There are days I really feel like sticking my head in the sand.

Today is one of them.

A guy from a show I never have watched in my life has made a statement. That statement has gotten a particular response. That response has set a big old explosion off in my facebook feed. I just kind of want to shake my head.

People are yelling, screaming, accusing on all sides. Bitterness abounds, people raging for justice, people raging for rights, people just raging.

Because a dude quoted a verse in the Bible some didn’t like, and others thought that the opinion of the dissenters was unacceptable.

In some ways I really don’t want to write this post. I’ll confess to you right now that I don’t like talking about homosexuality. Not because I don’t have an opinion, but it just seems like the discussion generally jumps ship into crazy-ville faster than you can say “Duck Dynasty” and completely misses the point while it’s at it.

This post is not about if Phil Robertson should or should not be kicked off his show on A&E.

This post is not about if Phil Robertson’s freedom of speech has been attacked.

This post is not about if Phil Robertson is or is not a bigot.

This post is about something else.

It’s about the cliché saying “What Would Jesus Do?”

It’s not about being Pro or Anti Gay. And it’s not about politics and rights. It’s about a Christian Culture that has gotten off track.

Let me say something that may seem quite revolutionary to you: Jesus was not a political activist. He did nothing to change the political climate. He lived in a time of slavery and intense government oppression but never told his people to go try to change the world “politically.” He never told them to change the laws of the government in which they lived to fit their model of morality. He never even told them to actively try to keep the laws that were moral from being changed. Because arguing over politics wasn’t going to reach a persons heart. And He was about hearts, not governments.

Let me ask you something: Is any of this yelling and trumping our beliefs and ideas doing anything to reach the lost? What is it showing the world? Love or Hate?

“But Joy,” you yell, “his rights are being harmed! Our culture is being degraded! The Bible says Homosexuality is a Sin!!!”

Big Whoop.

Has it never occurred to you that Jesus expressly  states that “The world” at large is pretty much not going to agree with Him? That we as His people are going to be persecuted? And let me tell you we in America are NOT persecuted. Yelled at maybe. Sawed in two, skinned alive and thrown in prison on a regular basis? Not so much.

“But this is a CHRISTIAN NATION” Nations are not Christian, people are.

“But we were founded on Biblical Principles!” So what? I’m not saying that isn’t true. But how is screaming about it going to get us back to that? What are we accomplishing with our grand standing?

The message of Christ is not, “Homosexuality is a sick, sick sin!”

The message of Christ is, “We are all sinners.”

The message of Christ is not, “Condemn everyone who isn’t a Bible Believing Christian for daring to not agree with Bible Believing Christians!” The message of Christ is, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

The message of Christ is not, “You are SO going to HELL!” The message of Christ is, “God loves you, you need Him. Please, please, come to Him and repent. Regardless of what sin is in your life.”

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:17

All this argument is accomplishing is driving a further wedge between Christ and the lost. Between “Christians” and the people they are supposed to reach. It does nothing to change the culture, or the politics of the world. All it does is create division.

The minute you shared that opinion on facebook with no regard towards loving those who would read it, you alienated someone. Personally, I believe that is a much worse charge to your account than the one to A&E’s. The Bible calls homosexuality a sin. It does! That is a fact. No way around it, and I’m not going to deny it. I’m also not going to argue about it. I’m not going to throw it at people. I’m not going to scream about it. The Bible calls gossiping a sin. I see Christians spreading groundless gossip every day about politicians they don’t like, regardless of its source. Whether true or not, it’s gossip, it’s sin.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. James 1:26 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Romans 2:1

There is a scripture that talks about not trying to remove the speck from our brothers eye when there is a log in our own.

How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? Matthew 1:4

When we sit around accusing and judgmental, regardless of if we are right or wrong, we are blind to our own shortcomings and need of repentance. The Bible says that the standards of which we judge by is the standards by which we ourselves will be judged.

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:2

Do you really want to be judged by your harsh standards? How can I ever share my faith with a homosexual person when you’ve already shut the door for me? All because of your politics? Because politics means more to Jesus than souls? I look at the mud-slinging, and I grieve. I grieve over one more soul who will never give those “Jesus people” the light of day.

Do our opinions matter so much? Does your opinion matter more than a persons soul?

I doubt my words will reach very far. And though well meaning I’m sure they can be taken out of context and misconstrued. But this is something I had to say. I hope and pray that those who read it will understand my heart. It’s not about judging. It’s about loving.

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 1 Corinthians 5:12

~Joy Aletheia Stevens

Photo Credit: Duck family panoramic portrait by MattysFlicks (CC BY 2.0)    

Photo Credit: Holy Cross at Sunrise by Sean MacEntee (CC BY 2.0)

Photo Credit: The sun in my hands by Vincepal (CC BY 2.0)