scared, frustrated, angry and learning patience

The more I watch the news these days, the more scared and frustrated and appalled I become. What is up with the world? Super casinos, homosexuals adopting children, the British government turning a deaf ear to both the Roman Catholic church and Anglican church…?! All these things will lead to the decline of morals and respect in the UK. Decadent behaviour and chaos will ensue. The land will become darker and darker as it falls into secularism. Christians will suffer in this land, as the darkness gets darker and threatens to swallow up what little light we now emit.

Casinos are a waste of time and just encourage people to get into debt.

Homosexuality is wrong and I cannot believe that any right-thinking person would let a homosexual couple adopt a child. Talk about screwed up!

The government wants to play god without even learning from His experiences? Fools.

Now, I know that God is sovereign and in control and all this crap is only happening because He allows it. I know that I should have faith and be strong and persevere. But that’s not how I feel. I feel scared, frustrated and angry. Even the church that I belong to is growing darker. Some people don’t know what forgiveness is. Some people don’t know what grace is. Some people are so damn arrogant. Some people make me want to do things and say things that would probably get me arrested. (By God’s grace – and only His grace – I have bit my tongue and kept my fists balled in my pockets.)

As I sit here and let all this angst fall out upon my keyboard, part of Jesus’ life story has just popped into my head. Jesus, surrounded by people who were crying out for His death, stood before them and said nothing. Instead He let the events run their course and let the suffering happen… but all for a glorious end. I guess I’ve got to learn patience through times of trial, patience through suffering and patience through injustice… all before a glorious end.

homosexuality & guest houses

There has been a lot of who ha in the news and press in Northern Ireland recently about a new bill coming into force that prohibits guest house owners from turning people away on the grounds of their sexuality. The who ha is divided into two, really: there’s the first who ha that surrounds the fact that the consultation period for this bill in Northern Ireland was ~200 days less than it was in England; and there’s the second who ha surrounding the purpose of the bill itself. It’s this second who ha that I want to discuss briefly.

People are objecting to this bill because they say it will force them to go against their conscience because they will be providing a bed on which and a room in which homosexuals can… well… you know the drill. These objecting people tend to be conservative evangelical Christians, obviously. The Bible says that homosexuality is wrong, which is true, so surely if they provide a bed for a homosexual couple they’re encouraging and helping that couple to sin. This goes against their conscience.

Now, if I’m honest, I don’t believe for one minute that the majority of these “evangelical” (if they even know what that means) Christians (if they even know what that means) are objecting on the basis of conscience. If I’m honest, I believe the majority of these people are bigoted against homosexuals. Plain and simple. Why? Because I bet you they don’t ask for the marriage certificate of every heterosexual couple that wants to stay in their guest house… and the Bible says that sex outside marriage is wrong, too, right?

But ignoring the bigots for a while… what is the Christian response to the above situation? This has been playing on my mind a lot recently. What would Jesus want me to do if I owned a guest house and was faced with the situation where a homosexual couple wanted to spend the night?

Would He want me to turn them away? No, I don’t think so. I think He would want me to accept them and give them shelter for the night. I seem to remember Him saying, “love your neighbour as yourself,” – to turn someone away when they are in need of a place to stay is anything but love, in my opinion. Notice that He didn’t say “love your heterosexual neighbour as yourself.”

Some will read this and not care. Some will read this and agree with me. Others will read this and will be seething with rage because they feel that this is wrong and no “real” Christian would have this opinion. To those I say to look at Christian history. For example, there was one bishop who would go to a different prostitute’s house every night. The people of the town (the church!) were appalled and hounded this bishop, eventually chasing him down the street and killing him for his sins. They couldn’t believe that they were being led by someone who would dirty themselves so by visiting prostitutes. But after they had killed him they turned around to see the prostitutes who the bishop had visited out of breath from running behind the horde with tears in their eyes. The crowd didn’t know why they’d be so sad at the loss. The prostitutes responded by saying that the bishop wasn’t after sex; each night the bishop brought food and, while the girls ate, he would kneel in a corner of the room and pray for them.

That’s one example. I’m writing from bed so don’t have the name of the bishop or the source material in front of me but I can get it if anyone wants.

What should the Christian do if a homosexual couple asks for a bed and a roof? In my opinion, they should care for that couple and show the love of Jesus in action. They should not choose to be offended on God’s behalf.

homosexuality & guest houses

There has been a lot of who ha in the news and press in Northern Ireland recently about a new bill coming into force that prohibits guest house owners from turning people away on the grounds of their sexuality. The who ha is divided into two, really: there’s the first who ha that surrounds the fact that the consultation period for this bill in Northern Ireland was ~200 days less than it was in England; and there’s the second who ha surrounding the purpose of the bill itself. It’s this second who ha that I want to discuss briefly.

People are objecting to this bill because they say it will force them to go against their conscience because they will be providing a bed on which and a room in which homosexuals can… well… you know the drill. These objecting people tend to be conservative evangelical Christians, obviously. The Bible says that homosexuality is wrong, which is true, so surely if they provide a bed for a homosexual couple they’re encouraging and helping that couple to sin. This goes against their conscience.

Now, if I’m honest, I don’t believe for one minute that the majority of these “evangelical” (if they even know what that means) Christians (if they even know what that means) are objecting on the basis of conscience. If I’m honest, I believe the majority of these people are bigoted against homosexuals. Plain and simple. Why? Because I bet you they don’t ask for the marriage certificate of every heterosexual couple that wants to stay in their guest house… and the Bible says that sex outside marriage is wrong, too, right?

But ignoring the bigots for a while… what is the Christian response to the above situation? This has been playing on my mind a lot recently. What would Jesus want me to do if I owned a guest house and was faced with the situation where a homosexual couple wanted to spend the night?

Would He want me to turn them away? No, I don’t think so. I think He would want me to accept them and give them shelter for the night. I seem to remember Him saying, “love your neighbour as yourself,” – to turn someone away when they are in need of a place to stay is anything but love, in my opinion. Notice that He didn’t say “love your heterosexual neighbour as yourself.”

Some will read this and not care. Some will read this and agree with me. Others will read this and will be seething with rage because they feel that this is wrong and no “real” Christian would have this opinion. To those I say to look at Christian history. For example, there was one bishop who would go to a different prostitute’s house every night. The people of the town (the church!) were appalled and hounded this bishop, eventually chasing him down the street and killing him for his sins. They couldn’t believe that they were being led by someone who would dirty themselves so by visiting prostitutes. But after they had killed him they turned around to see the prostitutes who the bishop had visited out of breath from running behind the horde with tears in their eyes. The crowd didn’t know why they’d be so sad at the loss. The prostitutes responded by saying that the bishop wasn’t after sex; each night the bishop brought food and, while the girls ate, he would kneel in a corner of the room and pray for them.

That’s one example. I’m writing from bed so don’t have the name of the bishop or the source material in front of me but I can get it if anyone wants.

What should the Christian do if a homosexual couple asks for a bed and a roof? In my opinion, they should care for that couple and show the love of Jesus in action. They should not choose to be offended on God’s behalf.