I am not sure my post on the assassination of Bin Laden was real popular, so I want to bring the issue a little closer to home. You see, what I am trying to get to is the idea of whether there are limits to God's love. Does God hate anybody? I am not asking whether, in justice, there are people who deserve punishment for destructive behaviors. I am trying to work out, in my own faith, how I align myself with God on certain issues. I want to love what God loves. I want to hate what God hates. As a disciple of Jesus, I want my heart to break for the things that break His heart.
I want to do that in a place of humility and not self-righteousness. I have rejected rage and anger in my life, and I don't want to go back to those things. Not that anger is always wrong, but I need to not let myself go there for a time. I have had anger and rage as my constant companions for my whole life. Now that I am not accepting them as constant companions, it is like being a baby again. I am trying to learn how to relate to the world around me without those dominant emotions. They were always my default response, so it is much easier for me to just respond that way. I am trying to take the harder road, the unknown way for me. I have no idea what that looks like, but I know, instinctively, that it is the better way.
Last week, I attended the viewing of the ex-husband of a woman in my church. He was a soldier who was recently killed in action in Afghanistan. He also left a young son behind, Ethan, one of the coolest, most loving kids I have ever met. It was an interesting experience. When we pulled into the parking lot, my wife, Teresa, and I saw the entire parking lot surrounded by bikers - the Patriot Guard Riders - holding American flags and protecting the funeral home and the grieving family. On the one hand, it was a really powerful sight, seeing the honor and commitment of these men and women, standing for the safety and protection of those who paid the ultimate price in the defense of our nation. Teresa was moved to tears. I was touched by the display as well, though I found myself quickly having to fight off my old friend, anger, because of the reason for the need of such a display.
Were they protecting them from Muslim extremists with Taliban connections, seeking retribution and the opportunity for a terrorist attack on the family of an American soldier? No. They were protecting the family from American "Christians", specifically those from Westboro Baptist, an extreme, fundamentalist church in Topeka, Kansas. Westboro has a yearly budget of more than $250,000 per year for traveling around the country, protesting soldiers' funerals, desecrating the American flag, and pointing out their central, "gospel" message: God Hates Fags. I'm sorry for the language, but it is their language, not my own. There core value behind protesting funerals is that every death of every American soldier is deserved, because it is punishment for the U.S. becoming a "Gay Country", which, in their eyes, is an abomination. In other words, the soldiers are really defending the gay agenda by fighting for America. All of America is going to burn in Hell because of the acceptance of homosexuality. Therefore, by defending America, these soldiers are going to all burn in Hell. Westboro celebrates the deaths of soldiers, because they see every death as a demonstration of God's wrath, judgment, and justice.
So, are they right? Does God hate homosexual people? Does God hate Westboro Baptist? Does God hate anybody? If Bin Laden is too big and far away for us to really connect with following Jesus in our stance toward him, let's bring it closer to home. Almost all of us have some connection to a gay or lesbian person. Does God hate that person or people?
Westboro Baptist seems quite confident in determining for all of us whom, exactly, God hates. I am not sure what Bible they are reading, but it is not the same Bible I read. Yet, I can see where they get the idea that homosexuality is sin. I know most Christians read the Bible and translate it as having a definite anti-homosexuality stance. If they are passionately trying to follow God, and they see a homosexual orientation as sinful and punishable by eternity in Hell, I can understand, on some level, their desire to warn all of society about the dangers of subscribing to such a view. If I truly believed that a particular belief or action was causing an entire population to be dragged screaming into eternal hellfire, I would scream from the rooftops that his was wrong. Also, the Bible is clear that God cannot bide sin. God hates sin. So, if you believe that homosexuality, as an orientation, is sin, then God hates homosexuality.
However, no matter where you stand on whether homosexuality as sin, it is a big leap from God hating homosexuality to God hating PEOPLE who are either gay or lesbian in their orientation. Westboro Baptist has been sued a number of times for disrupting the mourning of families and causing more pain and suffering. Most of these families were merely tring to grieve the loss of a loved one, and have no connection, whatsoever, to the "Gay Agenda" (more the stuff of conspiracy theories than fact). The Supreme Court recently voted to allow Westboro Baptist to continue their protests, stating that these protests are protected under the First Amendment. This could open a whole debate on the source of rights, and whether rights should be protected when they interfere with the rights of others. I don't know on that one. My point is that Westboro Baptist is just another incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan and White Supremacy movements in the United States. God hates racism of any stripe. I can say that quite comfortably, based on my understanding of Scripture.
I am a pastor of a church. How do I follow Jesus in this social climate, navigating these waters? How do I lead others to follow Jesus? Well, I think a good argument can be made that Scripture is against homosexuality. I think a good argument, also based on solid hermeneutical approaches, that it is not. I have heard faithful believers, living holy lives, give very good Scriptural evidence that a gay person can follow Jesus. I am not going to debate that now. What I am going to say is that there is a mandate in Scripture that is entirely clear. We are to love. We are never to hate. There is no possible way, no matter how you twist Scripture, that you could ever justify hating human beings in the name of Jesus. We are to rescue the oppressed. We are to heal the blind, the lame, and the broken. There are 500 times as many scriptural passages that tell me to love, than there are that tell me homosexuality is a sin. I have read the entire Bible many times over, and I have never found a single passage that tells me to disrupt the mourning of a grieving family for my own social and religious agenda. Westboro Baptist and their activities make me go to a place of righteous rage. However, I am convinced that God loves those people. I think God hates their hate. But He desperately loves them.
And, no, this is not "love the sinner, hate the sin". That is still pretentious, religious drivel. I have heard that many times applied to homosexual people. A person's sexuality is at the very core of their identity. There is no way to separate the sexuality from the person. Even a celibate person is still either homosexual or heterosexual in their core identity. I think the love to which Jesus calls us is going to require a lot more of us than our neat, categorized sterilization of relational reality. It requires us to experience the tension and discomfort of embracing people we don't want to embrace. For many Christians, that means loving members of the LGBT community, without reserve or judgment. It means I can't say, "I love you, but..." It means taking seriously the idea that I might have a plank in my own eye, much bigger than the speck in the eye of the other. I have a number of dear, close friends who are gay, so that is not my issue. But this isn't a post about promoting the "gay agenda". If it goes against everything you believe, I understand that it will be nearly impossible for you to love gay people without an agenda. Just because I don't struggle with that doesn't let me off the hook. Jesus is quite comfortable leading us to that which seems impossible for us. God takes us to the end of ourselves, so that God can take over.
For me, I have to love the people of Westboro Baptist. Even in what I see as ignorance and bigotry, I have to love them. Not in spite of that stuff, but IN that stuff. Even if they never stop doing it, I have to love them. Even if they were to disrupt the funeral of my own child, I'd have to love them. Right now, in my own humanness, I can't picture that happening, without also picturing me punching them in the head. But that is where I have to let God take over. I pray to my Savior that He will teach me to love them.
Why? Because Jesus does, and I want to be like Him. I can't pick and choose what parts of Jesus' character I want to emulate. I can't just take the stuff with which I am quite comfortable. I have to allow Jesus to break my heart with compassion for them. And, I'm learning, that my righteous anger gets in the way of that sometimes. Yes, I feel quite strongly that they are wrong. If I were to say, "I love you, but I hate your bigotry", they would inform me of my citizenship in Hell. Compassion means "suffering with". That means I don't get to make it about me and my anger. I have to get in their shoes. I have to find out what has hurt them so much that they feel the need to lash out in this way. They are quite sure they are fine in God's eyes. Pointing out their sin isn't loving them. I need to pray for them, that their bitterness be healed. I need to ask Jesus to set them free, and to show them how He wants them to be. What if they get healed, but they decide that they are still called to protest and speak out? I have to be OK with Jesus knowing more than I do. Maybe there is other, more pressing issues that Jesus wants to heal first. That's all up to Jesus. And if they die, still believing that they were right, at least, hopefully, because I loved them and prayed for them, they died knowing Jesus. They can work out all the details with Jesus, when they meet Him. And yes, all of this also applies to those of you who believe homosexuality is a sin. You can go right on believing that, but you need to go beyond that in order to truly love people. Your heart should break with compassion for people who have been denied access to the love of Jesus for many years. Whether they are right or wrong, everyone deserves to be able to freely approach the King. What happens from there is between that person and God. Suffice it to say, He is better at all of this than we are.
I also saw Jesus demonstrated at the funeral in a very powerful way. Ron Ross, a local pastor who recently lost his son, a soldier in Afghanistan, came to the funeral. It was only a couple of weeks ago that he buried his child. Ron Ross is an incredible man of God. He is like liquid love, with grace and mercy coming out of his very pores. Even though he was in pain, he came in and sat down on the floor of the funeral home next to Ethan. He showed Ethan that he wore the same pin that Ethan wore, designating that they were the bereaved family of a soldiers who died for their country. He explained how much it hurt to lose his son, and that Ethan must also be hurting a lot from losing his daddy. It's ok that it hurts, because we loved them. But now they are in Heaven together, and we can comfort and support each other in healing from the pain. He hugged Ethan and blessed him. As I witnessed this, my heart broke. This was the compassion of Jesus. This was real, incarnational love. Ross never checked to make sure the family was living a holy life. He never called them out for any sin. He just loved, freely and openly, without reserve. That is what homosexual people, radical fundamentalists, and everyone else in the world needs. Pure, unshackled love.
I am very curious to hear biblical support of homosexuality.
Posted by: Linda McMasters | 05/22/2011 at 12:47 PM
You know what, I reread my comment to you, and it sounded snarky. I wasn't trying to attack you in that, but it sure sounded like I jumped on you. I'm sorry. I'm just really passionate about loving people rather than pointing out their sin. I see God as the One who does the convicting. You just asked a simple question. I can't give you justification, but there is an excellent address from a conference by Dave Schmelzer, called, "Are You Gay Friendly?", which you can find the audio for here: http://notreligious.typepad.com/notreligious/BOStalks.html
In that teaching, Dave lays out the traditional hermeneutic and the pro-gay hermeneutic of every passage that refers to homosexuality. He is NOT saying that homosexuality is justified. He is simply laying out both sides, so that we can consider our response as the Church. He, too, agrees that it doesn't really ultimately make a difference in our approach. We are not called to convict or condemn homosexuality. We are called to love. It only makes a difference for those who feel they need to work it out. So, he lays out all the evidence and says, basically, work it out. I hope that makes sense, and I hope you didn't feel attacked by me! You are wonderful for commenting on my blog! Thank you!
Posted by: Bill Sergott | 05/23/2011 at 11:21 AM
I deleted my last comment, because it didn't "sound" grace-filled. I have nothing but grace for your question.
Posted by: Bill Sergott | 05/23/2011 at 11:24 AM
Thanks so much for this post, Bill- really thoughtful and beautiful.
This is a concern near to my heart- how to truly love those who would tell me I have no place in the body of Christ, without denying them their own keys to the Kingdom. My heart breaks every time I read about a Westboro protest, not because of the hateful messages on their signs, but because it hurts me so to see the name of the God of Love so twisted. I've frequently found myself crying out for the healing of our world such that we will no longer claim there is ANYONE God refuses to love.
It's so hard for me to comfort my queer brothers and sisters who feel so hated and abused by the church (in any form it takes), and to also determine how to minister to those who cause the abuse. Like you, I'm fairly certain that those who spew the hate are more in need of our love and prayers. One day I hope to be able to see Fred Phelps and his followers as my brothers and sisters, too, and to care for them with the same love.
Posted by: Divinitease.wordpress.com | 06/09/2011 at 08:14 PM