Disowning Homosexual Children, A.K.A. How Not to Be a Good Parent
A very well known pastor, author, and theologian has come up with some “great” (hint: sarcasm) advice on what to do with your child if him or her comes out to you for practicing homosexuality. His advice? You must 1) alienate them, 2) refuse to eat with them, and 3) isolate them. 1
When I first heard about this I don’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry. Laugh, because of how ridiculously un-Christ-like this is, hoping it’s a joke; or cry, because of how sadly hatful this is, knowing that it is not a joke.
Since when has judgement ever changed anyones life? Since when has hatred ever solved any problem? (And don’t tell me this is not hatred, it may be masked as Christian love, but it’s coming off as plain old hatred to the poor child on the other end.)
I understand that this pastor is just trying to help, but seriously, what terrible advice. Conditional love is never in God’s heart for anyone.
Instead, here’s my advice. How about you just unconditionally love them? Walk up, give them a big hug, take them out for ice cream, and tell them that you will always love them no matter what (even when you disagree with them).
In doing that, you will show what God the Father is like. He does not abandon us in our shortcomings, nor does He isolate Himself from us when He disagrees with our theology! He loves us, and promises to never abandons us. If you’re a parent, love unconditionally. Because if you do, you will preach the Gospel! You will share the news that God loves the human race unconditionally.
The difference here is clear. It is between unconditional love and conditional love, or, in other words, between religion and grace.
Choose grace, choose unconditional love.
I think this principle applies to every area of the Christians life. Not just for parents, but for all of us. We should all learn what it means to love unconditionally indiscriminate of agreement, or disagreement. In doing so, we learn how to truly preach the Good News of Jesus’ wild love affair with the human race! He loves unconditionally, let us too learn how to love unconditionally.
So what do you think? How would you respond to this pastors remarks? Leave me a comment below!
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Notes:
Here’s the original clip, along with some great commentary. ↩
