Many of my devoutly Christian friends have been posting on Facebook that they “stand with” the LGBT community in the wake of last week’s Orlando shooting at a gay bar.
I take issue with this, because by -and-large they do not define what they are standing together for. It’s just “we stand with you”.
So… would it be a long shot to rephrase as “unconditionally support” then? And if it is conditional, what is it contingent upon?
Is there no recognition whatsoever of what happens at gay bars? What were those people going there to take part in?
Acts of sodomy, and fellowship with those who enjoy same – that’s the answer. Do we stand with that?
And if it doesn’t matter what people visit the building for, should we “stand with” slave traders if a slave market is shot up? Or to take it further, when the abortion clinic was shot, do we say we “stand with” abortionists?
Or is there maybe another way to convey our detest for an evil act, an atrocity that is committed against fellow men who bear the Image of God, without claiming to “stand with” the victims?
I will certainly be accused of “hate” (a more misappropriated word than any in the English language in our age) to say so, but how about this: We recognize that we were all meant for eternity, so any death is one that happens is “before our time”. We acknowledge that the shooting is an atrocity, there is no doubt of that, but the biggest tragedy in it is that the victims were not given more time to come to a saving faith and repent. Their lives were cut shorter and any opportunities they may have had – even as close as the morrow – will never be realized.
Therefore when we stand, we stand with the preaching of sin – that there is such a thing as iniquity, and it is not to be “stood with” as such. And we stand with the preaching of the Gospel that has the power to save even those formerly in darkness.
We love these people by preaching death – something that should be easier now as it is at the forefront of our collective minds. And we love these people by preaching the only path to life.
Platitudes of “standing with” not only give the wrong impression – they do literally nothing towards the salvation of the damned. So I won’t stand with the LGBT community.
But I will kneel – and pray – with them.
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