There are people, good and upstanding ‘help-your-neighbor-kind-of-people’
who go to church where the pastor thinks homosexual behavior is a sin and
accept that as a fact but don’t go out of their way to repeat what was said. They
are not ignoring that fact, they just chose not to negatively act on that fact.
Instead, they sought the positivity in such situations and brought with them
peace, compassion and kindness showing everyone the kind of love Jesus showed
when he walked amongst us.
As a writer, I respect those views and accept the fact that
homosexuality is a sin. However, no sin is worse than the other and we all sin.
Who are we to choose which sin is worse than the other?
Hence, we acknowledge two things: God is love and love is God.
How or who we love comes from our heart and soul. That is another fact. We are
not living in a perfect world and the way we choose to live our livestyle is
based on our ability to make choices. God gave us the free will to make
choices.
As a writer, I have no idea what your personal views are about
the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender communities. As a Christian, I know
the power of forgiveness and love – that is something we don’t exercise often
enough and we need to do more of it so we know that God is listening to us and
shows His presence inside our hearts.
Whether the topic is same-sex marriage or just about the
general issues related to the LGBT relationships, I cannot speak for anyone but
myself but feel compelled to write about those relationships that I have
personally seen and witness with family and close friends exercising their
free-will and choosing partners or spouses of the same sex.
I do not condemn them, I have no reason to resent or be
offended by them as their choices appear to be based on their own love and
needs in life. These people, young and old, do not frustrate me or make me
angry – they have done nothing to me to fear them or be against them like some
act with their hate-crimes.
I have personally seen
how happy they are and give them the benefit of the doubt and reserve my own
judgment on their choices. I think God would want me to do that. We sometimes
underestimate the power of love and who are we to choose what is wrong or right
for someone else? More importantly, what about the power of forgiveness?
This kind of talk should not be on the news but it is. Perhaps
it is mainstream media’s way to indict people for choices not in line with
their own morality or lifestyles.
However, I take this as another step that shows how much the
media is out of touch with current events related to relationships. In other
words, I believe the media is trying to wrongfully influence us or persuade us
to twist our thoughts towards their opinions and standards. We all know how
reliable the news is on the power of persuasion.
I don’t think that LGBT bashing is called for and that leads
me to write about the suffering caused by such harassment or bullying by those
who don’t take the time to learn more about the LGBT communities and their
lifestyle as well as contributions to society.
As a person, I have found love in every person who has ties to
the LGBT lifestyle. I have witnessed same-sex marriages making two people happy
and relationships that show that two people of the same gender can live in
harmony and love each other just like the rest of us. There is no differential
there – they are all people who love each other.
If you’re a conservative in America, you’re pretty used to
knowing that your favorite celebrities will regularly disagree with you on
everything from abortion to LGBT matters to climate change and that is okay as
long as you are not persuaded to follow their ideology without freely doing so
by investing the time to learn more about the matter.
Everybody gets offended over everything today – it is time to
let go of their beliefs and focus on our own. Per independent research studies
by the Pew
Research Center, as of 2016, 37 percent of adults in this country still
oppose same-sex marriage, while 55 percent approve. That means over a third of
Americans are still against same-sex marriage.
Meanwhile, among Christians, 54 percent thought that
homosexuality should be accepted in society, per a 2014 Pew study—which means
that up to 46 percent thought it shouldn’t be. Among Protestants, 44 percent
believe that homosexuality should be discouraged in society.
A Gallup pointed out in 2015, fewer than 4 percent of
Americans identify as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender). In
contrast, Americans tend to think a whopping 23 percent of the population is
LGBT.
That’s not shocking, given how much media and entertainment go
out of their way to highlight such couples. Ultimately, same-sex marriage is legal,
until everyone in America agrees that same-sex marriage is OK—or at least is
afraid to say otherwise.
