God Loves Fags

Something that has saddened me greatly is how Christians through their silence have allowed groups like the Westboro Church to become perceived as God’s (and Christians) view of homosexuals. Nothing could be further from the truth. God hates sin, but not the sinner.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 3:16-17 (KJV)

One of the nasty little secrets of what passes for Christianity these days is the shocking amount of professing Christians who seem to think they are no longer sinners. Many a foolish heart has been darkened by the lie of eternal security, which inevitably leads to this vile sense of self-righteousness. They will readily point fingers at others yet have no sense of the vileness in their own hearts. Even as they accuse others they have become numb to sin in their own hearts.

And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luke 18:9 (KJV)

Are we righteous? No, we are not. This is very, very important to understand. At no point in our lives do we ever become righteous either, especially when we get saved! The whole point of ‘getting saved’ is that we have come to the realization that we are totally devoid of righteousness, and have no means to obtain it outside of getting it from Jesus Christ.

Some will say they don’t count on their own righteousness but that which Christ has provided to them through the cross. That is the correct answer; however for such a person to condemn a fellow sinner clearly demonstrates that they have forgotten that their righteousness was provided by a third party. Christ gave us a great example of what I am saying in His parable of the Pharisee and publican:

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
Luke 18:10-14 (KJV)

How few of us have ever really taken the time to fully understand this parable? The sin of the Pharisee here is that he looked upon a fellow sinner as if he were lower, or ‘less righteous’ than himself. He allowed himself to lose sight of the fact he is a sinner just like the publican.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isaiah 64:6 (KJV)

Who are the vilest of sinners; murderers, child molesters, homosexuals? We all need to understand that the only thing that separates us from them is that blood of Christ applied to our accounts. Did we earn it? No. Did we deserve it? Nope. Then how could we possibly look down upon another sinner, just because we have been saved by pure grace (undeserved favor) and they haven’t? Is this not the very definition of a hypocrite?

This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.
1 Timothy 1:15 (KJV)

True Christians need to embrace their fellow sinners, not shun them. How can they be saved unless we engage them? That is not to say we accept their sinful lifestyles, but we must show the love of Christ to our fellow sinners even as we condemn the sin. But to do that we must first deal with our own self-righteousness. You see, it all starts with us; dealing with the ugliness that is in our own hearts.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
Anyone may come there for there is no cost.
Rich man or poor man, bonded or free.
The ground was leveled that day at Calvary.
“The Ground is Level” - Old Hymn

We must relate to everyone in this world as fellow sinners. We are in a sense “recovering sinners”; we recognize our problem and are doing something about it. We never cease from being sinners, but we fight the good fight against our sin natures and all come to the cross no matter what particular sins are our stumbling blocks to obtain forgiveness whenever we sin.

We must offer the love of Christ to them, it isn’t always easy but how else will they know it? We must never lose that sense of unworthiness that brought us to the foot of the cross in the first place. If you’ve never felt this way I have disturbing news for you; you had a false conversion experience. Think you’re a ‘good person’? The cross is for strictly for sinners only, come back when you realize your inherent unworthiness. Who is worthy then? Worthy is the Lamb!