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In recent days the media has been filled with news concerning the battle for equal rights and acceptance of gays in the military. Many of our nation’s leaders are opening dialogue for a fresh review of the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy—affecting approximately 65,000 gays and lesbians proudly serving our country in the military. Today headlines were made as a major Southern Baptist leader suggested that people could actually be born gay. Yet, still claimed they were not acceptable to God. It is clear that the time has more than come to end this out-dated policy and faith of discrimination and exclusion...

Yet, one thing stands out clear to me on this whole issue. When the church has embraced God’s children equally, so will the country—love, compassion, tolerance, inclusion, and acceptance must be first embraced and practiced by our communities of faith, before we can expect to see large scale changes in our community and country. As long as Christianity allows hate and judgment to flow out of its churches, the battle will continue to wage in the country. When Christians unite on the unconditional love and grace of Christ, then true social change will follow.

God is love. He loves the whole wide world. The mission of Jesus in coming to earth was not to be the Savior of a select few. I Timothy 4:10 tells us that Christ is the Savior of all people; this would of course include not just gays and lesbians, but also you. The Gospel of John tells us repeatedly that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. The good news of the Christian gospel is that all people have now been forgiven and accepted by the God of extravagant grace.

Groups attempt to use the Bible to spread hate and judgment against gays. Thankfully many thousands of Christian churches are reexamining the Bible in the light of God’s unconditional love and grace, and realizing that these hate-based arguments are faulty. The time has come for the Christian community worldwide to swing the welcome doors open to the millions of gays and lesbians in our communities who have been shunned and made to feel unworthy of being active in our communities of faith and seek the fellowship of other Christians.

This will not be a transition without its challenges. Christ raised the opposition of the religious leaders by wrapping His arms of love and acceptance around Gentiles, slaves, women of the evening, lepers, thieves, and social outcasts of His day. Christ did not back down from the threats and hate of religion in His day, neither should we in ours.

For years many Southern churches used the Bible to back up and support such social evils as slavery and racism. They had their “key” texts that seemed to support their hatred and bigotry. Through the years, the light of God’s grace and inclusion tore these erroneous views down. They are held today only by small fear-based hate groups largely viewed as cultic. The same transition is taking place today on the issue of inclusion of gays and lesbians in the Christian community. When the Bible verses used to spread hate are viewed through the eyes of the love and grace revealed in Christ, we find that there is nothing in the New Testament message of Christ that excludes people from the family of faith based upon their sexual orientation.

Some use the Old Testament to ban gays from God’s family. The same verses would also ban all gentiles, those who eat shrimp and catfish, women on their monthly cycle from shaking hands with men, uncircumcised males of all races, along with demanded the death penalty for disobedient children. Such rules and laws are from an Old Covenant taken away by Christ on the Cross. The whole world today stands loved and forgiven by God through the amazing grace and love that came to us in Christ Jesus.

It is clear that just as Christ fought to include the outcasts into His kingdom and family of faith, the church today must continue the fight of love in welcoming and including into its family all people who have been made to feel unworthy of God’s love and grace. We cannot make the same mistake the church made during the holocaust and simply sit by and say nothing while millions suffer. Our message must be, no matter who you are or where you are on your journey in this life, in God’s love and grace, you are always welcome here. We can only overcome hate by spreading love and grace, and this must begin in you.
Christian Garrett
Pastor Grace Church
www.gracechurchcorpus.com

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