I’ve been hesitant to write anything about this topic for a
long time. I’m hesitant now as I write because there are faces of friends at
coffee shops and others in my life who are gay streaming through my brain, (And I love them, and in my mind their homosexuality is no different than my pride) but
I cannot keep quiet anymore. Hence the open letter:
(If you didn’t read the above link, give ‘er a check out,
it’s well written and there’s a song too!)
Dear Church and My Generation,
The cry of our generation is not wholly to throw biblical
authority away. The cry of my generation is not wholly to give up the beauty of
Scripture for a social issue that makes us cool or not cool. The cry of my
generation isn’t completely about being comfortable in the midst of a rapidly
changing landscape.
There are those of us that desperately cry for biblical
authority to override all of our hopes, dreams, feelings, and wishes. There are
those of us who want the Bible to be all it says it is – and in so being, just
the tip of the iceberg of eternity. There are those of us who keep quiet when
our intolerance is intolerable. There are those of us who will loose our
friends because our beliefs are different than theirs….
You see there are those of us that see this issue of
equality not as an issue of social standing and social pretenses but as a
matter of who we worship. In this generation of change stand some who would
much rather see God worshipped as he is revealed in Scripture than to worship
man and his wants - because that’s what’s at stake here.
What’s at stake is who we worship. Do we worship God as he
is revealed in Scripture or do we make Scripture say what we want it to say and
therein create for ourselves our own god? Do we believe that there’s a God who
hates sin (and in his hatred of sin sends Jesus to die for our sins in the
greatest act of love imaginable), tells us that fearing him is the beginning of
wisdom and knowledge while at the same time being the God who created all,
sustains all, and will make all things boldly new, or do we make for ourselves
a god of love who accepts all, cherishes all, never hates, and never fights?
Yet culturally we’ve boiled all these arguments down to one
overly simplified question: What would be more tolerant?
It would be much more tolerant to have a god who’d accept
all and love all no matter their sexual orientation, their pride issues, their
theft disposition and/or their lustful hearts. It would much more tolerant to
believe that all are right and none are wrong…. But that’s not the way it is; that's not the way reality works.
Believe us when we say there are those in this generation
who stand against homosexuality while at the same time have their hearts break
for their gay friends because they want them to be happy and have love too.
Believe us when we say there are those who think it would be nice to be standing united with all their
generation on this topic. But also believe us when we say that there are
those who cannot, will not, and should not give up the foundational authority
of the Bible.
Therefore they are, “bigots.” Therefore they are, “conservative
nut jobs.” Therefore they are, “intolerant.” Therefore they are, “narrow-minded.”
Therefore they are, “hateful.” Therefore they are ____________ (Fill in the
blank, they’ve heard it all before).
So our generation’s cry is not wholly the thirst for a
rapper’s lyrics, but there are some in our generation whose cry and thirst is
for the Word of God – and because of that cry and that thirst they will be
hated for their intolerance. Church see this. My Generation know this.
