I Can’t Keep Quiet Any Longer

About a half-mile from my house is parked a large bus.  Plastered across the side of this large bus is a headline that says, "End Religious Based Oppression!"  This bus carried roughly three-dozen young people to my town, my street, my college campus so that they could walk onto my campus and tell me that I am "oppressive" and the rules that my school has are designed to "oppress" them.  To that I say, you do not feel "oppression."  You feel conviction.

This group is called Soulforce.  Their main agenda, it seems to me, is to draw as much attention as possible to themselves citing that Christians are oppressive to the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community.  I want to make one thing very clear.  Not for one blessed second do I believe that everyone that calls himself a Christian does not oppress this community in any way.  I am not stupid.  However, I do have a problem with these people coming on my campus and telling my fellow students that the book our entire belief system is based on (The Bible) is oppressive and "gay-bashing."  I have an issue when these people come into an academic building, into a classroom where things having nothing whatsoever to do with sexuality issues are being taught and attempting to disrupt the learning process.  It bothers me that they refuse to meet with our administrators (who, by the way, have let them come on campus…after they requested these people do not, to which these people adamantly refused.) in private and will only settle on public forums such as classrooms, the cafeteria, parks, and the sidewalks across campus.

Don’t get me wrong.  Stand on the sidewalks, scream your lungs out, raise hell about how the rules at Lee University (a private Christian institution, completely within its rights to have rules regarding immoral sexual behavior) are oppressive and completely anti-gay.  Let me give you this, though.  Every single Lee student, when he comes to either check the campus out, or when he applies for school, he is given a handbook.  In this handbook, the rules are clearly stated.  He then has a decision to make.  Does he still want to attend a school which does not hold the belief system he does?  Or does he push ahead, choosing a school that has rules about conduct on its campus that may not agree with his choice of behaviors?  I am not only talking about homosexuality here – there are many other behaviors that people engage in before they come to Lee and face the same decision when they choose to come to Lee.

If you’re still reading, let me explain myself.  Do I believe that having homosexual tendencies is wrong?  No.  I.  Do.  Not.  Do I believe engaging in homosexual behaviors and practices is wrong?  Yes.  I.  Do.  In my belief system, there are what we call "sins."  In the true grand scheme of eternity, there is no one sin that is more offensive than another.  Sin is sin is sin.  Sin is like a disease and it’s eating away at the earth.  We all struggle with sin.  However, let me equate this situation with another sin – murder.  If you think of killing someone…if you have really thought about it seriously…you are not a murderer.  You have not committed that "sin."  If you kill the person, you have become a murderer.  You do not struggle with the frustration of doing it.  You do not have to deal with whether it is a behavior you should engage in or not, you do not wonder if you are a murderer.  Not until you do it.  When you engage in the behavior, it is at that point that you commit the sin.

To me, the same goes for homosexuality.  I do not believe for one second that just because you have a homosexual fantasy or if you are a guy that enjoys interior decorating or if you have seriously thought about being gay that you have committed the sin of homosexuality.  It is when you engage in the behavior that you have committed the sin.  And this is not what I say.  It’s straight from the Bible.  It is in there.  Nowhere in the Bible does it say, "No one ever in history for the rest of time will struggle with lusting after someone of the same sex."  However, it does say,

"Don’t you know that evil people will not receive God’s kingdom? Don’t be fooled. Those who commit sexual sins will not receive the kingdom. Neither will those who worship statues of gods or commit adultery. Neither will men who are prostitutes or who commit homosexual acts."  ~I Corinthians 6:9 (NIRV – Emphasis Added)

"Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality."  ~I Corinthians 6:9 (AMP – Emphasis Added)

"Do not practice homosexuaity; it is a detestable sin."  ~Leviticus 18:22 (NLT – Emphasis Added)

"The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have committed a detestable act and are guilty of a capital offense."  ~Leviticus 20:13 (NLT – Emphasis Added)

Now, before you go crazy on me saying how dare I suggest we give all gays and lesbians the chair, that is not why I put that up there.  I put that up there because it shows that engaging in the <span style="font-family: arial narrow; font-style: italic;”>behavior is what makes it a sin.  I believe that Christ came and died for ALL sins…not just the ones that aren’t "as bad as the others."  He came to deliver us from the OPPRESSION that SATAN puts us under…whether we are straight, gay, black, white, green, purple, or any other thing. 

I believe that there are those who have homosexual tendencies that did not choose to have them.  They may have been born with a predisposition to things that most would consider "feminine."  They may have grown up in a home where one gender ruled and, therefore, they picked up skills and tendencies that others would consider "masculine."  They may have been abused by someone and not received the proper attention and care to mourn for themselves and the situation they had no choice in and thus chose to be the way they are.  All of these are situations that they had no control over.  Does that make them an evil person?  In no way.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  10% of life is what happens to us.  90% of life is how we react to it.  I’m not saying the road to true freedom wouldn’t be long and hard, but to be truly free…isn’t it worth it?

Equality Riders:  I do not oppress you.  I do not condemn you.  I do not think you are evil.  I cry for you.  I pray for you.  I pray that you will understand that God did not intend for you to be this way.  I pray that you will see that God loves you and you do not have to engage in the behavior to be accepted.  I pray that you will see that your oppression is from Satan and he is doing everything he can to blind your eyes and keep you from knowing the truth.  YOU ARE NOT A SINNER JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE YOU.  YOU ARE A SINNER BECAUSE SATAN PUT SIN ON THIS EARTH.  YOU ARE NO DIFFERENT FROM ME.  WE HAVE ALL SINNED.  Christ didn’t just die to save your soul.  He died to set you free from the oppression that Satan has over you.  I pray that you will understand that.  I pray that we will all understand that every day – that we will never fail to be amazed at how much God loves us.