No.Nonsense.

I have had this topic on my mind for a while and I keep putting it off because, frankly, I don’t want to write this one. I’ve been resistant because, if not done delicately, it could hurt people I care about on both sides of this debate. But the more I try to walk away from this column, I keep getting tugged back here. I believe it’s a pull from someone greater than me, so here goes. I promise to say what’s to come in the most sensitive way that I can.

With June as LGBTQ Pride Month, I have seen quite a few posts from Christian friends that reiterate their belief that homosexuality is a sin and they will not support it in any way. Likewise I see posts from friends on the other side of the debate who don’t trust a Christian response because they believe it hateful. Yes, the Bible in Leviticus says that a man lying with a man as with a woman is an abomination. In Romans, I Corinthians, and I Timothy, Paul further calls it a sin to give up the natural order of sex.

I believe the Bible and my faith calls for me to use it as the arbiter of truth.

With that said, in the complete Bible, sin is referenced around 400 times. Homosexuality itself is highlighted in only eight verses. Love is discussed over 700 times.

If you, as I do, believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God, how can you ignore the fact that God addresses love nearly twice as much as he does sin? The gospel is that in our sin, God calls us to his forgiveness. But too often, we preach the words of the Bible while forgetting the person to whom we are preaching. We quote scripture instead of offering a hug. We stand on our beliefs while overlooking the ones we are stepping on.

I first dealt with this a couple of years after college when a Christian friend from school came out as gay. I did not deal with it well and had to argue God’s view of it with him instead of just listening.

He has had no contact with me in a very long time.

Since then, I have tempered my preachiness and really worked to see everyone as people in need of God’s love and deserving of my compassion and less of an affront to my faith. I have many people in my life who are part of the LGBTQ community and I value their friendships. My relationship with them is more important to me than a Bible verse.

Why?

As I see it, I can’t show them the love of God if I make them walk away from me. I can’t demonstrate mercy if I turn my back.

Where do my principles become the impediment to spreading the gospel?

It is my job to share Jesus. It is not my job to change someone. Only he can do so.

For anyone plugged in to pop culture, the name Perez Hilton is synonymous with social media influence and celebrity gossip. He introduces himself as the “Queen of All Media” and has always been unapologetically gay. He was known as the meanest man on TikTok who regularly tore down people. He was also an avowed atheist who was disdainful of anything related to faith and Christianity.

Then a couple of months ago he spent 21 days in the hospital and nearly died from sepsis.

When he came out of the hospital, his first video was a declaration. In that video, through his tears, he said that “God revealed himself to me”. He publicly stated his commitment to faith in God. Now, the tone of his celebrity reporting has changed to become more gentle. The videos that I love are the ones where he talks about the scripture that he read that day and what God showed him through the readings. He is teaching his children to worship God. He is taking his family to church. He cries when he talks about how God has transformed his life. He is unashamed.

And he is still gay.

There are things that God can radically change in us. Then there are those things that are indelible parts of who we are that may take longer. And there are things we may never change about ourselves this side of Heaven.

And God still loves us.

I have not relinquished one thing about my Christian principles but what has changed most significantly in me is my understanding of where my job ends and God’s begins. If Perez walked into my church this Sunday, I would invite him to sit with me and worship by my side. We are both imperfect people who love a perfect God.

Anyone who would say they couldn’t do the same might want to ask God for the same encounter that changed Perez. We must never allow our convictions to supplant our ability to show compassion to those who God is working on. Let each of us hold up a mirror to ourselves and know that he’s working on us too.