"Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers all wrongs"
- Proverbs 10:12
Last week, a group of people stood on the pedestrian walkway at the University of Tennessee with signs that said “Homos are full of demons,” and “Jesus said ‘Go and sin no more.'” As I walked by these “Christians” I felt an anger so intense I wasn’t sure what to do. Once I got back to my dorm my anger turned to sadness as I realized that these people were completely misrepresenting the Christian faith and driving people away from God.
The Bible does say homosexuality is a sin. The Bible also says lying, cheating, stealing, disrespecting your parents, and hating other people is a sin as well. We all sin, and we all fall short of the glory of God, but you don’t see people standing on the street with signs that say “Liars are full of demons,” or “If you disrespect your parents you’re going to hell.” That’s because somewhere along the way, these protesters got the idea that their sin wasn’t as bad as a gay person’s sin. So they feel the need to stand on a street and tell gay people how “bad” they are while they are sinning themselves by being hateful to God’s children.
The point of this article is to point out the flaw in those protestors’ logic. They think they are doing their “Christian duty” by standing on a street corner with a sign that condemns homosexuals. They are not. The Christian duty is to love everyone you encounter, regardless of what they believe. I don’t think a sign that says “You are full of demons” shows the love of Christ.
Christ calls us to teach others about His love and show them what the power of His love can do in their lives. If you were not a Christian, and someone tried to teach you about Christianity by first telling you that you are full of demons, would you want to listen? Of course not! So why would you do something that would turn someone away from learning about Christ? That’s exactly the opposite of what Christ called us to do when He says in Matthew 28 to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
If we, as Christians, are called to teach others to observe Jesus’ commandments, our goal should be to be examples of those commandments as well. Jesus said one of the greatest commandments was to love your neighbor as yourself. We all know that actions speak louder than words so as Christians we should constantly be examples of love to everyone in our lives.
Paul writes a lot about love in Romans and I wish those protestors would truly understand his words. In Romans 13:8 he says "Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law." In verse 10 he says, "Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is fulfilling of the law."
My message to those who were hurt by the hateful words of those protestors is that I'm sorry. I am sorry that there are Christians out there who are not treating you with the love you deserve as a child of God. It doesn't matter what your sexual orientation is, God loves you regardless. Your sexual orientation doesn't make you full of demons, and no human has the ability to tell you whether or not you are going to hell.
The people who stood on the pedestrian walkway that day and spewed their hateful words are not spreading the message that Christ taught. They may call themselves Christians, but they are not being ambassadors of Jesus. Anyone who intentionally turns people away from the Christian movement is doing something wrong, and I am sorry to anyone who was affected. I pray that those men will realize one day that hatred is a sin, and to walk with Christ means to love everyone.
