Yeah I said that.
Luke 10:29-37 (emphasis added by me)
…so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 In reply Jesus said: “A GAY man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A CHRISTIAN priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a (BORN AGAIN BELIEVER) Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But an ATHEIST, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the GAY man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
I think we have missed our opportunity to love our neighbors. And I believe that atheists namely have taken the place where Christians should have been in the first place.
May be you are reading this and you say, Hey, I do not hate gays.
Sure. But do you love them as much as you love yourself? You say I do not hate them but you do not help them either. The same way you may help a fellow in your church who has a habit of lying.
But being Gay is sinful? you say,
Well, newsflash! so is lying, cheating, cursing, arrogance, drinking, wrathful, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, covenantbreakers, being without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.
What? you do not agree? well check your Bible at Rom 1:29-31
I think some Christians have become too much holy to realize their error. When the gay community was bashed or persecuted they stood on the side rails and watched in silence. They could have helped but they didn’t because being Gay was unacceptable to them. They fulfill the part of the priest in the above parable.
And some of the Christians who really felt like they should have helped but didn’t are equally wrong because they mistook grace as legalism in the dogmatic form. They are the Levis’ – the chosen people of God, the born again believers, who looked on the poor gay but then turned their heads and walked on.
And finally the atheist stood up and got the gay person some help. Well, I certainly applaud them on this.
“But they have political agendas” you say
Sadly that’s true, issues like abortion and gay marriage are more of a political issues now. But that doesn’t give you an iota of margin to not carry out the grace of God as you were intended to, as was the message of the gospel.
“Love one another as I have loved you”.
But Gay marriage is un-biblical, you say
So is No-fault Divorce, I don’t see Christians marching up and down to have that cancelled. why? Because they want to be treated “fairly”. Well guess what, For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you. Luke 6:38
What should I do? you ask.
Three words for you, “Don’t be hypocritical”.
This whole gay issue has been blown out of proportion. There is a fair reason why the Christian community is looked upon as “narrow-minded” because we are. Most of us want un-biblical things in our lives but we are not willing to allow others the same measure of liberty. We are okay with divorce but not with gay marriage.
But marriage is between man and woman, you say
Yeah historically it was, but now its not a matter of what marriage by tradition was. The law is being decided on by votes and if gays are citizens they have a right too, to be treated equally, just like you.
But gays are abusing this system, they are making lawsuits against churches for not allowing them to marry
Frankly, that is sad, if a church does not want to perform gay marriage they shouldn’t be forced to. But this has resulted because Christians too are trying to force their law on gays. Its a war of stubborn ideals and caught within the crossfire are poor innocent clergy and gays who on both sides, are not extremists.
Bottom line
Gays are there, if we do not help them, someone will but we would be directly opposing the spirit of love and grace if we didn’t. Regardless of whether you believe homosexuality is a sin or not, remember this, if it is a sin, it is no greater than any other sin, it is certainly not the UNPARDONABLE sin.
Matthew 26:36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment…?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your (GAY) neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
The Critical Eye 
12 replies on “Love Thy “Gay” Neighbor”
whoa! awesome!
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and ALL LIARS—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
– Revelation 21:8
All Liars. what an emphasis. a scary though not for believers.
when I met with a friend a few weeks back, he had the shock of his Life.
I told him homosexuals will go to heaven if they have Christ as their substitute and representative.
well, not just him, but most christians will be shock to learned that homosexuals will go to heaven on Christ account.
my friend’s immediate reaction and reply was this
“but when He received Christ, he wont be a homosexual anymore nor will practice it”
…
i think our problem is mostly our psyche is always geared towards “good works”.
that the genuine believer will produce good works.
unwittingly, the subconsious merits the good gwork towards salvation
or that the good works has become a requirements towards salvation.
we cannot seem to reconcile or justify the idea that those who are saved are those who cannot save themselves indeed
All Liars will not enter heaven. Christians who accuses homosexual are equally as disqualified as them.
not unless Christ is their representative and substitute – their Lamb.
i laugh out when you said “News Flash : so are liars ….”. it is so true, yet always missed out.
my take on the hot topic homosexual thingy?
look around us, a lot of claiming to be christians, HATED homosexuals.
hatred makes one a murderer. uh oh.
Christ saves us because we cannot save ourselves.
now that we are saved, let us stop qualifying our good works as merit to unmerited, unearned grace of God
i just love the grace of God. it qualifie the unqualified.
– grace and peace
Exactly. Such simple truths, yet most people forget them when they “Preach”. Sin is sin but it should not affect our love at all.
Glad you liked it. 🙂
This beats most average pulpit preaching. Paid pulpit preachers are generally bound by budgetary concerns, money, approval, and such. Thank you for exercising your freedom to say the things that I need to hear, be reminded of, and be challenged by. Blogs like yours remind me that this medium is now more effective than what comes from the financially-strapped, budget-mindful, 501(c)(3) state-governed institutions.
I am glad it was of some encouragement to you. Too often we forget the true message we were called to get across and we are conveying the wrong message.
A different perspective, perhaps:
Your list includes ” lying, cheating, cursing, arrogance, drinking, wrathful, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, envy, murder, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, covenantbreakers, being without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful.”
You then go on to say “When the gay community was bashed or persecuted they stood on the side rails and watched in silence.”
If there was a “lying” community or a “cheating” community or a “murderous” community or a “backbiter” community, what would be the proper Christian response? I don’t believe the accusation of “persecution” is warranted. We treat adultery with disdain and should treat homosexuality the same way, not hating people but certainly not providing them any comfort in sin, but as people struggling with it. The God of Christianity wiped two cities from the earth because of homosexuality. To try to prevent or stop it is not unchristian. Of course we need to love our neighbors, but we are in absolutely no danger of homosexuals being persecuted today. We are in very real danger of Christians no longer even believing homosexuality is a sin. It is a ‘lifestyle choice’, that phrase that breaks down all communication.
I am not asking you to not treat adultery as something of a nobility. I am only asking that in all of this make sure that your disdain remains to the act not the person guilty of it.
Homosexuality if is a sin then it is no greater than any other sin. Are you ranking sin?
I am only saying, treat people nicely. Love your neighbor as yourself even if that neighbor is gay.
Is it possible to agree with you both…Joshua and John? No one likes a mean person, especially a Christian who is mean, but I think there are quite a few sweeping statements about Christians in this post. Also, it would be helpful to clarify that just because a Christian disagrees with the homosexual lifestyle, that’ doesn’t make them “mean.”
Your blog is a perfect example of how conversations can be held civilly even during disagreements, yes? I think what would make this post more effective is a solid example of “meanness” by a Christian towards a person who is gay rather then using hypothetical dialogue.
Also, when you write about Christian love and how Christians are failing in their responsibility to love their neighbor, I would believe you more if you extended that same love towards the Christian with your words rather then pounding them with how hypocritical we are. The post sounds kind of angry and a little patronizing. Maybe that’s just me as an interpreting reader.
Anyway, I hope this comment doesn’t come off the wrong way. I appreciate that you will approach these subjects and that you provide a platform for them to be discussed.
Hey, thanks for the comment. Good stuff here man. Lately I’ve been trying to focus these kind of things through Eph 6:12 “because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
We often forget that we are not fighting blood and flesh. It is so much easier to focus on that blood and flesh instead of the actual cause of the sin behind the blood and flesh. Trying to remember, that when I get into a situation with another person, it is not them I am fighting. That is hard. That is what we should focus on.
Well said 🙂
It is indeed sad if gay people can suit churches for not wedding them. Here in Sweden each congregation takes a vote on whether they should do it or not. These lawsuits seem like a violation of freedom of religion to me.
Personally I don’t mind gay people but I also don’t like when minorities try to infringe on other people’s rights just because they are minorities.
Thank you for your thoughts and I agree people are abusing the systems. It is battle zone, sadly.
[…] August 30th last year, I wrote somewhat of a controversial post titled “Love thy gay neighbor”. One of my friends, over the phone told me that I had gone overboard with it and that if someone […]