My Dear Fellow Christians:
Just like you, I was raised in a church. My family was, for at least most of my childhood, very involved with the church. Since childhood I remember hearing the concerns of the church being discussed all around me:
Who’s organizing the soup kitchen so we can feed the hungry?
How do we help our church member whose home recently burned down?
How do we continue to fund our summer camp so our young members have a constructive, wholesome place to join in fellowship while they’re out of school?
I can no longer relate to the concerns of the modern Christian church.
See, the concerns I always heard matched up with what I was also being taught about Jesus while I was in the church:
- feed the hungry
- shelter the homeless
- come together in my name
- love thy neighbor as thyself
- judge not lest ye be not judged
I don’t remember being taught that Jesus also commanded us to exclude those from our hearts and our charity that we judge to be sinners.
I also fail to recall the Bible study lesson that instructed followers of Christ to stand in judgment of which sin we should consider to be the worst. I believe I read that all sin is the same in the eyes of the Lord, and that all of our sins will be judged by He who created us.
I came across a news story about a senator from Utah named Mike Lee. Now, I don’t mean to single out Senator Lee; his rhetoric is oft-repeated and not close to being original, since many other politicians wrangling for conservative Christian votes use that same rhetoric every day. His current focus, however, is the perfect example of what I mean.
First Amendment Defense Act protects critical space of freedom: http://t.co/yPMp4Yz7ID @deseretnews #utpol
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) June 18, 2015
Senator Lee, like many politicians before him, insists that if our government extends the same protective rights to people that Lee and others who believe as he does considers sinners, the religious freedoms of those Christians who are legally bound not to discriminate against LGBT folks is compromised. If Christians are forced to serve sinners, forced to treat them equally as human beings, and forced to recognize them as equal citizens of our country, it will force them to defy the dictates of Jesus Christ.
This is not true.
Jesus instructed us to feed the hungry.
“I can guarantee this truth: Whatever you did for one of my brothers or sisters, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Jesus instructed us to shelter the poor.
Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered. (Proverbs 21:13)
Jesus instructed us to love the sinners.
“The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31)
Religious freedom bills like Senator Mike Lee’s go much farther than wedding cakes and bathroom access. They allow for Christians to deny people they consider sinners, specifically the LGBT community, jobs so that they may eat and housing so that they have shelter. While the bill wouldn’t force Christians to do so, they would certainly be able to, and a lot of them seem very eager to.
LGBT folks having rights and our government not allowing you to infringe on them does not defy the dictates of the savior you claim to follow. Denying people you feel are sinners food and shelter does. You are fighting to be allowed to compromise your own faith.
No. I don’t understand your concerns anymore. I don’t even recognize any part of what I learned in church as relating to many of you. However, I will continue to follow the instructions of the Jesus I was taught to model myself after, and I will continue to believe that love is not a sin.
You have the right to believe what you believe, but you do not have the right to hurt others, and you have never been taught in the Bible you cite to hurt others.
At least, you haven’t been taught that by the Jesus of Christian Bible.
Sincerely,
Carissa
Featured image via Flikr by Tumbling Run available under a Creative Commons license
