It's Not Enough.

So let’s jump right into it.

Jesus does not discuss sexual orientation and does not state that homosexuality is wrong so any Christian who tries to condemn gay people or bisexual people or anything in between using Jesus in the bible as a weapon is purely ignorant and incorrect. The bible does however, make a few references to relations between members of the same sex, that is undeniable, but just like most things in the bible, the meaning and conclusions have been interpreted in different ways. Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13 are the two Bible verses which are most often cited as support for scriptural condemnation of homosexuality; the latter verse even demands that such behavior be punished by death. Both verses refer specifically to male homosexuality, but not female. Now let’s talk a little bit about Leviticus for a second. There are many things stated in Leviticus that Christians do not apply to their lives such as not eating pork, ritual washing of hands and making sure that priests are physically perfect before they serve God. 

Other things in the book include: the punishment for blasphemy is death by stoning (Lev 24:16),
a child who curses their parent will be put to death (Lev 20:9), locusts, beetles and grasshoppers are permissible food (Lev. 11:21) but not shellfish or mollusks (Lev. 11:10). Needless to say, many Christians (and churches) nowadays ignore these rules and do not consider them binding, so why are we choosing to oh-so-conveniently hold on to the one about homosexual relations? Seems a little hypocritical doesn’t it? Hmmm?

So you’re picking out one “sin” stated in the bible out of thousands and coming to your own conclusion about who God accepts and who he doesn’t. You’re also talking as if “gay people” are in a completely different species to “straight people”. Like, “let them do their thing and I’ll do mine, they’ll answer to God in the end.” Yes, they will answer to God in the end, but so will you. WE ARE ALL THE SAME. We are ALL sinners. We are all human and we are all supposed to look out for each other, look after each other, and most importantly, love each other. Why is it okay to only be passionate about spreading good in some aspects of society but not others? Quite frankly, there are a lot of questionable things in the bible that people choose to ignore because it does not fit in to how we would like to see the world and live our lives but we’ve chosen to take one thing and highlight it so that we can point fingers and cast people out as sinners because obviously that’s the Christian thing to do. It’s very Christian-like to judge and condemn isn’t it? Because Christians are perfect aren’t they? What happened to “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). Oh forgot about that one didn’t we? I don’t think people who verbally and physically abuse and terrorise gay people are the Lord’s favourite people, do you? Especially since they do it in the name of God. For me, that’s the worst bit. If you’re going to act like the ultimate tool, don’t do it in God’s name. Don’t preach hatred and hostility in the name of the Lord. That is wrong in every way and there is no way you can justify yourself. It’s hypocrisy in its purest form and you should be ashamed to even call yourself a Christian because you obviously have no idea of even the definition of the name itself.

And then there are the people who don’t agree with homosexuality but accept the fact that you cannot tell people how to live their lives. No, it’s not enough. It’s not enough to just sit here and say “ Well, I have nothing against gay people and I even know some gay people but the bible says that acts of homosexuality is a sin so as long as they don’t act on their urges, they will still be accepted by God.” Or, “I don’t really care, it’s their sin to pay for, I just don’t want it involved in my life.” No. Listen to yourself and what you’re saying. Why do you think that by being indifferent, you are doing the right thing by God? Indifference is everything Jesus Christ was not, and is not. Do you think that by ignoring the homosexual community completely, you’re doing what God wants you to do? You’re a good person now, right? But by ignoring them, you are also ignoring the difficulties some people face every single day, the prejudice, the abuse, not to mention the more personal problems of confusion, fear of coming out, fear of being accepted, dealing with being considered different in the eyes of society. Are you going to turn a blind eye to that too? Are you going to overlook the hateful actions of your fellow “Christians” just because you’re not the one committing the acts? You may be comfortable with that, but I am definitely not. Christians are called upon to speak out against political, religious and social injustice against people. You wouldn’t turn a blind eye to sexism, racism, ageism, domestic and child abuse etc. so why would you think that homophobia is something you can ignore? That’s not right. I will not sit here and not have an opinion about this. I would want to know that if I were gay, my family and friends would fully accept me and so would my church because they would accept that it didn’t change the person I was. My sexuality does not define what type of person I am so stop acting like if gay people get married, we’re going to have a community of mass murderers and rapists on our hands. Love is the best thing a person can feel, it’s the best thing we can spread because from love, everything good is born. It is a human right for two consenting adults to be able to love each other without fear of condemnation purely based on the fact that they are of the same sex. Who are we to tell someone that they only way that God will love them is if they sacrifice their own happiness and chance at love just to please Him. No one truly knows what God wants but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want that. As Christians, we are supposed to spread God’s word, and bring more people into this beautiful world that is Christianity because we want people to feel how wonderful it is to bask in God’s light. How are we supposed to convince people of this if we continue to act the way we do? People are growing more and more resentful towards organised religion every day and to be completely honest, sometimes, I don’t blame them.

People don’t wake up in the morning and decide on what sexual orientation they’re going to explore that day, people do not choose their orientation, it just happens. People cannot help who they love. I can’t help who I love, just like how I can’t help what gender I’m born with, what dosage of hormones I get, how my body identifies itself. How privileged I am to be born so sure of my gender identity, expression, biological sex and sexual orientation. Life is simple for me because I belong to all the “socially accepted” groups in society. What about people who are a little bit more complex, a little bit further across the scales? What about androgynous people? What about intersex people? Gender and sexuality is complicated, and fluid, and ever changing and therefore confusing and what people need is support and acceptance instead of disapproval and opposition. Who do you think you are to sit there on your high horse and judge? “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” (Romans 2:1)

Not everything in the bible or Christianity is black and white and things are open to interpretation which is why we have so many different denominations within Christianity. It is perfectly natural to question things, it is perfectly human to disagree with some things and it’s perfectly normal to have my own opinions about certain things. I could pretend right here that I agree whole heartedly with every aspect of my religion but that would be a lie and God knows what is truly in my heart so what is the point? All I can do is have faith in my certainty that Jesus Christ loves me for exactly who I am, and not who he thinks I should be. And not who YOU think I should be. He created me in his image and therefore I am already everything he wants me to be. He gave me free will which means he loves me even if I don’t think I love him back. He loves me regardless of who I love and who I want to spend the rest of my life with. He loves me whether I believe in his existence or not. He loves me with a completely open heart, with no conditions, deeper than I can comprehend and I know that at the end of the day, if I strive for my actions mirror those of Him and I do not seek to inflict harm on others, I will be welcome in His kingdom.

I don’t pretend to know the bible inside out – I have never read the bible in it’s entirety and I’m still learning things that I didn’t know myself. I am new to this game but at least I am willing to do the research and not resort myself to a life of ignorant hatefulness. I know that this is a topic that everyone will have differing opinions on and I cannot change people’s minds. There are many people who will jump at the opportunity to prove me wrong and put me down but I’m not really bothered. This MY opinion and it’s not going to change.

(Matthew 22:37) ...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (22:38) This is the first and great commandment. 
(22:39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
(22:40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.