Millennials want their LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transsexual) friends to be welcome in church. This is a delicate and perhaps a watershed issue of our time. How you frame a question determines the issue’s answer for Millennials. If this question is framed from a cultural framework, it is defined as a gay right. Then any dissenter is a hater, intolerant and a bigot. If the question is framed as a moral issue, as defined in scripture, then it is an issue of extended ministry to a confused individual.
So let’s break down the issue. First, every individual is worthy of being treated with dignity, respect and tolerance. To do otherwise can create hurt and wound. However, in the world of social justice, the word tolerance has changed meaning. The word “tolerance” used to mean respect; today it has come to mean that all ideas are equal. The fact is there are right ideas and wrong ideas. Someone may have the idea that the moon is made out of blue cheese, and it is certainly their right to think that, but it doesn’t make it right or valid. Nor, does it mean I’m a hater if I don’t agree.
Indeed, I can tolerate and love gay people and their rights, without agreeing with their lifestyle. This doesn’t make me bigoted or a hater. The Bible defines homosexuality as sin (1 Cor. 6:9, 10). It doesn’t mean I use crude “Duck Dynasty” vernacular. It does mean I reach out in love and walk with people in life.
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