in one… but I don’t know if I’ve ever met or heard of him talk about a gay guy coming to church there. Or a lesbian. Not that they wouldn’t be welcome, I just think it’s the general Christian’s fault for gays to not feel welcome. To feel like they’d suddenly be engulfed in flames as soon as they set foot on holy ground. I mean, how would you feel if you were Sidney Crosby, walking in to the Flyers’ locker room. Intimidated? Scared? Unwelcome? Yes, Yes, Yes.
In John 8:7 Jesus says “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.” Basically saying–If you’re guilty, you have absolutely no right to judge others.
I agree with Campolo. We need to look inward and fix ourselves before we can start expecting more from each other.
Although, if you were doing something destructive to yourself, wouldn’t you want someone to tell you? So, if your close friend or family member saw you constantly repeating this same sin and saw it become detrimental to you, wouldn’t you want them to say something? No matter how much they sinned? We all sin. Doesn’t that make us all equal? We’re all sinners.
On a separate subject:
I Love You, Beth Cooper is being turned in to a movie. Not sure if you’re aware of that or not. But I knew you’d appreciate it.
Great thoughts Wendy. I agree with you about the standoff bewteen the two groups. Like Rick Warren said, it’s one thing to make general statements but much different when you are friends with or related to the person being condemned.
I also agree that people have to be told the truth, but it should be spoken in love.
I did know about the Beth Cooper movie. Hope it’s as funny as Larry Doyle.
Thanks for the comments.
Thanks for pointing out the courage of Merritt. You really did a good job with this post.
I know some of these fundamentalists (by which I mean more mental than fun) that somehow ascribe North America as the New Jerusalem and see themselves as God’s chosen people taking America back for God. Of course we all know God was a white male who had slaves and hated immigrants.
Gosh, I guess I kinda just assumed you were one of those; but now my guess is you’re just more on the libertarian side of things, yes?
art.
I think St. Francis of Assisi said it best:
“Proclaim the gospel all the time. When necessary, use words.”
That’s the most concise way I’ve ever found of explaining that we are to live the gospel first, and preach second.
Here’s the difference as I see it. New members to ‘church’ or those that are returning are generally looking to heal some sort of wound in their heart and soul. May it be shoplifting, alcohol, promiscuity, whatever.. Along with that pain is a longing and a burden placed upon their heart for a change, and this is where the difference, pain, and misunderstanding of anyone, homosexual or other comes in. As per most Christians understanding being homosexual is wrong and should be changed, if you are gay and dont think you need to change but would like to be in church, then there are obviously two very divergent scenarios working here. Whatever other human condition drives others to church they are looking to make it go away for the most part, and welcome anyones suggestion on how to do so. I feel that is why there are the issues that there are. It would be a similar situation although not as heated if some guy always showed up at church wasted, causing distractions and falling over. If his desire is not to change he would not be welcome either. Do not take this to say that someone that is gay is causing distractions and falling over by showing up.. It is to simply say that if you enter with im ok with me, but everyone else isnt there will be a problem no matter what your sin is and that is why there are the issues with homosexuality and the church, not to mention church and religion are created by man and therefore not pure at the start.
love and acceptance, two of my favorite words. although this article takes me back to being a kid sitting in church and listening to all the old women talk about people the entire service, but no matter to them, they were in church every week. boy did they have it wrong! life is about being a good person, that is what religion shows us. many belief systems throughout the world show the idea of recognizing a higher being and generally being a good person. i just don’t understand why religions in general believe that you are a blessed child of god, but only if you believe what they believe; thats man made. wars have been fought for years based on religious beliefs; thats man made. religion seems to be the basis of teaching to gain the highest form of spirituality possible. so when you feel yourself making judgements based on how some looks or how they choose to live, remember we are all god’s children. ONE LOVE!!!!!