Because of Jesus, “sinner” is not how God sees me. It’s not how I see myself. And it shouldn’t be how I see my brothers and sisters in the church.
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I thought we just needed to try harder. Maybe we needed to focus more on loving the sinner, and less on protesting his sin.
But I’m done. I can’t look my gay brother in the eye anymore and say “I love the sinner but hate the sin.”
I can’t keep drawing circles in the sand.
Even if I was able to fully live up to that ideal, I’d still be wrong. I’d still be assigning him an identity, viewing him as something other, something different.
Not human. Not friend. Not Christian. Not brother.
Sinner.
And despite all my theological disclaimers about how I’m just as much a sinner too, it’s not the same. We don’t use that phrase for everybody else. Only them. Only “the gays”. That’s the only place where we make “sinner” the all-encompassing identity.
Then we try to reach them, to evangelize them. We speak of “the gays” in words reminiscent of the “uncivilized headhunters” from those epic missionary stories – foreign and different and far away, the ultimate conquest for the church to tame and colonize and save. Maybe we accept them in our midst. But even then, it’s sinners in our midst – branded with a rainbow-colored scarlet letter. They aren’t truly part of us.
Despite all my theological disclaimers about how I’m just as much a sinner too, it’s not the same. We don’t use that phrase for everybody else. Only them.
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Even that word “them” makes me cringe as I speak it, as if my brothers and sisters are somehow other, different from me.
It’s a special sort of condescending love we’ve reserved for the gay community. We’ll agree to love them, accept them, welcome them – but we reserve the right to see them as different. We reserve the right to say “them” instead of “us”. We embrace them with arms full of disclaimers about how all the sinners are welcome here. And yet, they’re the only ones we constantly remind of their status as sinners, welcome sinners.
In all this, we turn our backs on all the gay brothers and sisters already in our church, already saved, already following Jesus. Our us vs. them narrative leaves little space for those who didn’t choose to be gay but did choose to follow Jesus. Using “gay” and “sinner” interchangeably, we force them away from the Table and into the shadows.
♦◊♦
They say Jesus was a friend of sinners, but he didn’t describe himself that way. His motto wasn’t “eating and drinking with prostitutes and tax collectors.” Those were the labels used by the religious community, by the disapproving onlookers. What’s amazing about Jesus is that when he hung out with sinners, he didn’t act like they were sinners. They were just his friends. People with names. Defined as beloved children of the Creator, not defined by their sins. Icons of God’s image. His brothers and sisters.
It was the Pharisees who looked at them and scrawled “sinner” on their foreheads. It was the accusers who drew circles in the sand with themselves on the inside and “those sinners” on the outside.
Those words, “a friend of sinners”, were spoken with an upturned nose and a self-righteous sneer. And that’s the same phrase the church has adopted to speak of our own brothers and sisters – “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”
It’s the same self-righteous sneer heard in the words of those who dragged the woman caught in adultery to Jesus: “What should we do with such a woman?” They defined her by a moment. She was “one of those”. Not a sister. Not a human. Just a pawn in a political debate. A sinner.
But Jesus knelt with her in the sand. Unafraid to get dirty. Unafraid to affirm her humanity. “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.”
He could have said “You’re a sinner, but I love you anyways.” But she knew she was a sinner. Those voices were loud and near and they held rocks above her head.
Jesus refused to let his voice join theirs. By telling her “go and sin no more”, he affirmed that sin is not her deepest identity. It’s not how he saw her. It’s not who she was at the core of the being.
♦◊♦
I am a sinner.
But before I was a sinner, I was created in the image of God. While sin has twisted and smudged that image, it can’t erase it. Sin, my sin, is so terrible that it killed Jesus. But it doesn’t define me any longer. I am a new creation.
Because of Jesus, “sinner” is not how God sees me. It’s not how I see myself. And it shouldn’t be how I see my brothers and sisters in the church.
There is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus. To look at my gay Christian brother and say “God loves the sinner” is to set myself against Jesus and bring condemnation again to those he’s already redeemed.
So I’m done.
I’m done with “Love the sinner, but hate the sin.”
I won’t say it anymore.
I’m done with speaking as if I’m different, better than you.
I’m not going to define anyone by their sin. That’s not my identity. It’s not yours.
We are icons. We are children of the Creator, redeemed by Jesus. We are brothers and sisters. And today, that’s enough.
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Read the story behind this blog post here: “All I Have to Offer”
Originally published at Redemption Pictures.
You mentioned the woman caught in adultery. Some essential points, yes, she KNEW she had sinned, and Jesus said that He didn’t condemn her and what? Just go on doing what you’re doing because its socially acceptable now? No, He said Go and sin no more. Also, He ate with people that knew they were sinners and were looking for hope. They didn’t want to continue doing what they were doing. What do we tell homosexuals? Its ok, you’re born that way, you have no excuse. How could a loving God condemn someone that was doing something that they were… Read more »
It still makes me uncomfortable, because you still sees homosexuality as a sin. “Jesus refused to let his voice join theirs. By telling her “go and sin no more”, he affirmed that sin is not her deepest identity. It’s not how he saw her. It’s not who she was at the core of the being.” So, are you going to say to your brother, “I love you, now go and sin no more”? You are saying that you love your brother unreservedly and that you refuse to call him a sinner, even though he is committing a sin. I’m sorry,… Read more »
Thanks for bringing this topic into the light. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I am so easily reminded of my own flaws that I make a conscious effort” to focus on my plank rather than another’s speck. How can I presume to be so self-righteous to pass judgement? I cannot. Judge not that though be not judged. As you share we should just see “we” rather than “us and them”.
Thanks for the reminder and the challenge.
CJ and Thanda … all I can say is Amen!
Is it a sin to watch people die of hunger every second, Be killed in wars. Children molested. Could a loving God watch that happening? (What does he do ?)
Uh. Different debate, Ray.
I’m sure you’re not really expecting an answer but I just can’t resist. Do you know the meaning of the word agency? It means the power to choose and be responsible for the consequences of your actions. God believes in Agency. As such He gave every one of us on earth the power to choose and the opportunity to see the consequences of our actions. God gives commandments. No one wants to listen to him but when the consequences of people not listening to his commandments pan out people like you, Ray, ask why God doesn’t do anything. That’s because… Read more »
Ask instead “Could a loving human being watch that happening? (What does s/he do ?)”
It occurred to me recently that the answer to this common “God can’t possibly exist otherwise how could He allow __________” question is – because that’s not His job. It’s ours. It’s our job. Like Thanda above says, “Because … He believes we can take care of a world He has given us without His constant intervention”. So what are WE doing about it? God isn’t causing the suffering, we are. That’s why it’s our job to stop it, not His.
A deeper and more interesting exposition of that phrase than I was expecting. Not meant as a criticism of you, by the way – my initial reaction was simply that it is predicated on the incorrect notion that gay people are just choosing to be that way. But given that it isn’t, and that orientation is inextricably tied to someone’s sense of self, it is simply not possible to sidestep this with a pithy little phrase, no matter how much you might want to. And so usage of that phrase will only have the effect of hurting gay people. That’s… Read more »