TRUTH, HATE, LOVE, VALUE

TRUTH, HATE, LOVE, VALUE

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So, I attended my 2nd Gay Pride Celebration on Sunday, June 28. Compared to the 1st celebration that I attended last year, this year’s was rather low-key. Don’t get me wrong. There were more things happening, more floats, more people marching in the parade. In fact, we even had an opening rally on the steps of the “Old” Court House which is something that wasn’t done last year.

But the one thing that caught my attention, however, was the one lone protestor. Or, so I thought. Where as last year we encountered many protestors just outside the gate and one person who was thrown out for handing out literature that wasn’t allowed by the program group, this year I saw none of that. All I saw was one single person who quietly walked through the crowd a couple of times holding up a Bible. He was followed by a single security person. I can only assume he was told that he couldn’t approach anyone or hand out any kind of literature. And so, he simple moved in and out of the crowd, quietly holding up his Bible as if those of us attending would shy away from it and cower in fear like vampires fearing the cross.

I felt sorry for him in a way. After all, he had to have known that others were watching him, pointing, laughing, making jokes at his expense. But then, as I was leaving the park, I saw him talking to some other people gathered outside the festival area. And one of them had a shirt on that said, “The truth IS HATE, to those WHO HATE.”

WOW! Not only was that profound it was also a slap in the face. Here we are, the GLBTIQ community, protesting and proclaiming that “HATE IS NOT A FAMILY VALUE” and the one’s who condemn us are throwing that saying right back in our face. Now, I realize, not everyone who is gay is also a Christian, nonetheless, somewhere, somehow, “THEY” (the ones who would condemn us) have seen us hating them back.

Please note, however, that there is another way to read that statement that the one wearing that shirt didn’t realize. They have chosen to hate us, and they see the Gospel telling them to HATE. Yes, it comes back to “them” because “they” wish to hate and so “their truth” tells “them” to hate! It really is a double edged sword.

What does all of this say to me? Or rather, why am I writing about this, then? Well, it still comes down to the TRUTH that I know which I find in Jesus Christ. Jesus calls us to LOVE. In fact, we read in Scripture many times where “GOD IS LOVE” and “LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF SINS” The TRUTH, that which is know as Christ, is all about LOVE. And so it isn’t an issue of what I do with a person of the same gender, it is all about how do I love those who hate me? That is where the real truth lives. And so, if there are those who are showing hatred to you, if there are those who wish to condemn and demean you, the truth is found in loving them instead of hating them. Because in love, you are living the life of God’s family. And THAT is where truth and value reside! Blessings to all of you! - David L.