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What would Jesus really do?
The protester’s signs of “Jesus hates fags” should chill the blood as deeply as any KKK hood or swastika. It infuriates Christians on the other side of the picket line who know they’ve got it wrong, all wrong.
If you hate gays in the name of God you’re following the apostle Paul. Jesus Christ never said anything in regard to homosexuals. This does not mean He hated them. He never said anything about ice cream, but that does not mean it’s an abomination. Paul is the one who wrote–obsessively–against homosexuals. Jesus spoke of love and acceptance for those you do not agree with. If you feel right in valuing the words of Paul over Jesus, if you are waving a flag of Christianity and decide to disregard what He says for what Paul said, then good for you. You certainly have that right. But don’t go on to call yourself a Christian when you should be founding the Church of Paul. There’s a term for that, it’s idolatry.
How did Jesus meet Paul again? Oh, that’s right, He came to Paul in a vision as Paul was traveling the lands persecuting those not of his faith. Paul had it in his mind that the Christians were wrong and so he was doing all he could to violently dissuade them. Paul, by his nature, was a persecutor. After his good friend Jesus converted him, Paul quickly fell back into his old ways with new victims. He began attacking a number of folks and practices. He devoted many of his writings to the judgment of others and argued for the oppression of several lifestyles.
What else did Paul write against? Marriage. Paul wrote against marriage multiple times and felt it best that people remain single to properly devote themselves to the faith. He wrote that he wished all could lead a life without marriage as he did. So let’s do this, people! “God hates marriage!” Paul also wrote against sex and against women speaking. In fact, combining these facts, he seemed pretty much against vaginas in general. Seeing how he vehemently spoke against the Christians only to realize he himself was a Christian, I’m not so sold on his speeches against homosexuals. WINK.
You really think Jesus is getting behind hatred? You really think Jesus is flattered by the signs attributing heinous, evil thoughts to Him? Do you really think HE is tempting you to hate? WWJD? Not tempt you to hate, that’s what. WWSatanD? Right. And he often does have the numbers on his side. He certainly found a way to take the messages Jesus had wanted to share with the world and force them to flow through the quill of Paul, who felt it necessary to ad lib his own hatred into the scriptures.
Jesus asked us to love our enemies, saying it is easy to love only our friends and those like us. He asked us not to throw stones. He asked us to pray for those different from us, but not to hurt them, not to deny them rights, or fairness, or look down on their love as inferior from yours because you think you can find shades of differences in love. He said that God loved EVERYONE and asked us to love our neighbors, ALL OUR NEIGHBORS, as we love ourselves. He asked us to treat others as we would like to be treated, and that covers everything. It is a beautiful and warm sentiment whether one believes Christ was the son of God or a mere philosopher.
I’m not speaking to you as a lesbian; I have a boyfriend. I’m not speaking to you as a liberal; I was raised republican. And yes, I’m a Christian. I’m speaking to you because this is real. I’m speaking to you because there are real people in your town who aren’t allowed to marry who they love. There are real people you know suffering in sadness, and their feelings are hurt. They feel like the whole world is against them, because part of it is. You can argue that marriage is an institution between a man and a woman. It is an institution of love. This is a fight to protect the sanctity of love.
If you believe in love, this is a time and story for you. This is a moment in history for you to take part in, a lasting moment where love can overcome hatred and prejudice. I’m sitting here arguing for love, and you cannot stop me because no one wants to watch the movie where hatred wins out over love. No one wants to read that story.
Gay marriage will happen. It will happen because there have always been people who were in a position to speak up–and did. There were slaves, but there were free men who created the underground railroad. And there were hunted Jews, but there were Germans who opened their homes and attics to them.
We’ve come a long way, but we’re not there yet. We won’t be there until we all have the same rights. And there is no valor in only fighting for the rights that fit your problems. Real honor is standing up for those who need your voice, your number to add to their count.
The gay community is being bullied and it’s especially up to the Christians to stand in the way of that injustice. We have a certain responsibility as the religion that holds love and acceptance above all else. We have a certain responsibility to protect those not like ourselves, our neighbors. And we have a certain responsibility to remember when we stood before the lions in the Colosseum, and we explained to ourselves that we deserved our rights.
