LGBT and Christian

"LOVE COMES FROM GOD. We love because He loved us first. If anyone says, 'I love God', and [yet] hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love God, whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment [to love one another] we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also." - [1 John 4:20].


In October 2015, an Extraordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Family will be held at the Vatican in Rome. The Synod is the assembly or governing body of the Church, which helps to provide theological and practical guidance for the Church on important issues.

This extraordinary assembly will cover issues such as divorced and remarried Catholics,  support for families raising children in the Faith, and support for the institution of marriage.

But the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Catholics has been the most hotly contested issue of all.

This past week, Ireland voted to allow same sex marriages.  In reaction to this vote, Cardinal Walter Kasper said, "We have to find a new language. We have to overcome [unjust] discrimination which has a long tradition in our culture." On the opposite side of the controversy lies Bishop Thomas Paprocki, of the Springfield Diocese, who held an Rite of Exorcism at a Mass before 500 people;  the Bishop saying that it was "intended to call attention to the diabolical influences of the Devil, the move of the Father of Lies who wishes to deceive the children of God."

Where is the Church itself, in this morass of controversy? No less than Pope Francis himself said, early in his papacy, [July, 2013], "Who am I to judge a person of goodwill who seeks the Lord? You can't marginalize these people."

But, in fact, we do marginalize the LGBT community. Over 40% of the homeless teens and young adults in America are LGBT-- and were ostracized and by their families. How can we claim to follow Jesus, and yet turn anyone into a "throwaway"? How can we dare to say, "I love God", yet hate these youths, to the point of casting them out of, not just families, but out of religion and of all hope of the spiritual realm?

How do countless churches dare to sing, "All Are Welcome"-- and yet reject, and even hate others?

Recently, I dared to post on this blog Facebook page, "I don't think that Jesus came to teach us to hate anyone".  AND, I got some hateful flak for my stance on Love !

And yet, Jesus "ate with sinners and tax collectors" -[Luke 5: 30]. He was bold enough to touch a leper, a man among the most feared and hated of all people, at the time. -[ Matthew 8.] Jesus, a Jewish man, spoke to a Samaritan woman out in public, something that would have been breathtakingly shocking at the time. Jesus came, not to preserve the status quo, but to radically upend it.

And so, this is the powerful Love Argument. In consonance with that notion of Love, a video was recently released by a group called "Owning Our Faith. The video shows people in the LGBT community seeking the Lord, seeking to be growing, more loving Catholics, attending Mass and receiving the Eucharist. [www.owningourfaith.com]. The most powerful message in the video is that Love does not mean putting people into little boxes. A person CAN be LGBT and take their

Christianity seriously. At the same time, I resent the assumption that, just because I am Catholic, that I hate and ostracize anyone!

There is also the powerful Physiological Argument. Studies have been published, over the years, showing that being LGBT is not necessarily "willful behavior"; that gay men, for example, are wired differently, at the neurological level. I am not a biologist, by any means, but what IF a person is different, not by choice? How can we call this a Sin? Would we call a man born without an arm a Sinner, bar him from church and eject him into homelessness? Jesus dealt with this issue when He excoriated a crowd for labeling a man born blind, as a Sinner. He told the Pharisees that this man had done nothing wrong, and that THEY were the ones who are blind! -[ John 9].

Then, there is the Theological Argument. I was at my Catholic Biblical School class one night, when a student started comparing the sin and judgment at Sodom and Gomorrah to the "scourge of homosexuality." The priest shot back, "How very Old Testament of you!" This Catholic priest went on to say that there is clear law in Leviticus that a man shall not lie with a man, nor a woman with a woman. But, this priest made the compelling point that, JESUS Himself never said a word about homosexuality or same sex relationships. So, the fact is, We do NOT know "what would Jesus do"! In surpassing the Old Testament Law, however, we do know well the first commandment; that is to love one another, as we would love ourselves!

Even Evangelicals, who tend to take Scripture literally, are changing their minds. In his book, "Changing Our Minds", Evangelical pastor David P. Gushee argues that the Bible is a living document; that in Leviticus, the death penalty is to be meted out for disobeying or cursing one's parents, for being a medium or wizard, or for blaspheming the Lord. Would we not agree today that these penalties are extreme? Why would we selectively drop these severe punishments, but keep the one about homosexuality? Anything in Scripture can be used to "prove" any argument, if taken  out of context. There are Biblical verses that could be taken out of context to justify even slavery!  Reading the Bible selectively can be dangerous.

The Church has come far since the days of Leviticus. If we can accept that women today are allowed to attend church with men, and even serve as lay ministers, why can we not rethink the role of the LGBT community in the Church?

I urge you to find out more about this issue, before you impose judgment. Watch the Owning Our Faith video with an open mind. Keep the Love in your heart and imagine if a LGBT person were your son or daughter, your best friend, your beloved neighbor. For, we are ALL brothers and sisters in Christ!

RESOURCES:

www.owningourfaith.com -- video, website, Facebook page.

"Changing Our Minds", by David P. Gushee, (c) 2014, Read The Spirit Books.

"The Bible's Yes To Same-Sex Marriage: An Evangelical's Change of Heart",  Mark Achtemeier, (c) 2014, Westminster John Knox Press.

[Related Posting: "The Banquet", Oct. 12, 2014].

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