Showing love

Graham of Leaving Münster quotes something that Tony Campolo said. Now, Campolo’s someone I’ve never really got into but one plus point (in my book) is that he and his wife are open about their disagreements. One such is over homosexuality – she believes that gay people can be in relationships and be Christian, he believes that the Bible forbids it. And they speak about this issue together. Good for them!

In one such talk, Tony said this, about the attitude of many Christians to gay people:

I want to tell you something. After you say you can’t live in my community, after you’ve said you can’t teach in my school, after you’ve said you can’t go to my church and after you’ve said you can’t come to my college, after you’ve said all of this stuff – don’t think for one moment it’s going to wash when you smile that plastic smile that I see in the Christian community and say, “But we love you in the name of Jesus.”

And that’s the rub. We must say the same thing with our actions as with our words. If we claim to love gay people in Jesus’ name, we must act like it. We must either include people or admit that we treat them as inferior. Saying one thing while doing another is pure hypocrisy.

pax et bonum

Article posted at 6:43pm on 28 November 2005
Category: Faith, Musing