I was raised in a Christian household. For most of my life, my family and I attended church together, prayed before we ate dinner and read the Bible on Christmas morning. Apart from being a Christian, I hold a set of values and beliefs that are my very own. It was not until high school that I realized that I do, in fact, believe in God, but I struggle so deeply with a lot of what I am taught.
You see, after the recent Supreme Court decision to legalize gay marriage, I, as a Christian, was supposed to be upset by the verdict, and I was not. I was not saddened by it, and in fact, I was overwhelmed with excitement for people in love everywhere who were going to get the chance to be married, just like I hope to be able to do one day as a straight woman.
There are a lot of people I care about who are devout in their religion, and I admire them. If you’re going to be something, than truly be it. It is hard to feel like you may be disappointing the people you love and care about or the people who raised you if you don’t necessarily believe in what you have always been taught.
I want to clarify that I do not come from a family of “bigots” or “ignorant” people who just choose to be hateful and disagree with gay marriage. I was taught to hate the sin, love the sinner. I come from a family, who taught me how to be compassionate, empathetic and loving, which is why I do struggle with this topic so much.
I want to explain to my family, my friends and any other fellow Christian, why I battle with this topic so much. It may be true that there is scripture that touches on the sinfulness of acting upon homosexual thought, but there is one scripture, that in my eyes, and in my heart, trumps what we may construe as God saying gay behavior a sin.
If you read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 it says:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”
I read these words, and I ask you to imagine why it may be difficult for me to believe that my God would not want lifelong happiness for people who identify as gay, with their partners.
The first line alone defines what the gay community has experienced since the beginning of time. Love is PATIENT. It has taken until 2015 for the world to allow this love to be accepted as valid enough for marriage. The gay community has had to have unwavering patience in order to finally be able to do something everyone who wants to do with their soul mate — spend the rest of their lives together, through marriage.
When I saw everyone’s posts with the hashtag #lovewins, I instantly thought of Corinthians. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails.
In my eyes, this is a perfect example of how love protects. When the world said, “Your love is not right,” love responded with, “You are wrong.” When time after time again, the world said, “You are not worthy,” love trusted and said, “I am, and one day you will see that to be true.”
And now, as our Supreme Court grants the right for couples everywhere to be lawfully and legally married, love has persevered. Love has not failed.
Some of the most pure and wonderful love I have ever witnessed was between a same-sex couple. God says we will see Him in the people we meet and through the world around us, and when I see two people who love and support one another, I cannot help but think that there is nothing wrong with that. Everyone deserves to know what that feels like.
For those of you out there who believe in the same God I do, and believe I am wrong, I pray for you and hope that you pray for me too. I pray that God will lead us to the truth. I pray that you empathize and try to understand what others are experiencing.
To those of you who are on the opposite side, and believe every Christian who is not for gay marriage is a bigot, I pray your heart is softened too, for that is what they believe in their heart to be true, and just like you have the right to be accepted, so does everyone else.
As a religious person, my faith is going to be tested during my life journey, and I just want the world to understand why I see things the way I do, and why others may feel the same way that I do.
