|
HOMOSEXUALITY: WE GAVE IT POWER
by Andre Lee As the American church has meshed with the American dream and culture, a lot of messages in the Bible have been distorted, because what we preach and teach about the most in church reflects the social taboos of the United States. This warps the Bible, because taboos don't necessarily mean sin, they simply pertain to social acceptance and embarrassment. So we bring the hammer down on certain sins, and over-look others, depending on how much they stick out in our culture. This has caused Christianity to lose the battle against many causes in the U.S., because we appear to be attacking certain groups, when the Bible meant for us to put everything on the same playing field. Such is the case in the battle of homosexuality, and proving the Bible against it. I think it's safe to call it, the church lost this one. We officially look like intolerant, religious nut-jobs, picking on homosexuals for being happy, and have changed the mind of no one in the process. How did we lose this fight? By singling-out homosexuality, and hammering down on it more than the average sin. Why did we do this? Because we live in the United States of America, the most machismo, sex-marketing, manhood-comparing country in the world. This is not to say that there is no homosexuality in other parts of the world, but the social stigma it carries here is definitely based on our culture. Homosexuality is scrutinized due heavily to the image of manhood we have been cultivated to believe and accept (you've heard this all before). Since it stands out so much in our culture (and the nail that sticks out gets hammered down), homosexuality became the target of many attacks from many organizations, with the idea of preserving the image of our nation. The question is, should the church have joined this battle? The answer is, no! It shouldn't have. Don't misunderstand what's being said here, homosexuality, according to the Bible, is a sin, and will lead to seperation from God. Even in the New Testament (For all of the "that was the Old Testament" believers, see Romans 1:27). However, although it is a sin, so is alcoholism, drugs, idol worship, fornication, money worship... the list goes on. But none of those sins have entire movements launched against them like homosexuality (the latest target is abortion). The one thing church didn't need to do is join in full-blown attacks on them. Once we saw that they were being attacked, we should have opted out, because that was never Christ's appraoch. People who aren't even a part of the modern day church have rallied and protested, throwing verbal punches and assaults at the gay community. The American church seems to be dangerously unaware of the culture of its own country, believing that throwing a scripture at them will be perceived as less of an attack than throwing an insult at them. It is the very act of singling-out homosexuality, making it seem like such a cardinal sin, that makes anything said against it, soft or harsh, be viewed as an attack. The church looks intolerant when the gay community is in a culture where certain sins are tolerated, not only by the American culture, but also by the church. People will stand up in church and say, "I haven't been perfect this week, forgive me," and then rally against a certain cause. The church's inconsistent biasness has diluted a great deal of its power. Had we observed and taken in the entire culture of the United Sates, we would have seen its skewed morality and stayed out of this fight. [email protected] 719-460-3418 Author and teacher Andre Lee has dedicated his life to preparing the church for the coming of Christ. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |