Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Romans 5:1-11

The New Testament speaks of two kinds of peace–the objective peace that has to do with your relationship to God, and the subjective peace that has to do with your experience in life.

The natural man lacks peace with God. We all come into the world fighting against God, because we are a part of the rebellion that started with Adam and Eve. Romans 5:10 says we were enemies of God. We fought against God, and everything we did militated against His principles.

But when we receive Jesus Christ, we cease being enemies of God–we make a truce with Him. We come over to His side, and the hostility is ended. Jesus Christ wrote the treaty with the blood of His cross. That treaty, that bond, that covenant of peace declares the objective fact that we now are at peace with Him.

That’s what Paul means in Ephesians 6:15, when he calls the good news of salvation “the preparation of the gospel of peace.” The gospel is that which makes a man who was at war with God to be at peace with Him. This peace is objective–that is, it has nothing to do with how we feel or what we think. It is an accomplished fact.

Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God.” We who trust Christ are redeemed and declared righteous by faith. Our sins are forgiven, rebellion ceases, the war is over, and we have peace with God. That was God’s wonderful purpose in salvation.

Colossians 1:20-22 says that Christ “made peace through the blood of His cross…. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”

A sinful, vile, wicked person cannot come into the presence of a holy God. Something must make that unholy person righteous before he can be at peace with God. And that’s exactly what Christ did, dying for sin, imputing His righteousness to sinners. So Paul says we are no longer enemies but are at peace because we are reconciled.

It is as if God were on one side, we were on the other side, then Christ filled the gap, taking the hand of God and the hand of man and placing them together into the same grip. We have now been brought together through the blood of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Whereas God and man were once estranged, they have now been reconciled. That is the heart of the gospel message, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19. But Jesus is not talking about objective peace in John 14:27. The peace He speaks of here is a subjective, experiential peace. It is tranquility of the soul, a settled, positive peace that affects the circumstances of life. It is peace that is aggressive; rather than being victimized by events, it attacks them and gobbles them up. It is a supernatural, permanent, positive, no-side-effects, divine tranquilizer. This peace is the heart’s calm after Calvary’s storm. It is the firm conviction that He who spared not His own Son will also along with Him freely give us all things (cf. Romans 8:32).

This is the peace that Paul speaks about in Philippians 4:7: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The peace of God is not based on circumstances like the world’s peace, so it doesn’t always make sense to the carnal mind; Paul says it is a peace that surpasses comprehension. It doesn’t seem reasonable that such peace could exist in the midst of the problems and troubles Christians go through. But this is divine, supernatural peace; it cannot be figured out on a human level.

The word for “guard” in Philippians 4:7 is not the word that means to “watch,” or “keep imprisoned.” It is a word that is often used in a military sense, meaning “to stand at a post and guard against the aggression of an enemy.” When peace is on guard, the Christian has entered an impregnable citadel from which nothing can dislodge him. The name of the fortress is Christ, and the guard is peace. The peace of God stands guard and keeps worry from the corroding our hearts, and unworthy thoughts from tearing up our minds.

This is the kind of peace men really want: They want a peace that deals with the past, one where no strings of conscience dipped in the poison of past sins tear at them and torture them hour by hour. They want a peace that governs the present, with no unsatisfied desires gnawing at their hearts. They want a peace that holds promise for the future, where no foreboding fear of the unknown and dark tomorrow threatens them. And that is exactly the peace through which the guilt of the past is forgiven; by which the trials of the present are overcome; and in which our destiny in the future is secured eternally.

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.
John 14:23-31

Though in the news, we have heard a great deal about the possibility of a major war as Russia invades the Crimea, but peace of mind has been more on my mind the last few days. Though I am in the closet and love a lie that I despise because of the small minds of some “Christians” who would cost me my job if I were out, I so have places, friends’ homes, where I can go and be my true self and be as out and open as I want. I don’t have to guard what I say. I can make a joke about my sexuality or sometimes even a comment that might seem crude to some, but I don’t have to filter myself, which is something I hate to have to do. I much prefer honesty. I can’t tell you how much I hate guarding every word I say, fearing that it could be taken the wrong way (if you too are in the closet, you probably understand).

The other night I was over at one of my friend’s house. There were five of us there, including me, and the other four are well aware of the fact that I’m gay. I’ve never known of any of them having a problem with it. We were joking around and I agreed, again jokingly, with one of the ladies who said that she’d fallen in love many time but often because the man was beautiful. I think with most people it would have been seen as an innocent comment about shallowly falling in love with a beautiful person. Gender was not really mentioned and I didn’t mean it that way. The whole thing was a joking conversation but apparently it hit the nerve of the husband of another female friend of mine who was there. He asked me not to mention my sexuality around him. I was absolutely floored because his wife had just been trying to convince me to go to church with them because there were a lot of gay people who went to their church. I just couldn’t understand how one minute it was okay for his wife to tell me that I should come to church with them to meet a man, and then it was wrong for me to say even the slightest thing.

So I have been struggling to understand how I feel about this revelation from him. I have never said much about my sexuality around him because I’ve never felt comfortable, but I have made a comment here and there and it never seemed to bother him. This wasn’t even meant to be an overt comment. Is oxidize with these people quite often, because I like them and have always felt comfortable around them. I was a bit quiet the rest of the night after that incident, but it has weighed heavily on my mind. So as I was trying to figure out what to write about today, as I often do, I try to address a problem of my own by turning to the Bible and hoping that it will help,others as well. So I decided to do some research on peace of mind. I am thinking that this may be a series of post that will continue for the next several Sundays. I need some peace of mind because right now my heart hurts and I feel as if I’ve been kicked in the gut. So with that introduction, I want to talk about the peace that God can bring us.

The Hebrew Bible uses a familiar but significant word, shalom. In its purest sense, shalom means “peace.” The connotation is positive. That is, when someone says, “Shalom,” or, “Peace unto you,” it doesn’t mean, “I hope you don’t get into any trouble”; it means, “I hope you have all the highest good coming your way.”

Most people in our world don’t understand peace as a positive concept. All they know is the negative aspect of peace, which is merely the absence of trouble. The definition of peace in many languages of the world illustrates that. For example, the Quechua Indians in Ecuador and Bolivia use a word for peace that literally translates, “to sit down in one’s heart.” For them peace is the opposite of running around in the midst of constant anxieties. The Chol Indians of Mexico define peace as “a quiet heart.” Those may be beautiful ways to put it, but they still seem to leave us with only the negative idea that peace is the absence of trouble.

Close to the meaning of the Hebrew word shalom is the word used by the Kekchi Indians of Guatemala, who define peace as “quiet goodness.” The term they use conveys the idea of something that is active and aggressive, not just a rest in one’s own heart away from troublesome circumstances.

The biblical concept of peace does not focus on the absence of trouble. Biblical peace is unrelated to circumstances; it is a goodness of life that is not touched by what happens on the outside. You may be in the midst of great trials and still have biblical peace. Paul said he could be content in any circumstance; and he demonstrated that he had peace even in the jail at Philippi, where he sang and remained confident that God was being gracious to him. Then when the opportunity arose, he communicated God’s goodness to the Philippian jailer, and brought him and his family to salvation. Likewise, James wrote, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials” (James 1:2).

Where does a man find the kind of peace that is not just the absence of trouble–the kind of peace that cannot be affected by trouble, danger, or sorrow? It is ironic that what is surely the most definitive discourse on peace in all of Scripture comes from the Lord Jesus on the night before He died in agony. He knew what He was facing, yet He still took time to comfort His disciples with the message of peace:

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. (John 14:27)

The peace Jesus is speaking of enables believers to remain calm in the most wildly fearful circumstances. It enables them to hush a cry, still a riot, rejoice in pain and trial, and sing in the middle of suffering. This peace is never by circumstances, but instead affects and even overrules them.

So remember the positive meaning of peace. I find it best to see the positive instead of the negative, even if at times, it can be very difficult. Jesus left us with peace, and we should embrace it.

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:19 (KJV)

Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Safe from wrath and make me pure

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgement throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

“Rock of Ages” is a popular Christian hymn by the Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady written in 1763 and first published in The Gospel Magazine in 1775. Traditionally, it is held that Toplady drew his inspiration from an incident in the gorge of Burrington Combe in the Mendip Hills in England. Toplady, a preacher in the nearby village of Blagdon, was traveling along the gorge when he was caught in a storm. Finding shelter in a gap in the gorge, he was struck by the title and scribbled down the initial lyrics on a playing card.

This morning, I will be the song leader at church. Our usual song leader has a slight case of laryngitis and is unable to conduct the service. I was the song leader before I moved away for graduate school, but I was never very good at it. I’m just not a loud enough and confident enough of a singer to lead a congregation, let alone a small congregation where every singer counts and there is no musical accompaniment since it is a Church of Christ. However, “Rock of Ages” is one of those tried and true songs that everyone knows, which makes it an easy song to lead. I tend to use traditional songs because they are the ones that I know best. If you follow my Sunday posts, you will see that occasionally I do post the lyrics to hymns, and the past songs that I have listed will most likely make up my song service for today.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalms 103:1-5

Good health is something we take for granted—until we start to lose it. When our health takes a downturn, we quickly begin to question our habits and diet. God has designed the human body so that it is a finely tuned instrument that is the most resilient on earth. It can endure fractures and adhesions, constant pain and great stretches of tedium.

However, it is a fragile instrument because it is not built to handle excess, whether in the form of nourishment, fuel or additives. Unlike machines, it chokes on poisons when ingested in unending doses and mistaken for fuel. Though it has moving, feeling and thinking parts, they can be misused. God has provided us with an “owner’s manual” that tells us how to operate the human body. That manual is the Bible, a book that contains instructions for proper maintenance. Although it isn’t a medical text, it is God’s Word, and in its pages He reveals many basic principles for good physical, mental, and spiritual health.

A major part of the Bible’s health instruction dates back to the time of Moses. Yet in our day, many researchers and medical doctors are stunned at the accuracy and effectiveness of its many provisions. The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia tells us that the laws given by God to Moses contain remarkable rules pertaining to public health which concerns us even today: water and food contamination, sewage disposal, infectious diseases and health education. These issues were all dealt with in the Mosaic health laws. Many of these same laws are found in most basic law codes of the ancient world. Some of them were forgotten by Christians until the late Middle Ages. Some no longer apply because of modern medicine, technology, and nutritional practices.

The Bible gives us the foundational key to physical and mental health. That key is simply this: “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity . . . This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones” (Proverbs 3:1-2, 8). It should not surprise us that obedience to God’s commandments and other laws would promote health. When we obey them, we operate in accordance with His instructions. As our Creator, He knows what’s best for us: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). He commands us to treat our body as a temple and that we should take care of ourselves. We should not consume things that will harm us, and we should especially not consume things in excess which might cause us harm.

Some biblical statements about health are specific, such as: “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you” (Exodus 15:26). The ancient Egyptians suffered from the kinds of diseases that have ravaged mankind throughout history. Autopsies on Egyptian mummies have revealed evidence of cancer, arteriosclerosis, arthritis, tuberculosis, gallstones, bladder stones, parasitic diseases and smallpox. They suffered many diseases because they did not understand the health principles God gave to Moses.

The Good News is that Jesus died for our sins, we should not fear God’s punishment while on earth. He will not bring forth diseases as a means of punishment, as some have claimed. In the Middle Ages, people claimed that the Black Death was a punishment from God. Since the early 1980s, people have claimed that HIV/AIDS is a punishment from God. These same people claim that earthquake, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are punishments from God. They are not. Jesus came to earth to bring us a new covenant, and to absolve us of our sins. If we believe, are baptized in the newness of life, allow our sins to be washed away, and follow God’s teachings of love and acceptance, then we shall walk with God and provide a healthy and honorable view of ourselves as Christians. We can live a life in God’s example.

The biblical instructions regarding health, maintenance, and recovery from illness involve application of cause-and-effect principles—based on true science—that were given thousands of years before scientists developed the technology that enabled them to discover germs, bacteria, viruses, genes and the like. Modern medical science has discovered many principles of good health, but they originated with God who designed and created the miracle that is the human body.

What the Bible says about health is that those who follow God will generally be healthy. That does not necessarily mean that those who don’t follow God will always be sick. Nor does it mean that God’s people will be absolutely free of disease. The Bible says, “I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well” (3 John 1:2). Obviously, God is more interested in our spiritual health than our physical well-being, but He does want us to be physically healthy as well. On the other hand, disease is a result of Adam’s sin, and even the most righteous may suffer. After all, Job was righteous, but God allowed him to suffer disease and hardship as a test of his faith.

It was not until the modern era that men obtained detailed knowledge of human physiology and medicine. Yet the Creator God, who is sometimes called the Great Physician, knows everything about us, and He’s provided the necessary keys to good health. The choice to obey the Lord and reap the resulting benefits is ours to make.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 1:1-10

I want to tell you a little about my faith and to explain to those who read my blog why I write my Sunday devotionals. First and foremost, I am a Christian. I am also a gay man. Furthermore, I am a teacher. Those are three things that I am, though I am many more things and much more, but fundamentally, I am a Christian gay man, who is a teacher. These descriptions are a core of my being, and I have no desire to change them.

Each Sunday, I write a religious post. I started those posts as an exploration of myself as a member of the churches of Christ and decided to continue writing one each Sunday as a personal devotional for myself, and for anyone who desired to read them. Many of my regular readers tell me how much they enjoy those posts. Others, however, have criticized me for them. Criticism, I can deal with, no problem. I do my research and I meditate and ponder my devotionals before posting them. I am firm in my faith, and I enjoy a good discussion/debate. However, what I am uncomfortable with is those who belittle my faith. Questioning the existence of God is one thing, even disagreeing with someone about what they believe is okay, but there is no reason to belittle someone for his or her faith.

I am not perfect, and neither is anyone else. As Romans 3:22-25 states “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.“

I was raised in the Church of Christ. My congregation is a small country church where the number of attendees has been anywhere from 12-25 people. It is also a loving church and each member is like a member of my family. They, however, do not know that I am gay, except for my parents who do know. Homosexuality is not something that comes up in the sermons at my church. My minister tends to preach about loving kindness and how to be a better Christian through our daily lives. Because of this loving environment, I have a strong faith in Christianity.

Some people in the LGBT community may judge me for my belief in Christianity. Many have questioned me on my blog about this very issue. Some have even belittled me about my belief in God. It seems that many gay people feel abandoned by God because of the hatred that many people who call themselves Christians espouse. That kind of hatred was never part of the Christianity that I grew up around. I was taught to take God’s word as a whole and not to pick out individual verses to condemn someone. I was taught that the Bible should be studied closely and that various translations of the Bible can be flawed. Therefore, if a word or words trouble you, then you should look closer at the meaning and context of those words. Therefore, I studied the texts that people use to condemn homosexuality, and came to a different conclusion. Go back to my posts about the Church of Christ and you will see what I mean.

I try to live my life by treating others as I want to be treated. Am I always successful? No, but I do try. I have my flaws. If you looked at my life, would you think of me as a typical Christian? No, you wouldn’t. First of all, I am gay, which means that I’ve had sex with men (though, I do think you can be gay and celibate, if you chose). Personally, I been celibate for a while, but that is really not by choice. Do I think that God approves of me having sex with men? No, I don’t think he does, but it does not have to do with my sexual partner’s gender, but because it is premarital sex, fornication, if you prefer. However, I am weak of the flesh. I also don’t always take perfect care of my body. I drink alcohol, sometimes eat too much, and don’t exercise enough. I take pleasures when I can, but I also do so in moderation, which I think is the key. I’m not perfect, but God still loves me. So, I try my best to be a good person, so that I can feel worthy of God’s love.

If you do not agree with my Sunday devotionals or you don’t believe in God, then I ask one, two, and/or three things of you: (1) please do not use the comment section to belittle my faith it only makes me very sad and, honestly, hurts my feelings; (2) try to take the broader moral message from the post instead of the religious God-centered message; and (3) if you like my other posts but know you do not enjoy or want to read my devotionals, then please just skip reading my blog on Sundays and read it the other six days of the week. I am not trying to push my faith on to anyone. My Sunday devotionals are personal to me, and many others enjoy reading them.

All I ask is that you to do is to adhere to the Golden Rule or the ethic of reciprocity which is found in the scriptures of nearly every religion and is often regarded as the most concise and general principle of ethics. One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.

One final note, and this is a bit of an aside, I personally cannot fathom a strict adherence to atheism. I look around me each and every day and see the wonders of God’s creation. If you strictly adhere to evolution, then you admit, in my opinion at least, that we are all a cosmic accident. For me, there is too much perfection and love and beauty for all of this to be an accident. I wholeheartedly believe that God has guided the creation of the universe, and that he guides us each and everyday. He is with us always, and that thought brings me the greatest comfort of my life.

Jesus Loves Me. This I Know . . . Even If I’m Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgendered

by Mary Pearson

“Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so . . . ” unless you are Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, Intersex or Queer, in which case you are told that Jesus loves everyone EXCEPT me. Well it’s time to set the record straight – if you’ll pardon the expression. Jesus loves ESPECIALLY His GLBTIQ children – for the Bible tells me so!

The Protestant Bible is like a library consisting of 66 books, written by about 40 authors over a period from about 2000 BC to about 70 AD. It is divided into the Old Testament (before Christ) and the New Testament (after Christ). In these 66 books, there are 1,189 chapters containing about 31,273 verses. The final divisions into chapters and verses occurred only about 500 years ago for ease of referencing. They are not part of the original texts.

I believe that the Original Scriptures were God-inspired and contain the truths that God would have us to know. I believe also that subsequent translations must deal with text, where perhaps there is no comparable word for the original, and meanings of words are sometimes lost or changed.

Translations have been written with the best of intentions by God-fearing, uninspired human beings who have done their very best to convey God’s message, as they understand it, with their current knowledge of the original languages, customs, traditions and culture of Bible times, AND with their own biases, based on their understanding of what they THINK the Original Scriptures said. None of us have been brought up in a vacuum, and it is impossible not to let our preconceived beliefs influence our understanding. If these translators believed that homosexuality was wrong, then that’s how they viewed the scriptures that they were attempting to translate. New research would indicate that their beliefs were indeed wrong.

Since the concept of homosexuality as an orientation was unknown until about a hundred years ago, on that basis alone, we know that the “clobber verses” used against gays could NOT refer to homosexuality as an orientation. They refer to same-sex acts, which were understood to be perpetrated by heterosexuals, and therefore were “lustful” and “unnatural”.

There is no word in biblical Greek or Hebrew (the original languages of the Bible) that is the equivalent to the English word “homosexual”. The 1946 Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible was the first translation to use the word “homosexual”.

There is no word in biblical Greek or Hebrew for “sodomy”. A Sodomite was simply an inhabitant of Sodom, just as a Torontonian is an inhabitant of Toronto. It was not until after the rise of the hierarchy in the institutional Church that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was inaccurately equated with homosexuality and the word “sodomite” came into use. (Read my article The Sin of Sodom Was NOT Homosexuality!.) Any translation using the words “homosexual”, “sodomy” or “sodomite” are interpretations and are not faithful representations of the Original Scriptures.

Wherever same-sex acts are mentioned, it is either with regard to ritualistic traditions which were intended to increase the small population of the Hebrews, or it is among the Purity Codes for the Priests, or it is with regard to temple prostitution (idol worship) which was very common among the pagan people who surrounded the Hebrews, or it had to do with rape, power and violence as in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

None of the “clobber verses” used against gays refer to a loving relationship between two people, however you will find examples of same-sex love in the beautiful and romantic stories of Ruth and Naomi, a passage which very often is used in marriage ceremonies and yet it is between two women.

“And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee (Naomi), [or] to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people [shall be] my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, [if ought] but death part thee and me.” Ruth 1:16,17

– and of David and Jonathan

“The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” I Samuel 18:1(b)

“Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” II Samuel 1:26(b)

Jesus never mentioned homosexuality. Society and the church perceive it to be a sin, worthy of ostracizing family and friends, but Jesus never mentioned it! He talked about money, adultery, divorce, greed and lots of other things, but He never mentioned homosexuality. Rather neglectful of Him – IF being gay were such an abomination – another word usually linked to homosexuals, which has also been mistranslated. The correct interpretation of the word “abomination” refers to impurity and is usually linked with idolatry, not sexuality.

The Bible has been perverted to uphold slavery, apartheid and segregation, to malign Jews and other non-Christian people of faith, to support Hitler’s Third Reich, to resist medical science and to rebuke inter-racial marriage. It has been used to execute women as witches, to defend the racism of the Ku Klux Klan and to perpetrate intolerance and discrimination of women and sexual minorities. It took the Catholic Church 359 years to admit that they were wrong when they accused Galileo of heresy and condemned him to death unless he recanted that the earth rotates around the sun. Oh yes! The Bible has been misused and misinterpreted often over the years, and it has been misinterpreted regarding the issue of homosexuality.

Jesus’ love was INCLUSIVE! His friends were not the Pharisees and Sadducees of the faith who were always trying to catch Him breaking the letter of the law – which He often did. Jesus made it clear that the only law is LOVE.

On one occasion Jesus was asked: “Master, which is the great commandment of the law?” He answered: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” Matt. 22:36-40

If what you have been told does not agree with Jesus’ Great Commandments, then what you have been told is wrong. God’s love is for ALL, especially gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people! Jesus was the First to reach out to the rejected of society. Jesus reaches out to us now.

“It is never legitimate to use the words of Scripture to promote a loveless agenda.” – Right Rev. Dr. Peter Short, Moderator of the United Church of Canada

“God loved the world so much, that Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, was freely given, that WHOSOEVER believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

Jesus’ friends were the marginalized of society – the despised tax collectors, the uneducated, the prostitutes and the lepers. Doesn’t it just make sense that He would choose we gays for His close friends if He were here today! So smile because God has a plan for your life and “Jesus loves YOU. This I know, for the Bible tells me so!”

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.”
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:38-48

Here’s a joke: A priest is giving a homily based on Jesus’s command to love your enemies.

“Now,” he says, “I’ll bet that many of us feel as if we have enemies in our lives,” he says the congregation. “So raise your hands,” he says, “if you have many enemies.” And quite a few people raise their hands. “Now raise your hands if you have only a few enemies.” And about half as many people raise their hands. “Now raise your hands if you have only one or two enemies.” And even fewer people raised their hands. “See,” says the priest, “most of us feel like we have enemies.”

“Now raise your hands if you have no enemies at all.” And the priest looks around, and looks around, and finally, way in the back, a very, very old man raises his hand. He stands up and says, “I have no enemies whatsoever!” Delighted, the priest invites the man to the front of the church. “What a blessing!” the priest says. “How old are you?

“I’m 98 years old, and I have no enemies.” The priest says, “What a wonderful Christian life you lead! And tell us all how it is that you have no enemies.”

“All the bastards have died!”

Most of us, sadly, go through life with, for better or worse, and no matter how hard we try, a few people we may feel are our “enemies.” Or, more broadly, people seem to hate us. There are people whom we’ve offended and to whom we’ve apologized, but who refuse to accept our apologies. There are people at work who we’ve angered, who are jealous of us or who have set themselves against us. There are people in our families who hold a grudge against us for some mysterious reason that we can never comprehend. And there are people who seem to dislike us or wish us ill for no good reason. It’s a sad part of human life.

And it’s a hard part of life. And sometimes, when we hear Jesus telling us to love our enemies, it seems to make things even harder.

In the Gospel of Matthew (5:38-48), Jesus contrasts what his disciples had heard in the past with what they must practice as his followers. “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye.’ But I say to you offer no resistance to one who is evil,” he says. “You have heard that it was said that you must love your neighbors and hate your enemies. But I say to you love your enemies.” Jesus is trying to move the disciples beyond what they knew into a realm of practice that will help them follow Jesus, to live according to a new law, the law of love.

But there’s a problem: it seems impossible! How are we supposed to love our enemies sincerely? Are we really supposed to pray for … whom? For people who hate us because we are gay? For people who work against us because they think we are sinners? For people who want us to fail because they don’t want us to have equality? It seems almost masochistic — a surefire recipe for psychological disaster.

A few things might help us understand what Jesus means. Now, I’m not going to water down these passages, but as in all the Gospel narratives, it’s important to understand the context of Jesus’s comments, and how they may have been understood in his time.

For example, when Jesus talks about someone turning the other cheek, many Scripture scholars feel that he’s talking about a particular act. The Gospel of Matthew specifies that the “right cheek.” This means the blow comes from the back of the assailant’s left hand, and therefore constitutes an insult not a violent assault. So some scholars say that when Jesus says the “other cheek,” the idea is that when you’re insulted by a slap on the cheek you should turn away and not retaliate. It’s not so much an invitation for someone to keep hitting you as it is for you not to retaliate. So that may help us understand things.

Likewise, the word Jesus used when he talks about loving your enemies is not the same word that is used in other discussions of love. In ancient Greek, the language of the Gospels, there are three words for love: first, philios, which was a kind of fraternal or friendly love (and where we get the word Philadelphia) and second, eros, a romantic love.

But the word Jesus uses here is the third kind of love, agape, a sort of unconquerable benevolence or invincible goodwill. We’re supposed to agape our enemies. Jesus is asking us to agape people no matter what they do to us, no matter how they treat us, no matter how they insult us. No matter what their actions we never allow bitterness against them to invade our hearts, but will treat them with goodwill.

So it doesn’t mean that we have to love our enemies the same way that we speak about “falling in love” with someone or the way we love our family members. It simply means we must open our hearts to them.

And pray for them, too. In my experience, it’s easier to agape someone you dislike (or who dislikes you) when you pray for them. Because when you pray for them, God often opens your heart to seeing people the way that God sees them, rather than the way you see them. And you can often have pity for people who may be filled with anger toward you.

But even when you understand all these things, and even if you read Scripture commentaries, these remain difficult things to hear. Even harder to follow. Loving your enemies and pray for those who persecute you is hard. I remember several years ago when Westboro Baptist Church came to my grad school to protest with all of their hateful signs. I wanted to be there protesting against them, yet what I ended up doing was going and praying for them. I prayed that God would show them the error of their ways. I prayed that God would teach them about love and help them realize that God hates no one. God truly does love us all, even those who spew hate.

Over the course of many years, in light of that experience, and in light of meditating on the Gospels, I realized three things about loving your enemies.

First of all, some people may simply dislike you. So it’s useless to try to “get” them to like you, much less to love you. It’s useless to try to change them. You can be open to reconciliation, but you have no control over whether someone will reconcile with you. Part of this process is embracing your own powerlessness. Letting go is paramount.

Second, turning away from insults, hatred and contempt and “offering the other cheek” is emotionally healthy. Now, some schools of psychology say that you should always give vent to anger (rather than let it fester) but always responding with bitter and abusive language or vengefulness is rather a childish thing to do. Only a baby gives vent to his or her anger all the time. You can acknowledge your anger, perhaps express frustration you have in a calm way, but you don’t have to respond in kind.

Basically, and to put it less elegantly than Jesus, if your enemy behaves like a jerk toward you, there’s no reason you have to act like a jerk toward him.

Third, loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you is liberating. Too often we can find ourselves in pitched battles with the people who hate us, always seeking the upper hand, always noting who’s up and who’s down, always analyzing every slight. You see this in families and even in office environments, where people are trapped into cycles of vengefulness. It wears both parties down and dehumanizes everyone involved. I’ve seen my own mother, for example, whose hatred toward those who she feels has wronged her utterly destroyed by the inability to forgive and suffers from severe depression; since she has discovered that I am gay, her hatred toward the LGBT has intensified far beyond what it ever was before. Jesus is offering us a way out of all that, a way to forgive those who we feel wronged by and to turn to love instead.

So what Jesus is telling us is hard, but it’s not impossible. And it’s necessary, too, because ultimately he is inviting us not only to forgiveness and charity but to something else: freedom and happiness. So you have heard that it was said, and you have heard that it was said to you by Jesus, who wants you to be happy.

Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
John 13:7

Farther Along
By W. A. Fletcher

Tempted and tried, we’re oft made to wonder
Why it should be thus all the day long;
While there are others living about us,
Never molested, though in the wrong.

Farther along we’ll know more about it,
Farther along we’ll understand why;
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
We’ll understand it all by and by.

Sometimes I wonder why I must suffer,
Go in the rain, the cold, and the snow,
When there are many living in comfort,
Giving no heed to all I can do.

Farther along we’ll know more about it,
Farther along we’ll understand why;
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
We’ll understand it all by and by.

Tempted and tried, how often we question
Why we must suffer year after year,
Being accused by those of our loved ones,
E’en though we’ve walked in God’s holy fear.

Farther along we’ll know more about it,
Farther along we’ll understand why;
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
We’ll understand it all by and by.

Often when death has taken our loved ones,
Leaving our home so lone and so drear,
Then do we wonder why others prosper,
Living so wicked year after year.

Farther along we’ll know more about it,
Farther along we’ll understand why;
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
We’ll understand it all by and by.

“Faithful till death,” saith our loving Master;
Short is our time to labor and wait;
Then will our toiling seem to be nothing,
When we shall pass the heavenly gate.

Farther along we’ll know more about it,
Farther along we’ll understand why;
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
We’ll understand it all by and by.

Soon we will see our dear, loving Savior,
Hear the last trumpet sound through the sky;
Then we will meet those gone on before us,
Then we shall know and understand why.

Farther along we’ll know more about it,
Farther along we’ll understand why;
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
We’ll understand it all by and by.

The lyrics to the song were written in 1911 by Rev. W. A. Fletcher, an itinerant preacher, while he was traveling to the Indian Territories by train. Fletcher was feeling depressed because his wife, Catherine Louise Emmett Fletcher of Cleburne, Texas, was expecting their first-born child in a few weeks and he wouldn’t be present for the occasion. He felt that his priorities were with his ministry in the Indian Territories and wrote the lyrics to reflect his frame of mind at the time. Sitting next to him on the train was J. R. Baxter, a gospel music promoter who was quite taken with the lyrics that Fletcher was writing and offered him $2.00 for them. Mr. Baxter subsequently had them put to music and the song has been quite popular in the gospel music arena ever since.

The song deals with a Christian’s dismay at the apparent prosperity of the wicked, when contrasted with the suffering of the righteous. The repeated theme is that, “farther along” (in Heaven, perhaps), the truth will be revealed. Some songs are truly comforting, and for me this is one of them. No matter how bad things may be in life, if we keep our faith and we don’t change the goodness of our character, then heaven will be ours someday.