Love is an Orientation 2

At the end of Chapter 2, Andrew Marin points the way forward for Christians.

1. Move past our default responses:  either heterosexuality, celibacy, or a life of sin.
   1. There is not a requirement to change beliefs or foundational understandings of Scripture to move past these either/or options.
   2. The GLBT community understands these three options as an attack.
   3. Christians understand that if they validate a homosexual person they are being fuzzy on their theology or affirming promiscuous homosexual behavior.
   4. Those two understandings are in contrast to each other, so Christians must be willing to change to engage.
   5. Can I validate and dialogue without NEEDING to tell someone they are a sinner and going to hell for something they don’t have the power to change.
   6. By the way, we do this with all other humans.
2. We must be less committed to sealing the gospel deal in one shot.
   1. The conversation that needs to take place is incarnational and participatory.
   2. It will take more than one conversation about Romans.
   3. It is not about the communication of truth or contingency plans for potential rebuttals against arguments from the GLBT community.
3. Christians and the GLBT community talk past each other, because each is concerned with different issues.
   1. We must realize that if we start with sexuality and sexual behavior and label those things as ungodly, sinful, or taboo, we are attacking the GLBT’s whole identity.
   2. Now, we might still come to the same conclusion, but it is not important at the beginning because if we require someone to change or even re-think these things before they can “come as they are” we deny a core value of the Jesus society.
   3. Jesus’ “come to me” does not have prerequisites.
   4. And, Jesus’ “follow me” is usually more difficult and radical than any of us want to admit.  Evangelicals do not have a corner on following Jesus.
4. We MUST drop the “love the sinner, hate the sin” slogan.
   1. If behavior equals identity, which it does for GLBT, then hating gay sexual behavior is the same thing as hating the gay person.
   2. One can not be empathetic if you are using hate language, even if you think hate is the emotion required by the bible.
   3. Andrew says, “the pressure is then off of us to drag a GLBT person from their current “corrupted state” to our “holy state,” just as the pressure is off of the GLBT person to continually build up their defenses to try to guard against the slogans that hurt them time and again.”

Now, if you are like me, that stuff pushes your buttons and wrestles with your paradigm.

I was just listening to Moody Radio interviewing Andrew and doing Q & A.  Andrew says the question he gets a lot is:

“When do we get to speak the truth?”  “When do we get to tell them their sinners?”

If that is our driving paradigm, we won’t ever build the bridges necessary to even have dialogue about this.  If we can’t have dialogue, the GLBT community will never engage Jesus.   If the GLBT community does not engage Jesus, trust him, live life for him, they will not ever even see his perspective on their lives.  Why would we deny anyone, no matter the sub-culture they participate in, the privilege of meeting Jesus?

If you just thought, “but,” there is no but.

It is very likely that a GLBT person has been hurt by Christians, has a negative perception of Christianity, are anticipating criticism, and are braced for a fight.  This must be overcome before dialogue is even possible.  Dialogue is necessary to introduce people to Jesus.

Dialogue, not debate.

BTW, Jesus’ perspective could be totally different than we think as we engage in dialogue.   It could be more conservative and more challenging than even evangelicals are willing to be.  I guarantee it requires coming to him though and if we create boundaries for the GLBT community that exist outside of Jesus, we are wrong.  That equals Jesus + theology.  It is as bad as requiring circumcision for salvation.  (a common issue for Paul’s churches)

I hope we can find a way forward.  As I said in my On Again Off Again Relationship with Emergent post,  I am convinced that the way forward probably looks like a full embrace of the GLBT community.

A true “come as you are” philosophy of ministry.

But, they will not come if we do not go.

Can we trust God through Jesus in the Power of the Spirit to speak into the lives of all people without getting in the way?  Without requring circumsion for salvation?

Romans 5:8, But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still unable to be holy as He is holy, Christ died for us. (Jason Smith translation)