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Dear Editor, Bakersfield Californian Newspaper – Community Voices

A recent article in the Bakersfield Californian focused on being an ally in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning individuals due to bigotry, malice, ignorance and mean-spirited jokes often perpetrated against the LGBTQ community. I agree completely. I, too, once sat on the receiving end of being clobbered with Scripture by well-meaning but horribly misguided Christians.

However, to simply quote a Scripture is not the same as to clobber. I still find it more than intriguing when conservatives quote Bible verses against homosexuality it’s called clobbering, yet when the gay community quotes Scripture while arguing against conservatives, it’s just well, quoting Scripture.

God-given love is not primarily a feeling, but an action toward a person. I believe we often have a twisted picture of love, thinking that what makes a person feel love is how we should show love. Therefore, to confront him or her with some unpleasant thing would not be loving. To this day, I, not unlike many other men and women, remain grateful our families did not lower the bar or dismiss the clarity of Scripture with regard to homosexual practice. Thankfully and gratefully, my family, and many others continue to love their children while not putting a stamp of approval on a behavior that clearly runs contrary to the teachings of Scripture. Sexual behavior outside of heterosexual marriage, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is sin, and is forbidden by the Word of God.

Today, there are those wanting Christianity, but not without sexual expression. In short, they want it all, a common malady of our time. Today, even knowing the Scriptural condemnations of homosexuality in both the Old and New Testaments as being clear and final, there are those on a continued quest to find some way to get around them.

Personally, I have friends, acquaintances, and neighbors who are homosexual. All of these relationships can be described as gracious and respectful. Even though our stances may be dramatically different on the topic of homosexual practice, we enjoy a mutual respect.

It is possible to be right in one’s beliefs but wrong in attitude or approach. It is appropriate and good to say the right thing, but it must be said in the right way. To dismiss this part of telling the truth, is to make truth a weapon more than a tool, and even the best tool, when misused, can be destructive.

I would submit that many gay people have misconceptions about Christians, just as a lot of Christians have misconceptions about gays. The criticism is often raised that Jesus preached an ethic of love and would never utter harsh words of condemnation. To speak the truth in love is not to condemn the one to whom it is spoken. Heaven knows, it may feel that way.

It does not matter, in the end, whether we can explain why God has spoken in the way He has; the essential issue is what He has spoken. In the end, the Bible “speaks the truth in love” and pure, true, undefiled love seeks nothing more or higher than the welfare of people.

Pastor Phillip Lee
Executive Director
His Way Out Ministries

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