the debates about LGBT issues recently have kept me rather interested. not because i am one but i have friends who have tendencies and some are struggling to deal with it themselves and some are having issues at work or in their families for being the way they are.
i remember some years back i had a female classmate who was slightly confused for being a Christian and yet liking a girl. we wasn't close friends and didn't really talk much, but i guess she saw something in me to confide in me regarding this while we were waiting for our respective coffees. i remember clearly i told her, 'So?'. and she was perplexed, that being a Christian how can i say that and dismiss her feelings for a girl. i told her it didn't matter and God love us and wants us to love people. that was the end of it, i guess i was not much of a help to tell her how to lead her life.
at that point in my life i was a new Christian of maybe 2-3 years only. what mattered to me was not how to condemn people for their wrong doings, but rather how to help them find the God that forgives them and loves them. that was how i came to be a Christian and that is how i want to talk to people about this God that i came to know.
i have read the Bible completely twice and don't pretend to have a complete underwstanding of how God thinks or what are His plans. i also do not remember much of it. i do remember that in the Old Testaments there are alot of rules regarding how to lead one's life and what to do for the proper worship of God. if we are to follow the book to the letter, we are all going to hell. we all fall short. and come the New Testaments and Jesus. the story of Jesus is how he condemn the rituals and reminded people of the love of God and God's creations. He worked with sinners and loved them. He healed them and ate with them. He gave them hope and turned even them to God's love.
Matthew 22: 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
to me, this is the essence of Jesus's teachings. as He came to serve and save us, the underlying reason is God's love, and He wants us to reciprocate and spread that love to others. not to condemn and not to judge.
John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
this debate regarding the repeal of 377A is very heated with people feeling that the law remains an ax over their heads even though no one have been prosecuted. while law is not enforced, it remains a threat to the LGBT community and their expression of themselves. the other side that wants the law retained also feels threatened that if the law is repealed, there will be a moral degradation in the society at large and the falling into sin even more. while i am largely uneducated in this matter, i feel that the law takes away the right of people who are doing no harm to others.
will openly gay people make straight people gays? will it tempt them? i do not think it will happen anymore than the other way round.
i have friends who are open about it and some who are still avoiding the issue publicly. they are still my friends. they are still God's creation.
