They’re not the same thing.

In fact, loving someone pretty much requires rejection at times – boundaries, standards… You’re just not going to be okay with your friend smoking crack; if you’re okay with them doing harm to themselves, you don’t really care about them.

Accepting someone’s LGBTQ lifestyle is the same thing.

There’s a whole range of opinions on the LGBTQ thing, and as opinions, I think they’re all valid. Your opinion is going to be based on your worldview, which may or may not correspond to reality in any given area. Nevertheless, there’s some consistency (perhaps not universal consistency – that would be giving the human mind far too much credit) in how you determine your values, priorities, and standards.

As with everything else, I do my best to base my worldview, and therefore my thoughts and actions, on Scripture. This means that I believe that any sexual activity or desire outside of a monogamous, heterosexual marriage is sin.

What it doesn’t mean is that I hate gay people! (I don’t think I hate anyone. I do know it’s wrong to have those feelings, although sometimes we in our humanity don’t have control over our feelings and have to surrender to the Holy Spirit to overcome them. That can be uncomfy, by the way.)

What it does mean is that if someone I care about tells me they’re gay or trans or whatever, I’m gonna be like…yeah, you know, I think that’s wrong; I think you need to work on those feelings. If they’re a Believer, I would point them toward the Bible and toward Christian counselors; if they’re not, I would point them toward Jesus. I wouldn’t reject them as a friend, but it would be my responsibility to make it clear that their choices have the potential to be very damaging to their spirit, as well as to other people in their sphere of influence. And if I were in a position of authority in some organization, particularly one that was specifically a Christian organization, I wouldn’t allow them to participate in that organization’s functions without knowing they had acknowledged their sin and were repentant (i.e., making an effort to change, with the help of the Holy Spirit and Christian brothers and sisters, regardless of their apparent success at the time).

Accept the sinner; reject the sin. That’s love.

And it doesn’t stop with our friends and family, either. God loves the world, and so should we. Some people aren’t very lovable, but that didn’t stop the Father from sending the Son to earth, and it didn’t stop the Son from dying on the cross.

He died for the prophets.

He died for the patriarchs.

He died for the pharisees.

He died for the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Hittites, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Huns, the Celts, the Vikings, the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayas, the Chinese and Russians, the Arabs, Africans, Australians, Amish, and American Indians.

He died for straight people, gay people, philanthropists, thieves, murderers, soldiers, pacifists, politicians, businessmen, stay-at-home parents, and psychopaths. Sinners all, and headed straight for Hell without faith in the Redeeming Blood. Including you and me.

What right do we have to not love someone, just because we perceive their sin as greater than ours? None. But love means holding people accountable, according to the standards given to us by the One who created the whole entire world, and therefore gets to decided what the rules are. The more of us follow Him, the better off we all are.

The Lord has given His Word to us,
No need to fuss; He knows what He’s doing,
We know that He will take care of us
If we will follow Him.

God’s way is the best way!
Now that I know He loves me so,
His way is the best way –
And that’s the way for me!