on love, hate, and tolerance

There are a few things in my life about which I don’t have a definitive stance. I don’t fall neatly into a political party, Christian denomination, or even job description. And I’m okay with that. There are places in life with wiggle room, things that don’t really affect my general worldview. Even doctrinally, I still don’t hold an opinion on whether I believe Christ decended into Hell, for instance. There are a few passages of Scripture that mention it, and it seemed to be important enough to a few early churches to included in their Creeds. But I don’t find enough context within those few verses to form a solid stance, so that belief is neutral in my book. I don’t think my opinion on the matter affects God’s opinion of me, nor does it affect how I go about my job as a person who loves God and others.

This holds true regarding my stance on gay marriage, also. I don’t think it affects my salvation or the way I “do Christianity”, so I waive my opinion in favor of just loving people. I don’t think God docks points for that. There are times that I feel definite hatred toward individual people, but I always know in my heart of hearts that I’m being a horrible human being if I hold on to that attitude. There’s no regret in having been tender-hearted, even if you don’t have the energy or don’t feel like the recipient is especially deserving of your kindness. This is the essence of our responsibility, and always has been. God didn’t destroy Sodom because of homosexuality. He destroyed it because of inhospitality. Instead of being gracious hosts to their guests, the citizens of Sodom took advantage of and indiscriminately raped their visitors.

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16:49

They were arrogant, overfed, and too lazy and selfish to lift a finger for those in need . God was pretty pissed about their inability to be loving and accepting of others, even temporarily. They burned because of complacency, not butt sex. Nowhere in this story does God think it’s gross that a man was deeply committed to a loving relationship with another man. There IS no love in Sodom. They were bored, soft, arrogant people who raped and raped and didn’t care whom. It’s important to keep everything in context, not only as far as the spirit of what’s communicated in Scripture, but also in how we are expected to behave in the broader scope of God’s purpose for us as His followers.

Some people want to split hairs over Old Testament regulations, forgetting that Christ came to do away with all of that nonsense. If you claim to follow Christ, you have one job: love God and people. That’s it. That doesn’t mean agreeing with everyone on everything or adopting their political views or lifestyle. It means accepting that we are all sinners, but we are also all made in the image of God.

The congregants of Emanuel African Baptist Church exercised the kind of hospitality God expected of Sodom when a stranger with nothing in common with them wanted to sit in on their prayer group. One key difference between Dylan Roof and the God-fearing people he killed is that they were operating under the spirit of the law–the Gospel, which tells us to love others–whereas Roof was guided by an ideology. Ideologies, separated from love, are divisive, harmful, and antithetical to the Gospel.

If the fact that someone is gay or black or left-wing is a personal affront to you, your marriage, or your religion, then you may want to spend some time in deep reflection and ask yourself if you’re adding to the hatred. Someone you don’t agree with is just granted the same rights that you have known your whole life and didn’t have to struggle for. Because of this, you threaten to get a divorce, set yourself on fire, or become an assassin because your religion can’t accept that God doesn’t hate gay or black people? If someone thought a sports team was a threat to their marriage and declared that they would get a divorce if another team won, wouldn’t we would recognize that as insanity and childish beyond all reason? It’s arrogant, and there is no love in it.

I see nothing but love in the reactions of both South Carolina’s congregants and same-sex couples who can finally and publicly honor their commitment to one another. Someone actually really wants to enter the sacred institution after the horrible example many heteros have made of it? They want to declare to everyone that they plan to sleep with each other exclusively? They’re deeply, madly, ready-to-stand-up-to-big-government in love? Well, hooray! I certainly don’t feel like my marriage is in any way under attack because of this.

Many wish to squelch that love just because they don’t like the package it comes in. We can accept people without agreeing with everything they believe. If you have a belief that you’re on the fence about, it’s okay to put that belief on hold. Err in favor of kindness. Not having a stance on gay marriage isn’t going to keep you out of heaven. But hating people? I’m pretty sure God is not a fan of that. It’s not our job to only love people we agree with one hundred percent. It’s our job to love people.

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