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Follower or Pharisee?

"Go and make disciples of all nations."~Matthew 28:19

About a year ago, something happened that shook the Christian music community. Vicky Beeching, a renown singer and songwriter of worship music, announced that she was gay. Since then, people have boycotted her music, churches that she often did concerts at refuse to let her come back, and her earnings have drastically dropped. She has been cast aside by the very community that she was an integral part of helping to develop. However, this response is the absolute worst thing to do in this situation.

Other forums will debate whether or not homosexuality is a sin. It really doesn't matter. She is one of our sisters in Christ, and casting her out because she is a "sinner" is a wretched thing to do. NEWS FLASH PEOPLE! WE ARE ALL SINNERS! Romans 3:23 states "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (emphasis mine). None of us is without sin, so we have absolutely no grounds to call her a sinner.

Additionally, she didn't just become gay last year. All those years she was writing and performing worship songs, she was gay, but she was pretending she wasn't, thereby living a lie. And there's no question that lying is a sin because it's in the Ten Commandments. So why is it worse to be homosexual than to be a liar? God doesn't rank some sins as worse than others, it's us that do that. Any sin is rebellion against God, and so all sins are equal in His eyes.

Her announcement hasn't changed her heart for God. In fact, it has freed her to be closer to Him because there are no secrets weighing down her heart anymore. I have listened to some of her songs, and can hear the passion she has for her Savior. She may not be attracted to earthly men, but she has clearly surrendered her heart to a heavenly one. I'd be interested to hear songs she has written in the past year, because I'm sure they are even better than those written before. I know from personal experience how being honest opened up a relationship with Christ that was deeper than I could have ever imagined. I'm sure she is finding the same thing.

This post opens with the verse commonly referred to as the Great Commission. Jesus wants us to go out and share His love with everyone around us, but we can't do this when we are so publicly shaming one of our sisters. No one will want to join us when we do things like this to those who already have. Our witness is compromised, and people start believing that we are not all that we say we are. Let's prove them wrong by loving our brothers and sisters the way we are called to by our Savior.

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