Gebre Menfes Kidus
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- Joined
- Feb 3, 2009
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- 10,806
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- 53
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- Jackson, MS
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- Faith
- Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo
June is LGBTQ Pride Month. June is also devoted to the “Sacred Heart of Jesus” in the Roman Catholic tradition.
I remember a time in my life, shamefully, when I spewed homophobic rhetoric and proclaimed that gay people were literally going to burn in hell. I could try to excuse my behavior by saying that’s just what I was taught as an evangelical fundamentalist, and thus I was only following the doctrine I knew at the time. But the fact is that I had a free will, a mind of my own, and the volitional ability to either embrace or reject such inhumane and cruel language and beliefs. So I have no excuse.
Today I recoil when I read or hear venomous anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. I think of my friend and roommate in Bible College who struggled deeply with his homosexuality. In a moment of trust and candor he confessed to me that he wrestled with homosexual feelings. I tried to be kind and I kept his secret, but I nevertheless gave him the standard fundamentalist spiel: “You’re not gay. Those feelings are from the devil. You can overcome this with faith in Jesus.” A few years after that he introduced me to a young woman who was his fiancé. He seemed happy and finally at peace. I felt proud that I had helped him overcome his “demonic” sexually perverse inclinations…. until a few years later when I learned that my friend had committed suicide.
My own sexual perversions and moral failures throughout the years had been much worse than his. When he first confided in me, he said that he had never acted on his homosexual feelings. I, on the other hand, had acted out my heterosexual lusts too many times to count. Yet somehow I still prided myself on the fact that at least I wasn’t gay. I may have been a sinner, but at least my sins were red blooded, natural, masculine, heterosexual sins. (That awkward homosexual experience I had when I was 11 years old surely didn’t count. Or did it? I still wonder.)
As a 52 year old Orthodox Christian I confess that I’m still working through my thoughts on the whole LGBTQ issue. I am conflicted. I am disturbed by what I don’t know, such as whether or not people are “born that way.” And I don’t particularly trust either what fundamentalist Christians or secular science has to say about the matter.
But I don’t think it really matters, to be honest. What matters is that people are people, that each and every one of us were conceived and born as the very images of God. And the supreme commandment of the Christian gospel is to do unto others as we would have others do unto us. The indisputable fact is that God loves LGBTQ folks just as much as He loves everyone else (it’s sad that this still needs to be pointed out), and as Christians we are commanded to demonstrate that love.
I’m not a theologian, but from my layman’s reading of the Gospels I don’t see Jesus spending time telling people to change their feelings. He does, however, tell sinners to “go and sin no more.” I’ve been a Christian for over 30 years, and I still haven’t been able to change my lustful desires for beautiful women. And Jesus clearly stated: “I say to you, that everyone who looks at a woman so as to lust for her immediately commits adultery with her in his heart.” [St. Matthew 5:28] So I don’t think I have any divine calling or moral right to tell other people how they should feel regarding their sexual desires.
But I also don’t think Christ wants any of us to be content with our lustful desires, regardless of whether those lusts are of a heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual nature. The Gospel calls us to struggle against the passions and find the satisfaction of our souls in the pure and perfect love of God.
On the one hand I am inclined to wholeheartedly join in with the entire LGBTQ movement, leaving all judgment to God. That would make things much easier for me. But almost every noble cause is fraught with behavioral and ideological errors; and I believe it’s important to discern what’s right and good about a movement from that which is harmful and destructive. Therefore I cannot support endeavors or policies designed to sexualize our youth, regardless of whether the sexualizing is of a heterosexual or homosexual nature. For example, I believe programs like “Drag Queen Library Hour” are both harmful to children and ultimately harmful to the LGBTQ cause. I also believe that genital mutilation – even done as a willingly consenting adult – is harmful and destructive, because it violently desecrates the very image of God. (By the way, I also oppose the circumcision of infants for the very same reasons. In fact, circumcision is arguably even worse because it is performed on unwilling innocent babies.) I also oppose public displays of lewd and immoral sexual behavior conducted under the guise of “Pride Parades.” (Again, I think such “parades” hurt rather than help the LGBTQ cause.)
But apart from those concerns (which I’m sure will still make me a “homophobe” in some people’s eyes), I simply no longer believe that it’s right or Christian to crusade against homosexuality and treat the LGBTQ community as “abominations of nature.” And as far as marriage is concerned, I have no qualms about a secular state legalizing homosexual marriage. As long as the state doesn’t try to force the Orthodox Church to violate its beliefs about marriage, then I’m cool with it. I wish that my friend and roommate from Bible College were alive and married to another loving man rather than dead from needless judgment and shame.
Which brings me to the “Sacred Heart of Jesus.” The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a beautiful Roman Catholic devotion that views the heart of Jesus as symbolic of God’s boundless and passionate love for all humanity. Therefore I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would enlighten and warm my own heart, making me more compassionate and merciful to all the wounded and suffering people of this world. I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would comfort and strengthen the hearts of all those who are struggling with their sexual identities. I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would assure all people – gay, straight, LGBTQ, or whatever else – that they have been created good and created FOR good, and that they bear the indelible and irrevocable image of God. I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would burn away all of our sinful pride, destructive lusts, unrighteous judgments, and demonic shame. And I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would unite our hearts to His – right now, today, tomorrow, and forever into eternity.
Those are the only thoughts and the only prayers I can muster regarding this subject. May God forgive me for my past cruelties, and may He forgive me for my present ignorance. We are all works in progress – beautiful works in progress.
I remember a time in my life, shamefully, when I spewed homophobic rhetoric and proclaimed that gay people were literally going to burn in hell. I could try to excuse my behavior by saying that’s just what I was taught as an evangelical fundamentalist, and thus I was only following the doctrine I knew at the time. But the fact is that I had a free will, a mind of my own, and the volitional ability to either embrace or reject such inhumane and cruel language and beliefs. So I have no excuse.
Today I recoil when I read or hear venomous anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. I think of my friend and roommate in Bible College who struggled deeply with his homosexuality. In a moment of trust and candor he confessed to me that he wrestled with homosexual feelings. I tried to be kind and I kept his secret, but I nevertheless gave him the standard fundamentalist spiel: “You’re not gay. Those feelings are from the devil. You can overcome this with faith in Jesus.” A few years after that he introduced me to a young woman who was his fiancé. He seemed happy and finally at peace. I felt proud that I had helped him overcome his “demonic” sexually perverse inclinations…. until a few years later when I learned that my friend had committed suicide.
My own sexual perversions and moral failures throughout the years had been much worse than his. When he first confided in me, he said that he had never acted on his homosexual feelings. I, on the other hand, had acted out my heterosexual lusts too many times to count. Yet somehow I still prided myself on the fact that at least I wasn’t gay. I may have been a sinner, but at least my sins were red blooded, natural, masculine, heterosexual sins. (That awkward homosexual experience I had when I was 11 years old surely didn’t count. Or did it? I still wonder.)
As a 52 year old Orthodox Christian I confess that I’m still working through my thoughts on the whole LGBTQ issue. I am conflicted. I am disturbed by what I don’t know, such as whether or not people are “born that way.” And I don’t particularly trust either what fundamentalist Christians or secular science has to say about the matter.
But I don’t think it really matters, to be honest. What matters is that people are people, that each and every one of us were conceived and born as the very images of God. And the supreme commandment of the Christian gospel is to do unto others as we would have others do unto us. The indisputable fact is that God loves LGBTQ folks just as much as He loves everyone else (it’s sad that this still needs to be pointed out), and as Christians we are commanded to demonstrate that love.
I’m not a theologian, but from my layman’s reading of the Gospels I don’t see Jesus spending time telling people to change their feelings. He does, however, tell sinners to “go and sin no more.” I’ve been a Christian for over 30 years, and I still haven’t been able to change my lustful desires for beautiful women. And Jesus clearly stated: “I say to you, that everyone who looks at a woman so as to lust for her immediately commits adultery with her in his heart.” [St. Matthew 5:28] So I don’t think I have any divine calling or moral right to tell other people how they should feel regarding their sexual desires.
But I also don’t think Christ wants any of us to be content with our lustful desires, regardless of whether those lusts are of a heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual nature. The Gospel calls us to struggle against the passions and find the satisfaction of our souls in the pure and perfect love of God.
On the one hand I am inclined to wholeheartedly join in with the entire LGBTQ movement, leaving all judgment to God. That would make things much easier for me. But almost every noble cause is fraught with behavioral and ideological errors; and I believe it’s important to discern what’s right and good about a movement from that which is harmful and destructive. Therefore I cannot support endeavors or policies designed to sexualize our youth, regardless of whether the sexualizing is of a heterosexual or homosexual nature. For example, I believe programs like “Drag Queen Library Hour” are both harmful to children and ultimately harmful to the LGBTQ cause. I also believe that genital mutilation – even done as a willingly consenting adult – is harmful and destructive, because it violently desecrates the very image of God. (By the way, I also oppose the circumcision of infants for the very same reasons. In fact, circumcision is arguably even worse because it is performed on unwilling innocent babies.) I also oppose public displays of lewd and immoral sexual behavior conducted under the guise of “Pride Parades.” (Again, I think such “parades” hurt rather than help the LGBTQ cause.)
But apart from those concerns (which I’m sure will still make me a “homophobe” in some people’s eyes), I simply no longer believe that it’s right or Christian to crusade against homosexuality and treat the LGBTQ community as “abominations of nature.” And as far as marriage is concerned, I have no qualms about a secular state legalizing homosexual marriage. As long as the state doesn’t try to force the Orthodox Church to violate its beliefs about marriage, then I’m cool with it. I wish that my friend and roommate from Bible College were alive and married to another loving man rather than dead from needless judgment and shame.
Which brings me to the “Sacred Heart of Jesus.” The Sacred Heart of Jesus is a beautiful Roman Catholic devotion that views the heart of Jesus as symbolic of God’s boundless and passionate love for all humanity. Therefore I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would enlighten and warm my own heart, making me more compassionate and merciful to all the wounded and suffering people of this world. I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would comfort and strengthen the hearts of all those who are struggling with their sexual identities. I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would assure all people – gay, straight, LGBTQ, or whatever else – that they have been created good and created FOR good, and that they bear the indelible and irrevocable image of God. I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would burn away all of our sinful pride, destructive lusts, unrighteous judgments, and demonic shame. And I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus would unite our hearts to His – right now, today, tomorrow, and forever into eternity.
Those are the only thoughts and the only prayers I can muster regarding this subject. May God forgive me for my past cruelties, and may He forgive me for my present ignorance. We are all works in progress – beautiful works in progress.
“Lord have mercy.” +++
Selam,
+ GEBRE MENFES KIDUS +
Selam,
+ GEBRE MENFES KIDUS +
