Our Prejudices, Ourselves

I am a Christian. I strive to focus on Christ and aim in His direction in every aspect of my life. I realize that my personal beliefs differ from many. But I also realize that many of my fellow Christians have butchered the name of Christ in prejudice, racism and bigotry. I don't believe Jesus would have treated people with prejudice. I believe He would have spoken louder than any against it. Not that he would have encouraged sin, but he would have encouraged love and grace and the opportunity for hope in all of us that we can rise above ourselves and embrace each other, even those who don't agree with us. Because the beauty of Christianity is the choice to accept it or not. And some people don't. And that is okay. I will continue to hope that all will accept it because I want that sort of peace and grace for everyone. But I won't force it. Hopefully my life and my heart speaks loud enough for people to see the grace of God. I am not perfect. I have made some horrible mistakes in my life, but I am keeping my head up because I don't believe I am defined by the dark moments of my life. Why are so many Christians so quick to embrace the hypocrites and so quick to spit on those who have simply decided not to follow Christ? Everyone has the choice to follow Him or not. And maybe this is stepping outside the box a little and will ruffle some feathers, but call it what you will. I don't believe that being gay means that you can't be a Christian. There are way too many other people in the church living lives filled with sins and hypocrisy that offend me much more than homosexuality.

Anyway, that's my soapbox for the day. I found this at Perez Hilton. Harvey Fierstein [you may remember him from Mrs. Doubtfire], an actor and playwright, wrote this which was published in The New York Times. Click here to read it.