Anti-Gay Saints and What To Do With Them? But of course Watson, this is a prayer blog (and not a flog) so I should state obviously that we are to pray. Well, I admit that this is not my instinct or even my finest idea. It came out of a conversation I had this week with an LGBT minister (Naomi, pictured) who came out in a small town where she once pastored and ministered for decades. Talk about hate mail! She got it and more. However she said so strongly to me that its God that has to reveal to them who we are and what is and what it not "sin". This is where prayer comes in. Also, she mentioned that we are to pray that they see the truth about homosexuality and the Bible.
The big deal with this is not to argue. I like to make my stand known but not waste my breath on a useless quarrel. Paul told Timothy to aviod argeuments. I argue, and I get mad somewhere along the line and I can even loose my head. I take this stuff very personally, especaally when I get these candy-coated insults and have had even close friends tell me that I was demon possessed. I am learning to listen and know when not to talk. Sometimes, espesially when someone seems really ignorent, I like to ask loaded questions in the hopes that they see how outragious their anti-gay claims are. I mean stuff like, "if you see the Bible that literally... as a rule book, which rules do you pick and choose if you can't follow them all?", and "are you the one that is picking and choosing or am I?". But the people I talk with, like anyone who has been indoctrinated find ways of getting themselves out of arguements like this. One thing they do which I don't do (for fear of trying to play God) is saying stuff like, "well God says that". It was OK when I was arguing with you but now I am arguing with God Himself somehow THROUGH you? I laugh at this idea now but I am afraid that this is a pretty scary thing to do, taking God's place in the world of opinions and speaking FOR Him entirely. If that were the case, these "God said it" folks always seem to say other stuff that disqualifies them.
Just last weekend while talking to another seasoned LGBT minister and about the funny hate mail we get, she loves Justin Lee of the Gay Christian Network, and we were musing about his hate mail. He found that they have bad spelling and grammar. Well, mine stinks, I really don't have much academic education passed the seventh grade and if it were not for spell check, no one would take my articles seriously. But what is with these saints? Do they realize how ignorant they look when they make these outrageous statements?
Here is my most recent one. I got it today when I checked my personal myspace mail after I rejected someone's "friend" request:
LOL I am not the one off track...Bible does not lie.....thanks for rejecting me lol...Sad. My husband refuses to even listen to your work...you are hurting lots of people..including yourself. What you are doing is so against God...God loves you...just not what you are doing...besides being gay is gross!!
No homosexual shall enter the kingdom of Heaven my friend..read the bible...and listen with your heart. Devil is playing you man...wake up!!
Praying for you and thanks for the kind words about me...:)
God bless,
Terri
She not only misuses II Cor 6:9, but I love how "the" Bible is just "Bible does not lie" and how dumb it all sounds. I admit, I get my feelings hurt and my reaction is to fight back so much of the time. I get this sort of "justice" attitude and feel like I can go off on folks but I need to take a peaceful response. It takes a long time to undo generations of homophobia and change someone's heart about a touchy matter like this one. Peter was bound by religious racism even while he was Mr. Pentecost in Acts 2. But we see that God got a hold of him about a group of OTHER people, in this case the (non-Jewish) Gentiles.
Remember in Acts 10 about all the non-Jewish foods?
14"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean."
15The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
This is not a scripture I am now using to state that gay is OK, which it is, but for anyone wondering about another culture or people and what God thinks about culture and dealings with others we don't agree with. The principal that I want to show here is not about us being right, but I see this about that God had to speak to Peter about other people in order to change his mind about them.
My friend Naomi Harvey has stories about straight anti-gay folks that pray and see that God is with some of us, that there are some true Christians that are lesbian and gay. What if Cornelius showed Peter a sheet with snakes and other gentile gross cuisine and said, "hey Pete! Rise kill and eat!"?
They simply will not accept us unless something beyond the verbal reveals it to them as much as you can convert a couple of Mormon missionaries that are in your living room to a different religion with a debate over Mormon tea (I think Mormon tea is hot milk). Its amazing how so many religious folks, some sincere saints can be so programmed to think certain ways. But it happens and I realize that's the way things are and yet there are some things we can do: aside from praying and stating who you are, there is living a consistent life before them and demonstrating God's unconditional love. Yes, we need to come out, and sometimes coming out is simply stating who you are and living by example and letting time and the Spirit do its work in others.
