Tolerance

We met today with the Outreach Coordinator for a youth shelter program in Tallahassee.  It is an amazing program which offers shelter to at risk youth and runaways.  Their goal is to reunite families through individual and family counseling while teaching discipline and respect.  The conversation took and interesting turn when we asked about the average length of stay.  The coordinator explained the stay is normally short but can sometimes last as long as a year for children with gender identification issues.  She then related a story about a boy staying with his aunt and uncle (uncle a Pastor in the community), whom was abandoned after "coming out" to the aunt.  She simply chose not to pick him up after school.  The coordinator then spoke of the overall intolerance of our community.  We understood this to mean the intolerance of the rigid Christian Community.  Is the Christian Community intolerant?  


We understand this is a hot button issue and we risk upsetting our conservative and liberal friends.  However, our ministry calls us to serve the homeless.  People experiencing homelessness can be liars, cheats, thieves, brutes, perverts, prostitutes, dealers, addicts, abusers, sex offenders, and murderers.  If we are afraid to ask the question, what answer can we provide those we serve.


Intolerance and discrimination recently made front page news in Tallahassee.  The county sought to change a non-discrimination ordinance to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.  Today, Florida State University announced similar changes in their policies.  Below is a sample of the firestorm set off on both sides of the issue.  


replying to coolhandluke50:

Leviticus 18:22
22 “Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.

Any policy that disagrees with this is not acceptable. God, have mercy on this nation. 

Get your religion out of my government. Your rights to practice your religion under the constitution also grant me the right to be free of your religion.   Also take a look at Mathew 7 Verse 1 - Judge not lest you yourself be judged and by what judgement you judge you shall be judged. (Tallahassee.com)

Who is right?  During the county debate there were churches represented on both sides.  The churches which expressed coolhandluke50's view were painted as intolerant by the churches supporting the ordinance.  The churches supporting the ordinance were painted as compromised by the coolhandluke50 churches.  Could someone finally settle the debate, is Jesus a Republican or a Democrat; conservative or liberal?

The answer is, neither.  Is homosexuality a sin, yes; no greater or less than the rest of the sins found in this world.  Jesus came, not for the righteous but for the sinner.  By the standards of the religious leaders of His time Jesus was considered a liberal.  At the risk of his own reputation Jesus sought out and associated with known sinners.  He welcomed thieves and prostitutes.  He showed compassion to the woman dragged before him caught in the act of sexual sin.  He drove out demons and healed the sick without assessing worthiness based on previous lifestyle choices.  He simply stated, "follow me" or "go and sin no more".

However, Jesus expected his followers to live to a much higher standard than held by the most conservative leaders of his day.  Jesus expects the same from his followers today.  Pastors which hold their congregations to lessor standards harm the people Jesus loves.  The message was never, "come when you are able" or "go and try not to sin so much".  To truly follow Christ we must seek him and strive to live without sin. 

Too often the church appears intolerant.  How will we reach those God has asked us to reach if it appears we are lined up against them?  How do you show love to those mired in sin without compromising God's word?  Jesus is the answer.  Connections, at the risk of our own reputation, will hang out with sinners.  We will welcome thieves and prostitutes, deviants and rebels.  We will pray for healing and offer compassion to the hurting without asking if the wounds were self inflicted.  Connections will extend Jesus' invitation to follow Him and sin no more.  Those who join our ministry will be held to God's standards, we will not compromise His word.

God so loved the world he sent his only son to die on a cross so we may receive forgiveness for our sins.  Who is going to be more grateful the one who has been forgiven much or the one forgiven little?  Jesus commands us to reach the world.  Those in the world can be liars, cheats, thieves, brutes, perverts, prostitutes, dealers, addicts, abusers, sex offenders, and murderers.  Are you up for the challenge?

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."  (Matthew 11:19)

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³The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group ⁴and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.⁵In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" ⁶They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
   But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." ⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
 ⁹At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
 ¹¹"No one, sir," she said.
      "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." (John 8:3-11)

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⁸Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." ⁹At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
      The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, ¹⁰and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
 ¹¹But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
 ¹²So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
 ¹³The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
 ¹⁴Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." (John 5:8-14)

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¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God. (John 3:16-21)

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Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." (Luke 7:47)

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¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19,20)