Enough is enough...
I used to not have anger issues (except maybe road rage), but between the upcoming election, Chic-Fil-A, and the overall hostile atmosphere on Facebook, I've noticed my blood pressure rise a lot more these days...
I see well meaning but misguided Christians attack the homosexual community. Yes, I said attack, not take a stand, and yes, there is a difference. It's one thing to make a public statement about your values like Dan Cathy did. It's one thing to eat chicken or buy bracelets or support a candidate to show your support for Christian values. But when you stoop so low as to insult and judge people, using the Bible as a battering ram to get your point across, you stop representing Christ. And in the end, all that fighting does more harm than good. Just because you can yell the loudest, that doesn't mean you're the most correct.
But then, the counterparts in the homosexual community take the actions of those misguided Christians and use it as ammunition. They misrepresent the Bible and what it says, they misrepresent the Apostles and make them look like uneducated, backwater rednecks, and worst of all, they misrepresent my Savior, the one who died on a cross to take away my sins and the sins of the world, gay and straight alike. And the man who first taught us that God is Love is made to look like anything but love.
It's gotten so bad that even when I try to clarify things, people get mad, because they misunderstand what I'm trying to do. I have the deleted Facebook post to prove it.
I'm sick of all this. I'm tired of being embarrassed at how some "Christians" handle themselves, and I'm tired of my faith being attacked because of it. It has to stop somewhere. So it's going to stop with me...
Dear LGBT Community,
Hi. My name is Branson Boykin. I've been a Christian since I was 7 years old. I don't always follow Christ the way I should, but I do my best, and I trust in His grace to make up for the times I fail Him.
I do support the Biblical definition of marriage. HOWEVER!!!! I believe that homosexuality is a sin. I DO NOT believe that it is somehow a worse sin than others. I DO NOT think I'm better than you because I'm straight. I believe that we're all broken people in need of a Savior. Whether we're gay, straight, drunk, sober, Republican, Democrat, non-smoker, smoker, straight-laced, crooked, or somewhere in between--we ALL need Jesus to save us from our sins. To paraphrase Scripture, I'm a firm believer in removing the plank from my own eye before I try to tell you about the speck of dust in yours.
I've been in two different work places where I have befriended openly gay people. I served as math tutor with one and taught school with another one. And their sexual orientation had no bearing on how much I cared for them and loved them. It wasn't that I was their friend despite their homosexuality. I was their friend, period. They just happen to also be homosexual. And they weren't projects. I didn't set out to convert them. I was honest about my beliefs when asked, but I didn't turn them into mission projects. They were just my friends, plain and simple.
I know that many of you have been beaten, ridiculed, mocked, spit on, ostracized, and embarrassed for who you are. I know that some of those acts have been done "in the name of Jesus" and "to stand up for Christian values." And I know how that taints your view of anyone who claims to be a Christian. I get it, I really do. Were I in your position, I would feel the exact same way. And I am so sorry that this has happened to you. No one should ever have to go through that for any reason. But hear me when I say that what you experienced isn't all of us. There are those of us who follow Christ and are motivated to love people, not judge them.
The reason I'm making this post is this: I want to offer my friendship to all of you. I want to be your friend. I want to laugh at all the things that you think are funny. I want to be moved to tears by the movies you can't watch without a box of kleenex. I want to sit down together in the same room so we can both cheer for our favorite team. I want us to share those hilarious, sarcastic ecards with each other on Facebook. I want to be there to comfort you when you're hurting, and I want to double your joy when you're happy. When you think of the people that are your nearest and dearest friends, I want to be one of the people you think of.
All I ask in return is that, if ever you have questions about Jesus Christ or Christians in general, don't look to the media. Don't look to the radicals plastered all over the news for your answers about who Jesus is. Don't look to the people who beat you up in the dead of night or picketed your funerals or spit on you as you walked by. Look to me. Ask me. If you're curious about it, let me show you the Bible as I read it. Let me introduce you to the Jesus I've known since I was 7 years old. I think you'll be surprised at just how different he is from the clear complected, blue eyed, brown haired, Anglo looking guy in the painting. ("My Jesus" by Todd Agnew...excellent song!!)
I offer my hand in friendship, asking that you take the good and the bad. All the parts that you think make me noble, and all that parts that you think make me vile--every imperfect, human cell of me--I want to be your friend.
Feel free to comment or ask questions. I'm always here.
In Christ's Love,
Branson
