Earlier this morning a friend noted a New York Times article from yesterday addressing the political aftermath of the shooting at a gay night club in Orlando. In the write up the author stated that prior to a recent congressional vote, a “Republican congressman read his colleagues a Bible verse from Romans that calls for the execution of gays.” The truth of the matter is that the book of Romans in the Bible says no such thing. This type of paid journalism, beyond being unprofessional and dishonest, is part of what is propagating the myth in our present culture that Bible believing Christians hate gays.
Yes, a section of Romans chapter 1 does speak of giving into homosexual temptations as being outside of God’s design but it nowhere calls for hatred and violence toward those people by Christ followers. Indeed there are cultish groups like the Westborow Baptist Church that spew hatred toward others. However this does not speak of authentic Christianity. While people who hold to an authoritative view of scripture may not agree with gay-marriage, they do not hate those who practice such. On the contrary, they love them despite their differences.
This can be easily illustrated by the response of Chick fil-A Sunday following the shooting in Orlando. For a long time the fast food chain has been under fire by the LGBT community because its founder believes in traditional marriage. Which he does. The leadership of Chick fil-A also believes in other Christian values such as the Old Testament teaching of taking a Sabbath break each week which is why they are closed on Sunday. They also believe in the value of all humanity and the love of Jesus. Thus, they put their faith into action this past week by serving their community after the tragedy. Their employees willingly came into work on Sunday, when they were not required to, in order to give free food to those who were helping. Responding to media, one of their spokeswomen noted that the “events in Orlando stirred our local restaurant owners and their teams to band together to provide nourishment to first responders as well as volunteers who donated blood. . . It is the least we can do in this community we love.” They acted in love and not hate which is something most media outlets in America ignore.
Do Christ followers always get it right? No. Do they mess up sometimes? Yes. But to the question of “do true Christians really hate gays” the answer is a definitive; no! On the contrary, authentic Christians know their own sin and place their hope completely on the love and grace of Christ. They also extend that love toward others no matter who they are. Yes, authentic Christians pursue the lead of Jesus himself who proclaimed that “greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends.”
Do true followers of Jesus really hate people? I think Chick fil-A and countless other illustrations answer that. Rather, Bible believing Christians attempt to follow in the steps of sacrificial love and we could sure use a whole more of this kind of love in our day. What are you doing to love others?
BTW
- A lengthy response to the NYT article can be found here athttp://thefederalist.com/2016/06/17/new-york-times-claims-romans-calls-for-execution-of-gays/
2. A post I did a while back on at least 10 Reasons why Biblical Christianity actually blesses culture:
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