Is it scandalous to say that LGBTQ are just as valuable as everyone else? Is it scandalous to open the church doors wide, to say they have a place in church and in the body of Christ? Is it scandalous to say you can be gay and Christian?
In some circles it certainly is.
Almost as radical as Jesus teaching parables about something the everyday farmer or lowly fisherman would understand.
Almost as horrific as Jesus showing God’s presence as being like yeast in flour, something only women had experience with.
Almost as heretical as one little lost coin that would reach only the heart of the very poor, who could not afford to lose it.
Almost as heretical as dressing down the religious leaders — calling them whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones, saying they are filthy, full of greed and self-indulgence, telling them that little children are closer to heaven than they are.
All outrageously scandalous.
Teaching that LGBTQ people have a place in the body of Christ is almost that scandalous. Almost. But not quite.
Listen to how Jesus talks to religious leaders:
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.”
Given all Jesus said to those religious people who thought they were doing so well, I can only think he must be shaking his head saying, “You’ve got to be kidding me! I never told you to reject people. That thing I said about you shutting the door in people’s faces? That’s YOU! You’re doing that to LGBTQ people who I love.”
Scandalous to embrace the LGBTQ community?
No!
Scandalous is how they are being treated – rejected, shunned, turned away, condemned – “in Jesus’ name.”
That’s scandalous.
[To read more from Susan Cottrell, visit www.FreedHearts.org]
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SUSAN COTTRELL is a national speaker, teacher, and counselor with years of Biblical study and discipleship experience. Her books include: Mom, I’m Gay – Loving Your LGBTQ Child Without Sacrificing Your Faith
She is the Vice-President of PFLAG Austin, and her “Mom, I’m Gay” book has been endorsed by The Human Rights Campaign and others. Sharon Groves, PhD, HRC’s Religion & Faith Program Director says, “I often get asked by parents for resources that can address the struggles of raising LGBT sons and daughters without having to leave faith behind. Susan Cottrell’s book, Mom, I’m Gay, does just that. This is the kind of book that parents will love.”
She and her husband have been married more than 25 years and have five children – one of whom is in the LGBTQ community. She lives in Austin, Texas, and blogs at FreedHearts.org and here in IMPACT Magazine’s FreedHearts and Jesus Blog columns.
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