In lieu of the shooting at PULSE, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida that killed 49 people, I have seen an overabundance of statements that have left me in awe of the Christian community, and I have also seen the exact opposite. I applaud my brothers and sisters who have shown grace, and those who have chosen to mourn alongside those who are mourning and scared. On the other hand, I am ashamed of those who have posted ignorant comments such as, "They had it coming," "This was God's correction" or "That was judgment for homosexuality." Not only are these comments insensitive and hateful, they are false. And I don't know about you, but I would never want someone to assume that I love those of the gay community any less just because I love Jesus.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say, "Love your white neighbors, love your black neighbors, oh and you can love your straight neighbors, too." In fact, Matthew 22:39 simply says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Because this statement is so vague, it only makes sense that the Lord commanded us to love everyone.
However I've found that Christians, in general, practice the exact opposite of Matthew 22:39. Instead of "loving your neighbor as yourself," we pick and choose who we love according to their sin. We sometimes spread hate towards those who have a different sexuality than us, who are different race than us or simply those who sin differently than us.
"Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." - 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
If we are going to use Bible verses such as 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 to condemn homosexuality, we should also be using it to condemn the sexually immoral people who struggle with sex before marriage, lust and pornography. We should also be condemning adulterers, thieves, greedy people, drunkards and people who have idols.
I don't know about you, but I'm thankful for Bible verses like Romans 5:8 which says, "But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We are still sinners, yet Christ died for us. This verse from Romans does not specify which sins Christ died for, it simply says, "Christ died for us." He died for the homosexuals, the heterosexuals, the adulterers, the greedy people, without stopping to decide which of those sins He would die for.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Matthew 22:37-39
In this time of uncertainty, fear and mourning, we should be practicing Matthew 22:39, especially to our friends, family and everyone else in the gay community. Hateful comments can do nothing more than show complete disregard for the second-greatest commandment in the Bible. And again, I would hate for anyone to think that I love anyone in the gay community any less just because I love Jesus. I don't think Jesus would like that, either.
