Being an Ally and Standing before God

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tstor said:

This is an awful attitude to have. Essentially she is saying: "If I'm wrong, I will stand before God and tell Him how He is actually the wrong one and I was right all along."

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I'm quite certain she's not accusing God of being wrong, but those who think God rejects gays as wrong.

No, she's saying roughly the following: There are lots of views among Christians about Christianity theology and practice. I'd rather risk errror in the direction of loving people too much.

TX_Matt said:

You think we could change our name to clear up the confusion?

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I really like the name, actually. It emphasizes that we're saved by grace, and not by correct belief. (We're not saved by correct sexual orientation either, for that matter.) If we had to have correct belief, who could possibly be saved? So we make our best guesses, and throw ourselves on God's mercy, and we believe that God does, in fact, have mercy. And we have humility towards those who are making different guesses, because we're aware of how difficult finding the truth can be.

I suppose I see Saucy's confusion. Saying "God welcomes anyone who chooses to come" is different from saying "The WWMC forum has no posting restrictions." You can only put so much meaning into four words. But I've always thought that the word "Liberal" disambiguated it. There's a particular group of theologians that are labeled as "liberal" -- Schleiermacher and Rauschenbusch and so on -- and I've assumed from the name that WWMC was for those Christians who thought these theologians were worth listening to.

hedrick said:

she's saying roughly the following: There are lots of views among Christians about Christianity theology and practice. I'd rather risk errror in the direction of loving people too much.

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Bingo.

I would prefer to caution on the side of love, compassion, and mercy when I find myself standing before the Judge of the living and the dead. If I'm going to be wrong, let me be wrong for love's sake. Whatever God's judgment, it will be what it will be; and I pray His mercy upon me and us all.

But if I am wrong for love's sake, I can live with that.
But if I were to be wrong for hate's sake, I could not live with that.

The commandment of God is clear: Love your neighbor as yourself. And I believe that God is just and good in His judgments.

What I do find, concerning the Great Judgment, is how we treated "the least of these"; what I do not find concerning the Great Judgment is regarding certain classes of people as sub-human. I have every reason to hope in the good, just, and gracious God who calls us to serve our fellow man in love; rather than in my flesh cling to my prejudices and despise my neighbor created in God's image simply because they were born gay. I have every reason to do as Christ has commanded, and precisely no reason to do as many who call themselves Christians would command instead.

So if I am wrong, let me be wrong for Christ's sake. For love's sake. For mercy's sake. For goodness' sake.

-CryptoLutheran

This was my realization as well. Since I can see different possible ways to read & understand the often-cited biblical texts, I must choose love for the LGBT community. Not the "love the sinner, hate the sin" bitter jab that is not really loving at all, but real love that welcomes & shows mercy that I would always hope to receive myself. I don't think God is punitive as so many seem to envision. Such a view leaves little room for grace.

TX_Matt said:

I think it's a good point. The reason why I am an ally of the LGBTQ community is because of how poorly they are still treated by many people in this society, and want them to be accepted for who they are.

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You and me both. Unfortunately, there are so many who do not even want to have a conversation with someone who is LGBT+ or an ally. Thank you for sharing.