In the Name of Love

It's been about three years of silence from me, hasn't it? 

Part of me wants to tell you everything that's happened in those three years, including viewpoints on the pandemic and culminating with the fact that my miracle baby just finished Kindergarten. But the rest of me knows I have bigger things on my heart right now.

It's Pride Month. As a cisgender bisexual woman in a monogamous relationship with the same man for 19 years, I'm considered more an ally these days than anything falling on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, but I *am* there. I've heard all the same lies about 'going to hell' and 'living in sin' and 'abomination' that you have, and I'm not buying it. Do you know why I'm not buying it? 

Because it's bullshit.

Oh, hey, I said a bad word! Not used to that on my blog, right? Well, I'm tired of pandering and I'm tired of hiding anything at all about who I am. I'm an ordained minister (yeah, it was online) and a child of God just like you. I drink and I swear. I've broken most of the commandments in the past and I still do on occasion. I sin. We all do. But BEING WHO YOU ARE and LOVING WHO YOU LOVE is not a sin. It never was. It never will be. And if you disagree, I feel sorry for you because it means that you are waving around a bible you have likely been spoon-fed to believe says things it doesn't really say.

You can pull any verse out of the bible that you want to try and justify your bigotry, but the underlying premise is the same: nothing in the bible condemns homosexuality in a loving, consenting relationship. Every verse you choose was written about pedophilia, rape, and sex slavery. 

"But, even the New Testament condemns homosexuals."

Nope:

"The Greek words “arsen” and “koiten” were used to describe events 1,600 years before Paul and those events always related to some form of pedophilia or abuse. In Biblical times, same-sex behaviour was primarily perceived as happening between adult men and adolescent boys (masters and servants), via prostitution, and by men who were already married to women. This means Paul was condemning the use of power for abusive purposes, any and all excess lust, and prostitution. From this we can infer that the concept of Arsenokoitai is sexual and economic exploitation, and thus there is no way we can relate these verses to the committed, loving, consensual same-gender relationships we see today." (RWUC.org)

"Well, what about Sodom and Gomorrah? The men wanted to have gay sex with the angels so God destroyed the city."

Nope:

The men wanted to rape the angels. The angels were not consenting to this. (I do find it odd that none of you have a problem with the fact that Lot said "Here, rape my daughters instead.") Why were these cities destroyed if not for 'homosexuality'? "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned. They did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen." -Ezekiel 16:49-50 Hmm... arrogance and apathy and not helping those in need. 

"Well, it's still a sin but if you just live a celibate life you can still go to Heaven."

Nope. Not a sin. Not even if you believe it was a sin in the Old Testament (which it wasn't.):

"Therefore, there is now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." -Romans 8:1-2

Listen, it's not enough to believe that God loves the LGBTQIA+ community, because that's obvious. He loves us all. You need to understand that God CREATED lesbians, gay men, bisexual and pansexual people. He created transgender and nonbinary humans. He created the entire Queer rainbow just like He created straight white men. He created us on purpose, with different people to love and different ways to love them. He didn't create people who later 'chose to be' these things. He created us exactly the way we are.

Being a part of this community isn't a choice. It isn't a trend like parachute pants or bell bottoms. It's who we are. It's who we were born to be. It's who God made us to be. So let me speak to anyone else who falls on this spectrum:

YOU are fearfully and wonderfully made by your Creator, knit together in your mother's womb, to be exactly this way. You're not sinning by loving who you love, you're embracing the God-given identity you were born with. You will hear thousands of voices shouting against these very words, hypocrites and modern-day pharisees who think they know best because they've been told what to believe, or haven't bothered to do any research beyond the cherry-picked verses they use to validate their own discomfort and prejudices. You will hear voices that are angry, disgusted, distraught, maybe even sad ... but what you wont often hear is the voice of truth on your side, so I'm chiming in with God to say these things that you need to know. Live this truth. Be yourself. If someone condemns you for it, pray for them because they're the ones with the problem -- not you.

"But the voice of truth tells me a different story; the voice of truth says 'do not be afraid'. The voice of truth says 'this is for my glory.' Out of all the voices calling out to me, I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth." -Casting Crowns

Oh, how I expect a lot of flak for this post. But guess what? I couldn't possibly care less.

-Stephanie Jean