I’m at a place where I keep it real. I am a blunt person. No sugarcoating. My post’s title is already sensitive and I just…it is what it is. But, this was no click bait. I am serious.

Christians really f’d up with homosexuals.

Here’s the thing: This is regardless of what the Bible says about its practice. People have said it’s not a choice and that science backs this up. Whatever. I’m not here to talk about that. I don’t care.

I’m here to talk about how years of mistreating homosexuals has put Christians in a negative light. I’ll explain more of course, but the general idea is that we have treated fellow people like second class citizens. Like…like they’re animals. Filthy, no good, barbaric…something.

It’s a real shame. Look, a Christian’s job is to not judge. But noooo, all I hear is judgement. “You’re gonna go to hell”. Okay, let’s break this down, really quick.

I am not saying Christians, like myself, are screaming “you’re going to hell!” for every little thing. From my own personal experience, I have rarely run across someone like that. This is really bad in the public eye because that’s the portrayal from the big screen. Movies and TV tend to point to this personality.

The thing is…they are not completely untrue. It’s not THAT big of an exaggeration. I know for a fact that people who practice homosexuality were kicked out of my church. I know it. I’m no fool. It happens all over the place. Look, it’s not always as drastic as “GTFO”. No, instead, you simply exclude that person from anything. You basically pretend he/she doesn’t exist.

That’s my problem.

When someone sins, and, in a lot of instances, it’s an honest mistake, he/she is turned away quickly. This happens very often and very quietly if the church can help it.

There’s a balance to be aware of. I know it. For instance, if you’re a teen who got pregnant out of wedlock, the church has to decide how to handle this. Ideally, you’re married because that’s the “right” thing to do. I mean…haha…okay. I mean, I believe you should be married before sleeping with someone. I do. But, I think once the deed is done, marriage shouldn’t have to immediately follow.

Whatever. She decides…or he decides…marriage is not going to happen. I’ve seen this happen before. The teen may be sent away from her fellow teens. Why? Fear of allowing this girl to stay and “glamourize” doing things out of proper order. The balance is there. It’s there. It’s not an easy thing to deal with. I get it. The church doesn’t want to endorse what would be considered sin.

However, I think it’s a mistake to do this. If she is repentant and understands she messed up, then the church needs to back her up in any way possible. I get sick thinking about if one of my sisters went through that. No, none of my sisters can be teenage moms now, but if that happened, would they be turned away? Sent to another state?

It’s the same with homosexuality, but it’s much more open, which is slightly odd, but whatever.

The ultimate problem that makes this different than…ugh…”inappropriate pregnancies” is that there is a lot of judgement with this war against homosexuals. The missing point is that we’re suppose to love the sinner. Show the sinner love.

Alright, wait…

Smh…

We are all sinners. Foolish. I’m trying not to rant but my God in heaven this is our problem. We do this over and over. We get saved, and then forget we were anything else. Then, we smack other people around for not being saved. I mean, nshfnghfbwfrmfr!

Hey, look, I get it. We’re saved. We’re forgiven. We’ll never sin again.

Wait, what?

“We’ll never sin again”.

Um…I think some Christians believe this. I think people are full of themselves and that’s why they think they can wear the robe and sit down with a gavel and tell everybody else about themselves. But, this person is so perfect, so they don’t need to evaluate themselves. Congratulations! You’ve done the impossible!

No, really, it’s impossible.

You escape the penalty of sin, which is death. You are indeed saved. But if you think for one freaking minute that this means you can do no wrong and that you can judge people to no end, I need you to go sit down and put as much duct tape on your mouth as possible. And then, I want you to get a friend (I assume you have people who tolerate your judgemental behavior) and have him/her tape your eyelids open and lock you into a chair that is in front of a table that has an open Bible on it and I want you to read everything. Even the glossary. Read it cover to cover.

No, I’m not done.

Then, I want you to tell me (oh, I’ll remove the tape from your mouth) where in that book it says it’s perfectly fine to judge others. Tell me where it says there’s no risk to you in judging people. TELL ME.

Leave people alone and love. I mean, seriously. Whether people choose or are born a certain way, the Bible has decided what is right and wrong. We know what’s right and wrong. OUR JOB IS NOT TO BASH PEOPLE FOR DOING WRONG.

Let me make this very clear in case you don’t get it. My Lord.

OUR JOB IS TO SHOW PEOPLE WHAT IS RIGHT. GUIDE THEM. SUPPORT THEM. If they see the truth and still won’t accept it, that’s on them. All you can do is what you can do: Love.

The church wants to hide sin that happens among their people because they want to project this holy image. That’s the problem right there. We’re in freaking church because we’re aware that we are not perfect people and need other people as well as God to grow as people on our journey. It’s amazing.

The church puts itself in an awkward position because when you judge, you become judged. Foolish.

When we talk about sexual immorality, it seems like homosexuality is the “biggest one” and the one we will certainly go to hell for. What about adultery? Oh shucks, people cheat. It’s real, babe. Isn’t that wrong? Incest? Hm? How odd.

When someone in the church, especially a pastor, f’s up, the world mocks. You know what? Good for the world. This pastor may not have directly done it, but, the church as a whole projected this perfect image and looked down on anybody not up to their standards. I’m gonna keep it real: I’d laugh at your demise as well.

There’s a level of pride here as well as judgement. The pride will fall. Foolish. You fool. Foolish fool. I just wish we’d stop being foolish before irony kills us. Will we?

What we’ve done is we’ve made people feel terrible about themselves. Unwelcomed. Unwanted. The world has open arms to everything. Good for the world. I’m not saying celebrate sin. That’s not even close. I’m saying love the sinner. We keep getting caught up with the sin and I think we’ve blurred the lines of sin and sinner to where they are the same and so we crucify the sinner when it’s the sin we need to repress and destroy.

That’s what I’m talking about. And, as I calm down from my outburst, I realize that this is easier said than done.

We really f’d up. But, we can fix it. But it’s going to be hard.

So, what can we do? Well, for one, we need to have wide open arms for anybody. WE ARE ALL SINNERS in some form. I think it’s human nature to rank sin. I don’t know; perhaps some sins are worse than others. But, when we talk about the wages of sin is death, there is no specific sin that is meant to either get you in, or won’t put you in. I mean, there is no sin that God said “you can still come in if you did that; that’s not so bad” or “This one will certainly put you in hell”. God meant sin. Any sin. We have small and big; but sin is sin.

So, I think it’s very unfair to outcast certain sins over other sins. We need to leave that mindset behind. I think that’s the first step in solving our judgement problem. Because, everybody should stop going to church if doing sin is against the rules. We’re all gonna burn in hell. We need to get a grip on this. Quickly.

Once we realize all are sinners and have a place in the church…eh, let me add another point. Let me ask you something? Whose church is it? It’s the founding pastor’s church, right?

What’s that? It’s God’s church? Hm? Oh, God makes the rules on who should be welcomed and accepted? Oh, okay then.

So, Jesus died for all but homosexuals, right? So, they need to be gone. They couldn’t possibly be saved. What’s that? He died for them? Huh. Weird. He died for them. He died for you. He died for me.

Some people steal.

Lie.

Kill.

Cheat.

Gossip.

Endorse pride.

Rebel.

Can’t keep their legs closed under lock and key (married or not).

I think…I KNOW Jesus died for those sinners. Those sinners are accepted into heaven if they accept Jesus’ offer of eternal life. Grief. No, really, our next step, after knowing we’re all sinners, is to accept all that come through the door. Regardless of clothes (I mean, but being nude is simply inappropriate). Regardless of smell. Regardless of color. Regardless of anything. Jesus wants all to come. Come to Him. We as Christians are His representatives. If we f up who Jesus is and what He’s all about, people will not want any parts of it.

I think then, now that we have people and know we love the people, the next step is to figure out how to deal with the sins of people. This is where we f’d up before.

The Christian community needs to have resources available to help sinners of all shapes and forms deal with their sin. I mean, this stuff already exists. I do believe all churches need to have these resources at their finger tips. When something happens like the teenage pregnancy and someone is dealing with their sexuality, we need to either help, or point them to help.

The last thing, and this is where I’m going to lose people as this is probably where a big divide exists, is to continue to welcome them in the church. Allow them to participate in ministry. Allow them to serve in God’s house should they want to. Now, look, I’m not endorsing the idea that this means the church is perfectly fine with the sin.

I’m not saying there is no consequences to actions. There are. This would be a very bold move on the church leadership’s part, honestly.

Also, let me say this: If you’re worried people will see this acceptance and all of a sudden want to get knocked up out of wedlock, then I don’t know what to tell you. I, for one, do not determine my actions based off of others. I have a mind of my own. I can think for myself. As a teenager, I knew guys my age who did things. I didn’t take part. I don’t care. I have my own set of standards. I have my own relationship with God and am aware of His rules.

Don’t sell your congregation short. You’re almost insulting them. You have to trust that you have taught them well. You have to trust they have strong spiritual stability to resist doing things they may see from others. Otherwise, you build something of fear for failure.

I don’t run a church. I’m not a pastor, thank God. However, I have a church ministry that I run, that holds primarily teenagers. If it were up to me, if one of my girls ran into that situation, I have no problem with them serving. I don’t care about your sins. Mistakes. My job is to allow them to serve. Love them. Support them in any way. Would my church leadership feel the same way?

I love my girls that I serve with. I love them. I really do. If I look at it from a personal standpoint, who is also living a Godly life, I just don’t care about your sin. I will work with you.

So, when I write this post, as with just about anything I write, I am looking at what I would do, and check to see if it lines up with the Bible. If it does, and I don’t feel others are following, I get upset, and I start saying things.

By the way, my little ministry story was not hypothetical. I really was put in a position, but church leadership made a call that I probably would not have made. So yes, I recently have lived this life and I simply can’t understand sending someone away.

I’ve seen it. Read about it. Been told about it. I don’t agree with it. There is at least one exception.

Jesus talks about how to deal with someone who sins towards you. After many attempts to reconcile, if this person still won’t essentially repent, then you indeed are allowed to cast them away.

So yes, if the sinner does not show repentance for their sin. If they have an “I’d do it again” attitude, with no sign of remorse, then, yeah, let them walk. Thing is, if they’re not trying to better themselves, if they refuse to work with you, then that’s it.

Of course, the church always has to be ready to accept this person should they return. Just like Jesus will always be ready to welcome you back every time you f up in life. Just like He let me back in every time I f’d up. Boy…I have really f’d up.

I’m getting real sick and tired, man. Just really done. I really need this to stop. I’m not saying let’s all have an orgy, my goodness. But, I feel like we are in need of love today. I’m really like…I just can’t right now. It seems so simple. If the church won’t help you with you problems, then what’s the point?

What is the point?

What. Is. The. Point.

We are the light of the world. When we stumble in darkness and bruise our shins, we should have the chance to go to church and get some treatment. I mean, seriously. Like, it’s our job to give sinners a hug and welcome them to the table for dinner. Like, really? Seems like we’re more on the “give them a handshake” and that’s about it.

I feel like there should be more. Each individual church body has a role. Not every church does the same thing, in case you were wondering. So, but still, we all fall back on some basic things that each group should be good for.

If we treat each other with love and acceptance, we can run into a lot less hurt and pain. I am done playing games (if I ever was). Got me all worked up.

Can I say something to those of you who were rejected by a church? Let me say this really quick. Jesus is NOT the church. The church is NOT Jesus. I am begging you. I am PLEADING with you, do NOT take in how poorly a church treats you as how Jesus would. I know this isn’t a good argument, but it’s all I got. What Christians tend to forget is that they make mistakes too. They were forgiven and welcomed into the family. I don’t understand why they can’t pay it forward.

Here’s the kicker? Going to church isn’t going to get you into heaven. Technically, all you need to do is accept Jesus into your life and that’s it, right? Going to church is part of the deal for living for Him, but it’s not going to make or break your salvation. It just won’t. Let the judge be judged. Have peace in your life. These different pastors and bishops and whatever you wanna call them are not the author of your life. Screw whoever claims that. How dare they? Getting me all worked up, my word.

I will wrap this post up. I really need us to try harder to love. People are or choose to be something. If Jesus won’t turn them away, and if we are to follow His lead, then shouldn’t we be looking to accept…continue to love…welcome…sinners…people…like you AND me…?