Ministry to Gays & Lesbians
- - - - - - - - - - - -
      Jesus said, "Zaccheaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house." And he came down quickly and received him with joy. When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."
—Luke 19:5-7

     Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.” - John 13:34

     Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself." - Matthew 22:37-39

When Is Enough, enough?
     Most gays and lesbians have arrived at the intelligent understanding that religion is wrong about them.  They may be Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Mormon, Jewish, or whatever ... but within their hearts and minds they do not accept their theology's teaching on homosexuality.  Yet, gays and lesbians continue to support these religions that have shut them out of full acceptance ... or simply tolerated them.  And many gays and lesbians participate in religion ... closeted.  However, they do it, they are damaging themselves mentally, emotionally ... and eventually perhaps even physically.  There is something within all of us that cannot allow our "true self" to be diminished.  One minister, whose work I have studied, stated that if there is any sin at all, it is the sin of self-depreciation.  When we support, by our attendance, or financial donations, any organization or institution that denies our "divinity" ... we, on some level, are self-depreciating.

     This is 2007, and the Vatican has just announced that "same-sex marriage is evil."  Protestant and evangelical churches use the "same-sex" marriage issue to solicit donations and to influence politics.  Even though several evangelical ministers have been "out-ed" in the past year, evangelicals refuse to use these examples as an opportunity to re-think their position on homosexuality.  Some of the largest evangelical organizations support Exodus, or other ex-gay or gay-change organizations like them, creating more confusion and ignorance about gay and lesbian people.  Even popular ministers like Joel Osteen, will not take a stand for gay and lesbian equality, even though he is aware that many gay and lesbian people follow his ministry.  It is foolish for gay and lesbian people to continue to beg for the "scraps" from the table of religion.  Christian and Catholic churches have directly participated in banning same-sex marriage in states across the country.  Only Arizona has resisted the passing of a ban on its ballot in 2006 ... all other states in which the ban was on the ballot ... churches have been instrumental in getting it passed.

     The Master Mind Jesus stated, "resist not evil" ... in other words, fighting for acceptance will not get anyone acceptance, at best it may get someone tolerance.  But, who wants to be tolerated?  Jesus did not seek anyone's permission to be or do what he set out to do.  He was an evolutionary thinker who had no intention of beginning a new religion ... his philosophy was not religious ... it was focused on the relationship of the individual to the Infinite.  He was not interested in winning the approval of the religious or being held in high esteem in the Temple.  What did Jesus say about homosexuality?  Nothing.  He stated, "judge not lest ye be judged" ... and "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  Most churches, both Catholic and Protestant ... have moved so far away from the essence of what Jesus was teaching that you can hardly identify his teachings in their theologies!  The teachings of Jesus are in favor of gays and lesbians ... Christianity and Catholicism do not.

     And, don't look to Buddhism for an escape from intolerance ... Buddhist theologies, including the Dalai Lama, have little to say that supports gay and lesbian people.  Oh yes, they will talk around gay and lesbian issues but they will not take a strong stand for gays and lesbians ... and absolutely no stand in favor of same-sex marriage.

     The question to be answered is:  does your religion tolerate you or embrace you?  This question is of utmost importance to our soul life.

The Time Is Now
     It is time to take an intelligent look at gay and lesbians participation in anti-gay religions.   "People experience pain as they struggle with what their society, and particularly their church, tells them is unacceptable and their love of a family member who is gay.  Many of these families have found that the greatest healing has resulted from an open, honest admission of the truth of the individual's sexual orientation." - Roger Juline, Science of Mind Magazine, April, 2007

     There are religious philosophies that embrace and fully accept gays and lesbians.  These philosophies are the theology of Science of Mind, Religious Science, Unity, and Divine Science churches and centers.  These philosophies are not based on new revelations, but instead, take their origins of the Truth that was revealed centuries before Jesus.  Homosexuality is not an apparition of the last few thousand years.  It has been present and documented since the beginning of the written word.  It first appears most clearly in the Book of Leviticus in the Torah and later in the Bible.  It was the time in which the Hebrew people were taken forcibly to Babylon.  And the injunction against homosexuality was not a moral one ... but instead, was intended to establish and maintain a national identity for the exiled Israelites that set them apart from their neighbors.  It identified a people in a culture that has nothing to do with morality ... or later, Christian "sin."

     I encourage all gay and lesbian people reading this page to consider once and for all separating your self from any religion that continues to perpetuate a false relationship with gays and lesbians and God.  Separate your self from any religion that attempts to separate gays and lesbians from dignity, equality and Truth. To declare your self free from the mental bondage of non-acceptance or just being tolerated and begin at once to begin to seek a way in which to acquaint your self with a God that has an ever-lasting Love for you.  We don't have to allow the labels to intimidate us.  Christians, Catholics, Buddhists ... no religion has a monopoly on God ... and any religion that has, as part of their dogma, a judgment against gay and lesbian people ... is a false religion!

    Jesus touched the "soul" of the world.  He taught that "God will never forsake you" ... and this "you" includes gays and lesbians.

Keep the faith!

Rev. Dr. Henry Lee Bates
April, 2007

BLOG:  http://livingthesom.blogspot.com
 



Contrary to popular belief, Jesus didn’t really give us two commandments.  He gave us one – love. His two commandments were really one divine law expressed in two ways, as love of God and love of neighbor, love of cause and love of effect, love of our divinity and love of our humanity. - Walter Starcke