The book “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is the story of a woman who is caught in adultery and forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest to signify her sin and to reveal to all her shame.
What I always found ironic about that story was the emphasis on her sin over all others. Now I understand that adultery is a terrible sin and the Scripture talks about how it affects more than just the individual, but why the “A”. Maybe we should be handing out L’s for lying, G’s for gossip, and S’s for Sabbath violators.
Well, today we have a new scarlet letter among conservatives and mainstream Christianity; and that is an H for homosexuality. There is so much fear, confusion and condemnation associated with this sin that all other sins appear to be insignificant. Make no mistake, homosexual ACTS are sinful, as CLEARLY outlined in Scripture; but what if someone admits that they are tempted by homosexuality but chooses NOT to act?
Now I’m not claiming to have all the right answers (and I know this opens up a debate about the "nature vs nurture" aspect of homosexuality), but what if someone who rejects their homosexual temptations and someone who rejects their deceitfulness temptations are the same in God’s eyes? VICTORIOUS!
What if the propensity to sin that has run through all of our veins, since Adam, includes homosexual acts in the same way that it includes the sins that YOU struggle with (pornography, greed, hate, materialism, idolatry, bigotry, racism, lust, gossip, etc)?
Christ's blood covers their sins in the SAME WAY that it covers yours!
Maybe we should stop handing out sin letters and start loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. I don’t see anybody signing up for the EXCOMMUNICATE-ME-FROM-THE-CHURCH club... so please don’t sign up your homosexual neighbor.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
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