My personal belief is that the face of Christianity should not be one of fear, judgement or hatred. It should be one that strives to exemplify the love of God in a diverse community. While many of my Christian friends struggle with the idea of support for our LGBT brothers and sisters, I am grateful that more and more are open and willing to love more than to condemn. I would challenge those who are outspoken "opponents" of the LGBT community to love as they are called to love, be patient and kind and, at the very least, stop throwing stones.
The Rev. Susan Russell, Senior Associate at All Saints Church, Pasadena, says "We're not all like that!" -- adding her voice to Christians across the country lifting their voices to overcome homophobia with hope and battle bigotry with the good news of God's inclusive love.
All Saints Church in Pasadena -- follow us on twitter @ASCpas and visit our website: http://www.allsaints-pas.org
A Prairie Rainbow Testimony: A Gay Christian Dude Purposing to Live Openly and Authentically Out in the Prairies of North Dakota. Submission for The Not All Like That (NALT) Christians Project.
This is a transcript of my contribution to the NALT campaign.
Hi. My name is Eric Clapp and I'm a Lutheran pastor and a lifelong Christian. I wanted to make a video to support the NALT campaign, but the more I tried, the more it seemed like I was trying to justify or explain away something. As a straight, white, educated, middle-class male, it seems overly defensive and verging on just plain whiny to say, "But we're not all like that."
So let me say something a little different. I'm not going to tell you some self-aggrandizing story about how I'm not like that. Or how we're not all like that. But rather that God's not like that. If you've ever been bullied, put down, or told that God will love you if you just act like this. Or if you just stop doing that. That's what happens when humans try to play God. But God's not like that.
I know that the church has disenfranchised and downright shamed so many of you and for that I could never apologize enough. But I can tell you this. God's not like that.
In the 66 books that make up the library of Scripture, we are told a number of things about God. In the 27 that make up the New Testament, again and again we are confronted with the truth that God is fundamentally about love, grace, and wholeness.
In the Gospel of Matthew some of the keepers of the law come up to Jesus and ask him which commandment in the law is the greatest. Jesus says to them,
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
The entire law hangs on those two commands. Love God. Love your neighbor. Nowhere in there does Jesus say anything discriminatory about anyone. And he wouldn't say that either. Because God's not like that.
I am deeply sorry for the pain you have experienced at the church's expense. I know I can't do anything to take that away, but I can only say over and over again: God's not like that.
Jesus says, "I came that you may have life and have it abundantly." God wants only what is life-giving for you. God loves you. God accepts you. No matter who is against you, God is for you. Because God IS like that.
Ann, a Christian woman, mom, wife, Sunday school teacher and 'Not Just A Blonde' Spiritual blogger verbalizes her enthusiastic love, acceptance and support of the LGBT community, as well as a heart-felt apology on behalf of the church for any feelings of judgement, rejection, or pain they have suffered as a result of being LGBT. She firmly believes LGBT love is NOT a sin! It is her prayer that those individuals somehow might find their way back into faith, perhaps even a church home... and into a relationship with the Living God who loves them just as they are! She wants all LGBT folks would know as Christians... we are Not All Like That!
Jessie makes a video for the Not All Like That campaign: http://notalllikethat.org/ Oh, and my church! I forgot to say the name in the video: First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, http://fccla.org/
a video witness for the Not All Like That (NALT) project -- a Christian pastor speaks of God's love and his church's welcome for people just as God created them -- lesbian, gay, straight, trans, queer...
It's time for us true NALT Christians—the ones who genuinely aren't like that—to speak up and be heard, to affirm LGBT people as loudly and clearly as anti-LGBT Christians condemn them. We must stand up for young LGBT people, who are so vulnerable to being bullied into feelings of worthlessness and despair. We must eradicate the culturally inculcated moral underpinnings that serves to support such bullying. And we must bring to the fore a renewed Christianity that, instead of standing for anti-gay bigotry, stands for the integrity and love that Jesus Christ himself so radically stood for.
Hi! My name is Julia Frisbie, I'm a lifelong United Methodist living in The Dalles, Oregon, and don't think that being gay is a sin. Faith is a huge part of my life: I work as a writer for my church's global mission agency, and I'm married to a pastor. My deepest belief is that GOD LOVES EVERYONE and calls each of us to do the same.
Love is a verb that encapsulates respect, affirmation, and advocacy. That's why I support marriage equality. I'm also fighting for the LGBTQ community's full inclusion in the church. Anything less flies in the face of God's unconditional love!
As a Christian woman raised Catholic, I support the efforts of the NALT Christian project - to speak out on behalf of the LGTB community in their search for justice. As a Christian contemplative who was a minister in the Church for 12 years and who now has a secular ministry continuing the work of Jesus on behalf of love and truth, I support the LGTB community and assure them that perhaps the majority of Christians, especially those who have embraced Jesus' teachings of love, also support them.
I hate making videos, and I'm terrible at it. However, the NALT campaign, which stands for "Not All Like That," is a campaign where Christians "come out" to the LGBT community as supporting their quest for authority and condemning the absurd idea that "God hates gays." Not all Christians adhere to such a hateful notion. Please, send in a video, telling the LGBT community that you love them and stand with them. Sure, some Christians out there are hateful and narrow-minded, but we're NOT ALL LIKE THAT. For details about this great movement, go to notalllikethat.org
My name is Marlene Lund, I am a Christian, and I want to tell you that, if you are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender or intersex, I know God loves you just the way He made you.
A short message from David, a bisexual Christian anxious to prove to the world that not all Christians are conservative fundamentalists who think gays are going to hell.
Check out the Not All Like That project at http://notalllikethat.org/ for more videos of gay-affirming Christians sharing their own stories and testimonials!
Transcript:
Hi, my name is Veronica. I attend Broadmeadow United Methodist Church in Jackson, MS. I am a Christian and I do not believe that being gay is a sin. I was raised in the United Methodist church by my parents, but I was also raised to believe that God loves everybody and that his love is not contingent on anything, whether that be the color of your skin or the person whom you love.
When I started attending college, I was lucky enough to find First United Methodist Church of Germantown in Phildelphia, PA. They are a reconciling congregation and they truly restored my faith in the Christian church as a faith that is based on love and God's love for every person that he created.
I believe that God created every person perfectly and that it would be a sin to live out anything other than exactly who God created you to be. It frustrates me when people misrepresent and misinterpret God's words to try to hurt others and make them feel like they are anything less than God created them to be.
So, I know it may be difficult, but I urge to please try not to judge all Christians on those who would misrepresent God and Jesus our Savior to make you feel like you are anything less than you are, because we are not all like that.