“Why do you hate homosexuals?”
I am a hard core conservative Christian and if I had a dime for every time I was asked that previously stated question, I would have a lot of dimes. You see, the thing is, that is a trick question. There is no answer, because I don’t hate homosexuals. I repeat, I don’t hate homosexuals. I actually don’t hate anybody.
I believe every word of the Bible, and I believe wholeheartedly in Jesus. But there is no hate involved. My faith teaches love for all people, even those you don’t agree with. This is because we believe that God loves us in spite of our faults. I have to focus on my issues, not yours.
It drives me absolutely nuts when people assume that just because I am a Christian I hate people who are gay or that I am prejudiced against them. I have homosexual and bisexual friends and I treat them exactly the same as I treat my straight friends. I believe God loves them, so I must do the same.
I’m not denying that there are those out there who love to use religion, Christianity in particular, to fuel their hate. But if these people are using the Bible as their proof they are forgetting to take a few planks out of their eyes and leave judgment up to the True Judge. By hating others they desecrate the message of Jesus and make the same mistake as Lucifer himself by trying to take God’s position as divine ruler and judge. Most of these people don’t really understand what Jesus taught, but they do cause lots of damage.
However- to clarify- I don’t believe that homosexuality is moral according to the Bible and my faith. I understand that means that there are going to be some (or a lot of) people that are really angry at me because they completely disagree. Though I don’t see why we can’t get along- we both disagree just as much with each other and as long as I am not treating anyone any differently or hating anyone, what difference does it make?
The key is the judgment I make is that homosexuality is immoral not that homosexuals are bad people. There is a big difference in those two things. That’s why when people tell me to watch this movie or read this story and I will feel more compassion and change my beliefs on the issue, they are wrong. I already feel lots of compassion for homosexuals because of the teasing and judgment they face from society. My belief isn’t based on my emotions towards people or on whether I think they are good people or not. There are a lot of people who do good things and are gay, for sure.
There various things I believe to be immoral, but for some reason this is the one that sparks the most controversy. I was never really passionate about this issue, but seeing as all the people around me seem to project hate into my heart that is not there I had to write this just to clarify.
It’s just as not nice to be treated with contempt for your beliefs as it is to be treated that way for your sexual orientation. You cannot fix the prejudice against one group by having prejudice for another. If you call me prejudiced for hating homosexuals before you even get to know me, what I believe, and how I act, then are you not yourself being prejudiced?