It is with every part of me that I fully believe that LGBT rights will be and is as important as black rights were in the 1950s or women’s rights in the early 20th century. It’s not the exact same, but it’s similarities are eerie.
In my last post, I linked a blog where a group of progressive Christians went to a Pride parade in Chicago with shirts and signs apologizing and asking for forgiveness of the people that they used to abuse. That blog post got more action than my post normally do, unfortunately. The point of this blog was missed by some. These people may have been offering acceptance, but really I think that they were just reaching out and trying to a build a bridge over a territory between the LGBT community and Christians that has been burned, tormented, and terrorized by Christians. One of the people that responded gave the analogy of a blind man walking into a street, and to save his life you would yell and scream and do everything you could, you wouldn’t just say ‘I’m sorry’.
If people are going to ascribe to the view of everyone ‘sinning’ needs to be yelled at (or at the least unapologetically corrected), then they would no longer have a voice to yell…why single out this group of people to demonstrate the tough love that some think Jesus would have rendered?
I think comparing the lost man to a blind man in the street is an ineffective analogy. (I know that goes against that verse in Amazing Grace, I’ll apologize for that later.) A blind man, however, cannot and will never be able to see. A ‘sinner’, at least from my understanding, is always able to learn to see. Perhaps a better analogy is someone who can’t swim getting into a swimming pool. No one would scream at them “YOU WILL DIE!”, no, if anything is screamed at all is “be careful”s and other helpful, caring statements. And we wouldn’t stand far away from the pool, outside the gate watching them, giving them ‘helpful’ advice; we would help them put on some floaties and swim beside them. Teach them how to swim with patience and respect.
If people are going to hold on to their so called ‘family values’ (I didn’t know hate was a value) and force religious believes on one group of people, I can’t stop them. I know however that a lot of people that would read this blog might disagree with me, and that’s fine. No matter your opinion on right/wrong or sin/righteousness, as followers of Christ, can we please treat this group of people with the respect that any other being made in the image of God would deserve?
Becca Kello 