Born This Way - President Obama Supports Gay Marriage

With all the talk of President Obama supporting gay marriage and all the "Christians hate gays" statements flying around I've been thinking I needed to write a blog to somehow explain the true Christian stance on the issue... Being true Christians are "little Christs" that's where the word was originated after all... And being a "little Christ" means we a true Christian has no place in them for hate toward people! However, being a "little Christ" also means we have no place in us for sitting silently, much less supporting lives being torn apart and ruined by sin.

First of all, if you are homosexual, transgender, bi or any other sort of sexually oriented person let me be possibly the first Christian to say while I do agree with the Bible which does state clearly the Christian position on your sexuality, I am so sorry for any other Christian who has harmed you in any violent way... That is not what we were taught by Jesus. Let me also say that Jesus loves you He just hates the sin that is harming your life... And before you stop reading because you are offended I call it sin or say it's ruining you life please, take a moment to think of the struggle you are going through or have had to go through, think of the people you've lost from your life and every other tragedy your orientation has brought on you and please know this post is here to offer you understanding and hope.

The preface above being stated, I have a guest post for you! My friends at The Journey Church in Henderson, NV, USA (just outside Las Vegas) have put beautifully into words my thoughts and the Bible's opinion on the matter people you don't want to miss out on meeting so if you are ANYWHERE near them you must check out their new church meetings in Henderson and if nothing else stop by their website and leave them an encouraging word! Here is the post:

How many of you have ever found yourselves pondering this question: What do Lady Gaga and God have in common?  Ok…so that list is probably pretty small. And really…I’m just making light. But really…there is more here than you might think. You see she has this song that has, for some reason, garnered quite a bit of popularity. And in it she actually hits on a few points that Scripture can agree with…here are a few examples:

• Lady Gaga believes in God: “It doesn’t matter if you love him, or capital H-I-M.”
• The Bible believes in God: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
• Lady Gaga believes God is perfect: “’Cause God makes no mistakes.”
• The Bible believes that God is perfect: “But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
• And finally, Lady Gaga believes that loving yourself and others should be a high priority in life: “Don’t hide yourself in regret, just love yourself and you’re set.”
• And so does Jesus: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).

So there you have it…who would have thought that God’s Word and Gaga’s words would line up in agreement? But sadly…sadly this seems to be where the similarities end, for there is a definite point of disagreement on a very key issue:

Lady Gaga:

No matter gay, straight or bi
Lesbian, transgendered life
I’m on the right track, baby

The Bible:

Don’t fool yourselves! No one who is immoral or worships idols or is unfaithful in marriage or is a pervert or behaves like a homosexual will share in God’s kingdom. Neither will any thief or greedy person or drunkard or anyone who curses and cheats others (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).

The Scriptures clearly disagree with Lady Gaga in this area. In fact not only does it clearly state these folks are not on the ‘right track’ but it comes right out and says what so many modern church folks try to skirt around. If you live one of these lifestyles you will not share in God’s Kingdom. That’s not the end of the story, though. Neither myself or this Scripture are targeting and singling out the ‘gay, bi, lesbian, trans-gender’ folks. Notice, here, that homosexual behavior and other types of immorality are in the same list as thieves, drunks, and cheaters. So the Bible isn’t singling out any of these so called ‘alternate lifestyle’ folks any more than any other types of self-destructive behavior…and neither should we, because we have no room to judge since we all share in humanity’s sinful condition.

And that’s what it comes down to, doesn’t it? That’s one more thing Lady Gaga got right! We really are all “born this way”!  What way, you ask? This way:

All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. (Romans 3:23).

We all fall and fail. We all do and say things that bring physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual destruction. Lady Gaga might sing about a sinful lifestyle being the design God had for her, but I promise you He has something infinitely better for her, and you, and me.  How do I know? Because Jesus had an encounter with the “born this way” guy of His time.  His name is Nick, well actually it was Nicodemus…but we can call him Nick.  You see, Nick, for most of his life was quite confident that the state of pride and religious passion that he was born into would get him into heaven. But Jesus’ response surprised him…maybe it’ll surprise you too:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:1-3).

Jesus was telling Nicodemus that nothing short of a complete spiritual rebirth would save him and secure his place in heaven. Nick thought that being good and following God’s law would earn Him favor with God, which is why Jesus needed to reveal a critical truth that we all need to hear.  We truly are all born this way…but being born again is the only way to heaven.  What Nick didn’t realize is that the human labels don’t matter. Straight, gay, lesbian, drunk, thief, boy scout, pastor, priest, or just plain normal person…we all have one thing in common. We are all sinners separated from God and in need of a rebirth. And at the moment we are born again through trusting in Jesus Christ as our only hope of salvation, God comes in and remakes us into the beautiful and unique people He intended us to be!  And there is so much more than just a place in heaven, because this new birth gives us a brand new perspective on life:

We are careful not to judge people by what they seem to be, though we once judged Christ in that way. Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others.

What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace (2 Corinthians 5:16-19).

Did you catch that? We see people in a different way, and our primary goal in this life is to help others find peace in this crazy life through trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation.  I encourage you…when you walk the halls of your school, or you’re hanging out with friends…engage in conversations with people about the whole “born this way” idea, and how we are all born with a predisposition towards behavior that breaks God’s perfect design for life. Pray for an opportunity to share how you’ve been born again and example it by how you don’t judge people. Christian people need to stop being afraid to talk to people. If your friends, family and coworkers know you’re a Christian, they already know that you hold an opinion on things! You might as well share it.  We need to stop arguing that folks aren’t ‘born this way’! The fact is that they are! Scripture told us so, long before they figured it out! The fact is they were born that way…they were born into sin, just like the rest of us! So many people are trapped in the mindset that because they were ‘born this way’ or ‘raised this way’ that things can’t change! A relationship with Jesus changes EVERYTHING! We ALL need to be born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Trust me, God desperately wants the people who are trapped in the “born this way” mindset to find true freedom in realizing that being born again as the only way! We have an obligation to introduce everyone we can to Him with the same love and compassion He did when He walked the Earth!

Yes Lady Gaga, we were born this way…

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me (Psalm 51:5).

But the story doesn’t end there – I was born again!

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:4-5).

Born of Water and Spirit?

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:37-38).

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4).

Gaga may have managed to fire a few straight arrows, but as a whole she missed the target by a long shot. It’s just not his plan for us to live a life of sin, no matter what that sin may be, separated from truly knowing Him.

God bless,

The Journey