The Topeka Westboro Baptist Church has been a target of the world, who point to this hotly-debated group as an example of those who espouse hatred for homosexuals and abortion.
Today’s headlines included a gentleman’s house, right across from the Westboro Church, who has painted his house with the gay rainbow colors to show that he does not share this church’s contempt for the LGBT population.
This past year a nine-year-old also stood up to the picketers from Westboro. Their signs of “God Hates [Gays]” were countered with the young boy’s that said “God hates no one”.
While we commend these few for standing up to the Westboro group, I’m afraid that many of us do not realize that we probably harbor similar, negative sentiments against this population without even being aware of it. And this spills over when we greet those we know to be gays, sit by them at church, or hold conversations with them, no matter how diplomatic and friendly we try to be.
Three Things to Remember
First of all, I think it would help us to remember that homosexuality is only one of many sexual sins that Satan has used to attack the human family. There’s also adultery and fornication, not to mention prostitution, child molesting, and pornography.
While these are the most shocking to us, we must not overlook marrying an unbeliever, living together outside the marriage covenant, divorce for reasons other than adultery, or just looking with lust at someone of the opposite sex.
These later acts have become more socially acceptable, mostly due to their prevalence, but still lie outside the parameters that God has outlined for us in His Word. We must be aware that God does not categorize our sins. No sin is greater to Him than another. Sin is sin, in the eyes of God. And He is the ultimate Judge of those sins. Not us.
Next, we must recognize the reason why these acts are so contrary to God’s will for us. The marriage relationship, given to us at Creation, was designed to reflect the character of God. Both male and female were created in His image, and Satan has done everything he can to mar that image so that humans will not have a true picture of God. Even by encouraging males’ abuse of power over women or by pushing women to selfishly proclaim their superiority over men, Satan has spoiled God’s plan of teaching love to others, spelled out in the Ten Commandments.
But, the last thing we must keep foremost in our minds is that God is a forgiving God. There is no sin that He is not anxious to erase from our record, when we sincerely repent.
You might think of it this way. It’s no sin to be a murderer, an adulterer, a child molester, or a homosexual. Any more than it is a sin to be someone who’s divorced or is a closet porn addict. In other words, people aren’t sins. Their acts are.
That’s why the little boy said it all with his sign “God hates no one.” Can we do any less than love as God loves? And just accept people for who they are. Are any of us who we were when we first came to Christ? I certainly hope not. We are all “works in progress”.
