“On the night of October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard was approached by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson at the Fireside Lounge in Laramie; all three men were in their early 20s. McKinney and Henderson offered to give Shepard a ride home. They subsequently drove to a remote rural area and proceeded to rob, pistol-whip and torture Shepard, tying him to a barbed-wire fence and leaving him to die. Many media reports contained the graphic account of the pistol-whipping and his fractured skull. Reports described how Shepard was beaten so brutally that his face was completely covered in blood, except where it had been partially cleansed by his tears.” Wikipedia
Shortly after the above tragedy took place, several members of the Westboro Baptist church travelled over seven-hundred miles from Topeka, Kansas to Wyoming, Michigan to express their sentiments. According to USRepresented.com: “Children picketed next to adults, holding signs that shouted “Matthew Shepard Burns in Hell” and “Thank God for AIDS.” WBC celebrated Shepard’s “entry into hell” and claimed that Matt brought his own death upon himself by “trolling for homosexual sex in a bar.” In an effort to spare Matt’s parents from viewing the demonstration, several of his friends dressed as angels with large wings that overlapped, blocking the protesters from sight.”
As you take a moment to process what you just read, please consider that the people who were throwing stones at a dead man claimed to be Christians. Now, notice the following statistics:
“Nearly 1 in 5 hate crimes motivated by LGBTQ bias, FBI finds. Of the incidents involving sexual orientation bias, 60 percent targeted gay men.” Nbcnews.com
Of those in Generation Z (born mid 90’s to early 2000’s), “15.9% identify as LGBTQ.” Statista.com
There are some hard truths that need to be addressed. First, God is not a wrathful Being who is breathing down the backs of homosexuals as the members from the Westboro Baptist church demonstrated. Second, the numbers of children and young adults who identify as LGBTQ are rising regardless of which side of the field you are standing on. And third, our Creator cares for them.
I would like to lay the foundation for us to stand during the remainder of this message:
God is love: “He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love.” 1 John 4:8
We’ve all been infected with sin and are in need of Divine love (which is the medicine) – “Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives.” Romans 3:23
God sees differently than we see: “…For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
Homosexuality, in short, is a deviation from the original design (“…male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:27) and so is pride, selfishness, gluttony, greed and lust. The good news is that our Creator has His unique ways of healing us from our defects. However, His processes may look very different from what we may expect.
The Bible is not silent regarding the subject of homosexuality. Some verses are: Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Romans 1:18-32. However, not every case is the same. Genesis 19, the pillar chapter for making clear God’s hatred for the subject at hand tells about how the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were burned down but Ezekiel 16:49-50 gives the clearest description of the root of their problem: “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, overabundance of food, prosperous ease, and idleness were hers and her daughters’; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abominable offenses before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw it and I saw fit.” The root of their issue was pride and ignoring the needs of the poor among others but homosexuality was not mentioned. Space would not allow me to further elaborate on each of the individual cases in the above listed verses. Nonetheless, it’s important for us to understand that our Creator sees beyond our actions and seeks to heal our hearts. He knows of the many factors that influence our decisions regarding sexuality; be it rebellion, chromosomes, hormones, environment, trauma, etc.
MD Timothy Jennings states in his book ‘The God Shaped Heart’: “In embryological development, the human brain starts out female but will masculinize under the influence of testosterone. Epigenetic markers can be passed from parent to child, which means not only are genes passed along but also instructions on how those genes are to be expressed. Scientists now believe epigenetics are involved in sexualization of the human brain. Epigenetic markers normally protect female brains from the masculinizing effects of testosterone while different markers make the male brains more sensitive.” We can see that this subject is more complex than what appears on the surface.
As I close, I want to highlight that my intention was not to explain the cause of homosexuality, nor was it to make it seem that the Bible is silent on this subject. If nothing else, I hope that you have been impressed to examine this subject through the lenses of humility and compassion. Whether you are of the LGBTQ community, a faithful church member and model of righteousness, a curious person who decided to read this article or someone else, I want you to know that we each was born into a world that is far from the design that our Creator had in mind but His compassion is so great for each of us that He is invested in restoring us by beginning with introducing Himself. Perhaps this is a chapter in the book of humanity that deserves a second and third look because there is much more for us to learn and unlearn; may the Lord help us.