Obstacles to Grace

 

First written 6/2022

This is gay pride month. Most Christians (at least of the more conservative bent) would view this as an abomination. I teach in a school where there are several students dealing with gender issues – gay, trans, non-binary, bisexual, to name a few. They are trying to figure out who they are, like all their peers – who they are, whom they are attracted to, how they express themselves. And sometimes they evolve in and out of these new ideas. Sometimes they become exactly who they are.  They teach me a lot. Their road isn’t an easy one. There is so much confusion and fear and hatred of the LGBTQ+ community. No one would choose to put themselves through that. These kids are not opting to be gay or bi or trans. They are discovering who they truly are, and learning how to live with that – like we all do.

But as a Christian, don’t I believe that homosexuality is a sin? What isn’t a sin? We are all sinners. There isn’t the smallest section of our being that isn’t permeated with sin. We don’t have to be gay to be full up with sin. We forget that. God doesn’t look down and see a couple big sins. He sees all sin.  All have sinned and fall short of God’s standard. So when we zero in on specific sins, we are only fooling ourselves.

The Bible neatly arranges verses on sin to include sexual sins alongside anger and jealousy and judgement.  And they are all weighted the same. Someone I know was recently tapped to lead a Bible study group. She was given additional information on how to “deal with” any homosexuals or divorced people who joined her group.  She was instructed to be accepting of all, but when the Bible speaks to these two issues, she wasn’t to skirt them. They are sin.  So I asked her if she had pages on how to “deal with” angry people, judgmental people, people who abuse and try to control other people, people who are without grace and kindness, were there informational sheets on them?  Of course not, but there should be.

We forget that in God’s sight, sin is sin.  There are no big or little sins. Homosexuality isn’t any worse than alcoholism or intolerance. We are so used to being sinners, we can’t even see the sin that besets us.  We become self-righteous and, in order to maintain that, we must point to the “worse” sins of others. But the Bible doesn’t make those distinctions.  Why do we?

The Bible teaches that Jesus died for all sin, for all time.  In other words, all my sins were forgiven 2000 years ago on a cross outside of Jerusalem. All of my sin.  All of your sin. All of the sins of those marching in the gay pride parades across the country.  All sin.  No exceptions.  And, as a result, the issue isn’t what to do about sin, especially the sins of others.  The issue is what to do about Jesus’ gift of forgiveness.  He went to extraordinary lengths to purchase our freedom from sin and its penalty – death. Why do we throw it back at him and focus on particular sins, as if it were our job to erase them?  We certainly don’t look at other’s sins with a view to forgive. It’s always with a view to condemn, and, if possible, make their lives more difficult.  We take it upon ourselves to be the judge, jury and executioner.  We neglect Jesus’ extravagant gift of forgiveness, acting as if there were certain things he didn’t die for – because those things make us uncomfortable.

We are talking about people, people needing to know Jesus and experience His remarkable forgiveness When Jesus’ was on earth, he walked with “these people
and ate with them and deeply loved them.  The same people we’d like to erase, to demean and create laws that make them second class citizens.  I have a lesbian friend who told me one time she might be able to believe in God. God made some sense to her. But she didn’t think she could ever believe in Jesus, because Jesus hated her.  What?!! Well, the people who love Jesus hate her, so why wouldn’t she make the next leap to believe they were following Jesus and he hated her too?

Do you hear that?  Our self-righteous attitude in singling out homosexuality has driven people away from Christ.  I wonder what Christ thinks of that?  I wonder what He thinks about our trying to force gay children through rehabilitation camps to change their thinking. I wonder what he thinks about our trying to block gay marriages and gay adoptions from people who just want to be in companionship with someone and raise a family, like everyone else. Jesus died for all these people. He has already forgiven all their sins. And yet we make their sins front and center and say, in effect, that they are not fit for the Kingdom. Like we are?

He who has been forgiven much loves more.  Look at Jesus and Simon the Pharisee. Simon judged the woman who threw herself at Jesus feet. He was disgusted at Jesus’ response to this woman. Why? Because he couldn’t see himself as needing forgiveness. He saw her as the sinner and himself as the saint, and as a result could not love the Savior. 

As long as I think someone else a worse sinner than I, that I have somehow arrived on the sinless list – then I am unable to love Jesus to the fullest and celebrate my salvation.  Because the fact is, we have all been forgiven the same amount – all our sins. And that is as true of those who have yet to believe as it is of us who believe.

I want to learn to love and forgive as Jesus did. I want to err in the direction of loving and accepting everyone God brings into my life. They are all totally, wholly forgiven, whether they know it or not. I need to treat them as Jesus would.

 

 “The strange paradox present on every page of the Gospels and which we can verify any day, is that it is not guilt which is the obstacle to grace, as moralism supposes. On the contrary, it is the repression of guilt, self-justification, genuine self-righteousness and smugness which is the obstacle”….”Before Jesus there are not two opposed human categories, the guilty and the righteous; there are only the guilty.” Jesus exposes the guilt of “the moral and scrupulous people by proclaiming that all men are equally sinful despite all their efforts, so that not by showing off their vaunted impeccability, but by confessing their guilt, by repentance, will they find the grace which erases it.”

 

Paul Tournier, Guilt and Grace, A Psychological Study. New York: Harper and Row, 1962) pp. 136,, 112. As quoted by Dane Orland in Surprised by Jesus, chapter 1 p. 23, 24.

 

 

July 2023

In the year that has passed since I wrote this, many states have passed legislation that blocks the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. In one year the anti LGBTQ sentiments have increased rather than diminished. And Christians around the country are celebrating these new laws, proclaiming them victories for Christianity. As a Christian I continue to have difficulty understanding that. I think of my students and my LGBTQ friends and my heart breaks. This is not how we will draw people to Christ. But it is how we can hurt a lot of people. It also compels me to pray for those who cannot see their own guilt, and beware of my own blind spots, due to sin in my life.