Embracing the Rainbow.

Jesus is famous for including in his movement exactly the people who were hated and excluded by the social and religious conservatives.  Would he not welcome a Gay, Lesbian, or transgendered person who came to him?

One of the most significant indications of whether we follow Jesus or not is our attitude towards LGBT+ people.  Indeed, it has become a test for true discipleship of Jesus Christ.  If our theology is colored by hatred, judgment, and condemnation of this community — or any minority and/or traditionally excluded or  disenfranchised group — it is not based on the teachings of Jesus.  If we are ready to dismiss these people as more “sinful” and in dire need of repentance than ourselves — especially if at the same time we overlook the sins of injustice and exploitation that the Bible does actually talk about a lot — and in which we participate! — we have bought into the standards of the Empire and rejected Jesus.

The Holy Spirit has been, for the past half century at least, using this filter to distinguish the true Church from the false, the followers of the Spirit from those who are obsessed (like Paul’s opponents in Galatians) with other peoples’ flesh, the people loyal to God from ego-centric personalities. 

Because according to the gospels, not only does Jesus not have anything to say about this issue at all, he also is famous for including in his movement exactly the people who were hated and excluded by the social and religious conservatives.  If he could welcome tax collectors and prostitutes, and be accused of being himself a glutton and a drunkard, what do we imagine he would do were a Gay, Lesbian, or transgendered person to come to him?  Would not they be embraced as well?  The only people in the gospels whom Jesus rejects and condemns because of their sins are those who condemn themselves by condemning others: religious hypocrites who inflict moral and religious restrictions on weaker people, and of course the rich.

The few passages on which anti-LGBT+ bigotry has been based have been ripped out of context in the service of self-righteous fear and bigotry.  For instance, we are told that the sin of Sodom was homosexuality; but the prophet Ezekiel explicitly disagrees, insisting that it is social injustice: “This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49).  So who are we to believe: The purveyors of moral and religious purity?  Or the prophet Ezekiel? 

Other passages have been misused in similar hypocritical ways.  Like selectively harping on some of the prohibitions in the Hebrew Scriptures while disregarding the economic sins that are condemned on nearly every page of the Bible.  Even if all the anti-LGBT+ interpretations were accurate, they would remain a remarkably minor and barely visible theme in the Bible.  For this to get propounded as a centerpiece of Christianity while ignoring the main and pervasive theme of social justice is just paranoid, self-righteous bigotry trumping the Spirit of Scripture. 

The acceptance and full-inclusion of LGBT+ people is an indication of our loyalty to God, Jesus, and the Bible.  It reveals how close we are to Jesus Christ.  It indicates our willingness and ability to set our own irrational, ego-centric fears and prejudices aside for the sake of the love that Jesus commands.  It shows that we follow the Spirit that gives life, not just the letter that kills.  It is a touchstone of actual discipleship.      

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