Staff Writer – Carol Cato
James 2:1 My dear brothers and sisters,[a] how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favour some people over others?
Martha was a devoted and practicing Christian who raised her children accordingly. When Mike, her son, turned 18 he dropped a bomb shell announcing that he was gay.
Martha was shocked to say the least; she told him that the devil was tempting him and that he must resist the devil. Mike told her that he had been feeling like this for some time, and he knew that it went against his faith but he had met someone and they were in love.
Martha fell on her knees in prayer; she then made an appointment the next day to see someone who was known for curing gay people of their illness. Mike reluctantly went along because he himself was afraid that he would burn in the fire of hell if he didn’t get help.
The meeting was like a counselling session. Martha was told one of the cures is to give shock treatment. Martha said she could not put her son through that, and left.
Martha continued to pray for her son, saying that it was an abomination to God. Mike felt he had to leave the home, because his mother could not accept him.
His father and siblings were not happy about his decision but they didn’t feel as strongly as his mother; her love eventually turned to hatred for her son. Mike left and moved in with his partner, his mother continued to send him leaflets on homosexuals and how wrong it was, until eventually Mike couldn’t take it anymore. His feelings of guilt, shame and confusion led him to take his own life.
Photo courtesy everydayfeminism.com
Was Mike’s mother right to persecute her son the way she did? The scriptures say “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” [Matt22:37-40].
Now if the first and second great commandments are to do with love, why was it missing from the mother who was a devoted Christian? But, I hear you say, in Leviticus 18:22 ”for you shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
This is correct, but it’s also an abomination in proverbs 6:17 -19 “to have haughty eyes, lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family”, these are also examples in the scriptures that talk about things that are an abomination.
Have you ever lied or cheated? Have you ever caused disorder in your family or do you know anyone who has done any of those things and more? Wouldn’t you ask God for forgiveness for yourself as well as your family members, would you disown or stop loving them because of this?
I think most people would say ‘no’. While it’s a sin to commit a homosexual act, so is it also a sin to tell a lie. If you sleep with someone who is not your wife or husband is a sin, but we still love people who commit these abominable acts without a thought.
We are not called to judge we are called to love and to share the gospel with the world. See How Spiritually grown are you (II).
