God, gays and guesswork

I recently re read a comment about gay marriage I posted here on this forum some years back. It looked harsh and reactionary. In particular, I was hard on the Greens, their then leader and their agenda. I also suggested that the real motives gays were after equal rights in marriage was that possibly they were after the financial breaks straight families receive. Yeah. It was cold. I tried to remind myself that it was written at a time when gay marriage was a new proposal and my head was not quite around the concept. But, in truth, I don't enjoy reading it again. At the back of those comments was an inability to handle the tension.

I have no desire to reject anyone or make them feel ostracized from God. I am a church man and I believe it is a place of healing and real answers. I care about people and have worked hard to assist individuals since the 1980s without prejudice. I also grew up with Cold Chisel's "I'm standing on the outside looking in…"and it rings through my ears to this day. I want to be true to the Bible but not hurt a soul. Can you feel my dilemma? I bloody well can.

Even Jesus walked in that tension. Reading the gospels, we see him standing by the Law of the Old Testament but at the same time empowering every individual who came to him for hope. Ironically, those he rebuked the harshest were in fact, religious people. I know in my heart of hearts that there's no way Jesus would go against the Scriptures. But at the same time I also know there's no way he would shame or reject the individual under any circumstance.

No one wants to be rejected. Christians or gays. Or gay Christians. I currently work with people of LGBT background. I have found a release of the pressure I have described because my job is not to give my view on anything but to listen to them without prejudice or judgment. As a result, I have made friendships and I doubt anyone would feel any rejection when I'm with them. But in a way, I've got it easy. The question remains: how can we biblical believers be true to scripture and still welcome LGBT people into church without shunning them? If Jesus walked the earth today, he would show believers the way clearly. Instead, today's Christian can only go by accounts written from a time when people of gay and transgender background were not in society's forefront as to how Jesus treated people in general. He left behind a church to be the salt of the earth. Today we leave a lot to be desired.

So, I have no easy pat answers. But I do know that Jesus told us, "Love one another". Perhaps we can start there.