Jesus died for the LGBT by the way

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Gay. Fag. Queer. Bi. Transgender. I hate to admit it but it’s becoming the norm these days. I mean the norm. Only recently I accepted an invitation to connect from a random guy on Linkedin thinking he would be a potential business partner. A  few days later it did turn out that he wanted to be my business partner only that he wanted to do business in bed!!! To say I was shocked is an understatement. Never have I reached for the un-friend button so fast!!! The guy was out of my list of connections before you could say, “Gerrahere!!!”  

Such is the world we live in now days. More people are experimenting on matters sexual orientation, more are coming out, and even more are becoming receptive to it. Bruce became Caitlyn and was celebrated for it. The US had all its states legalize same-sex marriages. All the while, the Christian, insert you and me, shakes his head in disbelief asking, “Where is the world heading to?”

For so long, homosexuality and questions to do with sexual orientation were swept under the rug. It was all hush, hush like those monkey emojis, see no evil, hear no evil and speak no- evil. The LGBT movement gradually altered the way we perceive them, they have clamored for their rights and now the result is more people are tolerant of them having been swayed.

Christians now realize they can no-longer be passive. They must speak out against this deviation from God’s purpose for sexuality or marriage. It is frowned upon in scripture!!! How can we just start saying yes to sin in the form of same-sex unions? Too bad, we have been too quick to judge and condemn before listening and understanding.

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For one, homosexuality , in the minds of many believers seems to rank head and shoulders above other sins.  This shouldn’t be so. Any sin, is detestable to God. The LGBT complain of being judged harshly. In some way they are right. Not too long ago, somebody desired that gays should be stoned. I wish we treated people who committed other offences with a similar gusto. The one who murders should be stoned, the one who rapes as well, and not forgetting the guy who has stolen millions too!!!

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Why should the harsh punishment or condemnation be the preserve of the person of different orientation?  “ Don’t judge someone because they sin differently than you.” I don’t know who said it but I sure believe it. Just because I struggle with lying doesn’t make me better than a brother or sister who is engaging in same-sex activities . When either of us fall to temptation both of us are sinful before God, on equal terms. My sin isn’t less bad to God, the bottom line is that we both have fallen short of God’s standard.

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The other area we faltered is our perception of the LGBT. Early on, homosexuality was viewed solely as an act. Therefore, it could be discouraged upon, it could be prohibited by the law. Overtime though, it has changed to be a condition, something you are born with. That has swung the pendulum the way of the LGBT because you can fault  or victimize somebody for who they are. From a condition it has now become an identity that marks somebody as who they are. This is where we have erred big time.

A gay man isn’t just a gay man. There is more to him than his orientation. It’s sad that we reduce people to this basic view and can go to crazy measures like jailing them or shaming them by publishing a list of gays. Sexual orientation doesn’t make anyone less of a human being. Defining a person by just what they do is limiting. He is gay. She is a lesbian. Period. That’s really not respecting their dignity. Their self-worth is more. They have gifts, temperaments, abilities, skills just to name but a few because so much makes up the human person  Just to think of them in terms of their sexual orientation is very limiting. Imagine if we just defined some people by how they behave.

Francis Atwoli would be a shouter?! Sir Alex Ferguson would be a gum-chewer?!!! Arsene-Wenger would be a bottle-kicker!!! Really, is that all they are? They is more to them and so is the person with a different sexual orientation, one isn’t just gay or bi, it's what they do, they are more than that and let’s respect and love that person for who they are. A human being made in God’s image and potentially or actually, a child of God regardless of their sin. Jesus showed us how.

When confronted by a crowd to stone an immoral woman, Jesus didn’t do what we would have done. He didn’t bay for her blood. He didn’t condemn her , he didn’t call her slut or ratchet. Even despite the fact that his sinless life gave him authority to reprimand her, he didn’t . Instead he mercifully withheld stoning her and graciously told her to stop sinning in a way where she didn't feel degraded. This is the classic example of ' hating the sin but loving the sinner." 

God loves the gay, transgender, queer, straight that same way. Yes, you heard me, he does.  It is a message as a Christian I don’t send because I am too quick trying to correct their ‘deformity. Its the central message that goes unsent because I am too busy shoving anti-homosexuality scripture and acting all pharisaical, reminding someone of their sin but doing precious little to help them get out of it.(Matthew 23:4) Giving someone truth without love is cruelty and very rarely is that approach going to turn a person to repentance.

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With the immoral woman, the Samaritan woman, Jesus helped them to get them out of the sin because he illustrated what God was all about, A God loves the sinner no matter how far he/she has drifted away from him. Moreover, he takes the initiative to get us out of the sin.

It isn’t always an instant 360 degree turn to righteousness for everybody.  They are Christians who struggle with alcohol, pornography, integrity, and they are men and women who also struggle with same sex attraction. This is a struggle they have for years. Accepting Christ doesn’t mean that these struggles vanish in an instant. For some it takes time before they can resist with ease. For others the struggle is real  till the grave. Jesus sanctifies ALL of them and helps them with their struggle daily. Jesus died for all sins not a select few. The only unforgivable sin is rejecting his gift of salvation.

A lesson I've got to learn recently is that and most applies to LGBT is that it's ok to be tempted. Temptation, in itself,  is not sinful. It’s normal to have a struggle with sin, our sinful nature ensures that we will struggle with sin. What we must remember is that accepting Christ into our lives gives a spirit not of the world to give into that temptation(which then becomes sinful) but one that pursues righteousness no matter how hard.  He gives us a spirit to help us keep us trying even when we stumble from time to time..

With reference to Isaiah 40: 29-31, God increase the power of the weak and gives strength to the weary. Fighting temptation and sometimes falling short because of our weaknesses can really tire us as believers. It can make us sink into despair and allow ourselves to wallow in sin because we feel we will never match up to God’s standard. Fortunately, Jesus died on the cross for that very same reason, that we may have hope and not despair. He gave us his spirit to help us, to give us strength and power,  power to overcome those struggles like same sex attraction and the grace to pursue celibacy. He gives us power to relent even when we stumble. His grace is sufficient for all, not just people in financial need but also people struggling with same sex attraction.

They are wonderful stories of Sy Rogers, who overcame this struggle and went from gay to looking for a sex change to being straight and eventually married with kids. They are stories of Henry Nouwen, a Dutch priest who struggled with same sex attraction but is believed to have remained celibate to death. These stories may not be the same all for LGBT but they do have the same element in them. In both, Jesus was saviour, Jesus was Lord, Jesus helped them overcome because they had a love relationship with him.   The cross is for LGBT as well, struggling with same-sex desires doesn’t condemn one to hell, forsaking Jesus does,

As human beings, by our sinful nature, we fall short of God’s standard. More so, when we ascribe to the belief that truth is relative and consequently err in so many ways because we have deviated from the truth. This is stated in Proverbs 14:12 when it reads, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” 1 Corinthians 6:12-13 puts it even more clearly, " I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body".

Sounds familiar doesn't it? "I have a right to have fun, I have a right to drink, I have a right to sleep around and now it's I have a right to gay marriage." We hate it when anyone places restrictions upon either of those freedoms but they are necessary some times because such freedom isn't always beneficial. Your right to have fun could end up getting you addicted to a drug, leading to death. Your right to casually sleep around could lead to an STD. Similarly, a right to gay marriage spells doom for the family unit. How do children grow up in such a family setting where there are  two parents but either no dad or mum? It isn't beneficial for them, you just have to look around at grown men being overly aggressive or violent because they lacked a father or of ladies who feel inadequate or unloved because they lacked a mother. The same-sex marriage isn't ideal, not because we want to bash the LGBT parade but because the family is at stake if such a marriage is permitted.

The LGBT may feel that they are being denied a right they are entitled to or that they are being judged harshly but they are not the only ones. The unmarried are strongly urged not to engage in sex. Divorced are urged not to remarry. The limitation to sexual freedom isn't just to the LGBT but other people as well. God's purpose for sex was in the context of marriage, between opposite sexes. It wasn't for pleasure as many men and women believe these days but it was to be an expression of love, free of the guilt trips of pre-marital sex but with the aim of fruitfulness leading to a family that could be nurtured in a loving environment.

A lot of people have wandered away from this path, I know.Fortunately God is able to turn you away from that deviation and back to him if you let him. It is illustrated best in the story of the prodigal son in  Luke 15:11-32. The son may have drifted but his father welcomed him back with love when he came back. The lesson from that parable is that when we wander away from God, we are not deemed banished outcasts, straight, gay, if you go back to him, he will welcome you back.

I no-longer judge the LGBT casually, I realize that for a vast majority of them, they have been victims of circumstances and their life experiences have tilted them towards same-sex living just like some experiences have tilted people to a life of crime, violence or immorality.

For some perhaps it was an abusive parent,  for others it could have been childhood sexual abuse, the loss of a loved one, peer pressure, masturbation, pornography e.t.c. Brokenness may have led one to become queer or gay. The starting point then is not trying to correct their sexual orientation but to address those wounds of old and thankfully we serve a God who is a healer who does exactly that, as it is written, “He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.” (Psalms 147:3)

Its not an easy life for anyone who is Pro-LGBT, your family could disown you, you could be ostracized. The saving grace is that if your struggle is same-sex attraction, I can point you to Jesus.  He will welcome if you sincerely believe and confess that without him, eternal life and more specifically, sexual purity, is impossible without him.  He will help you with your struggle, as I believe he said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.”